ABSTRACT
Zakaria's persuasive and thoughtful answer to the “declinist debate” that has fascinated so many American international relations scholars over the past three decades is that US decline is real and that it has been the outcome of two trends: internally, the poor American domestic policy choices that have led to economic underperformance and foreign policy actions that have alienated allies; and, externally, the “rise of the rest,” especially the economic and political dynamism of China and India. However, Zakaria also argues that US decline is relative, not absolute. The implications of these trends are therefore manageable through better policy choices that reinvigorate US economic performance and re-engage “the rest” by giving them more voice and a greater stake in an international system whose form and character certainly were products of post-war American influence, but whose continuation and stability benefits all of them today.
