ABSTRACT
Power is multidimensional and according to the usual template of global politics, it unfolds on multiple chessboards-political, economic, and military. Different ways of combining these dimensions yield various scenarios of power and options in interpreting them. How to interpret the American regime change from neoliberal globalization to military globalism? Does it follow from triumph in the cold war or also from the failure of the neoliberal project? Hyperpower status and economic reorientation may both hold true for different actors. Another obvious question is whether the policies of the Bush II administration are a blip or a trend; do they represent an extension of the “unipolar moment” that came in the wake of cold war victory, or are they part of a long-term imperial episode? Just considering politics of the moment risks ignoring strategic continuities, while highlighting continuities risk essentializing American politics.
