ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates how knowledge on power is generated, that is which ideologies and philosophy of science traditions coupled with historical and psychological insights into perceptions of power contribute to knowledge formation in US foreign policy circles. The chapter asks two sets of interrelated questions: how is knowledge on power produced and how does it affect its perceptions and misperceptions in foreign policy-making? And speaking directly to the theme of this volume on global cooperation and conflict at an age of US alleged decline, this chapter also asks: does an analysis of perceptions of US power clarify the extent of alleged US power decline and if such decline is misperceived, what does it tell us regarding the potential for cooperation or conflict in the current international system? Deconstructing the role of neoliberal knowledge production practices and the dominance of structural realist understandings of power in US foreign policy, the chapter concludes that analyses of power should include perceptions of power in addition to existing quantitative assessments of power held by the US and its competitors. In so doing, they may realise that the declinist argument does not stay the course and this conclusion may have critical repercussions on US decision-making and for the potential for global cooperation rather than conflict.
