ABSTRACT
Why are the strong reluctant to use their power? Why has the use of raw military power become increasingly less effective in recent years? Why have direct intervention and dominance become so much more costly than indirect intervention or no intervention at all? In this chapter I will identify and briefly discuss five interrelated major trends that are helpful in answering these questions:
(1) Democratic values. (2) The slow but steady decline in the importance assigned to
foreign policy since 1945 and the gradual increase in the relative importance of domestic politics.
