This chapter examines some of the advantages and disadvantages that the United States and its allies have as the authors consider how to adapt a 20th-century strategy to the needs of the contemporary world. When the Cold War ended, many Americans thought that foreign policy was about to become much less demanding. Democracy seemed to be spreading around the world. Globalization and free trade were going to unleash universal prosperity, and that prosperity would make peace relatively easy to achieve. The United States assumed the burdens of global leadership not because the people desired power—in fact, they had spent twenty years before the war, and two after it, trying to avoid global responsibilities—but because Americans needed the benefits of a stable world order to be safe and prosperous at home. The United States has several opportunities in the coming years to significantly advance its interests around the world.