Human security in Asia in a conservative era: Against the odds, twice

American pre-eminence in an era of accelerating globalization presents a contradiction. Despite unprecedented power and preponderance, the United States feels more threatened by forces outside its borders than at any point since the Second World War. American security policy under George W. Bush has responded to these threats in a way that reflects heightened American power and heightened American fear. It is not just a series of responses to specific situations and individual threats, paramount among them terrorism, but a fundamental shift in security doctrine and the US role in the world. The US has been shedding constraints and using its strength to change the global status quo.