Competing rules of the game in a post-American world

The rules of the game are changing. As new powers emerge they are questioning the current ways of doing things, reinventing some old ways, and testing out new approaches to the conduct of international relations. America's political leadership is faced with an unprecedented challenge to its dominant role on the world stage. While there may be some truth to the view that the current Western order is “hard to overturn and easy to join,” ² there are many ways in which emerging powers are seeking to modify today's order or even change parts of it quite drastically. As a result, Washington is going to have to explore new ways of negotiating how states should interact both in the political and diplomatic realms, if it wishes to keep playing a key part in the international affairs of the next quarter century.