ABSTRACT
While American global leadership has been far from perfect, to many Americans and others throughout the world it does appear preferable to the strategic alternative of ceding direction to illiberal, authoritarian regimes – in particular, China and, to a limited extent, Russia. American responsibilities can be fulfilled only in cooperation with other nations and with an understanding of their interests, views and vulnerabilities vis-a-vis their own neighbours and other powers. A consensus is forming around a strategy of constructive US disengagement from international commitments, especially those that anticipate the use of force. The American geopolitical mindset of Mahan’s time divided the world into three parts: Europe, the Americas and the Pacific. The prevailing view was that US interests demanded isolation from the first, hegemony in the second and a balance of power in the third. Each component relied on the successful management of the others.
