ABSTRACT
Since the end of the Cold War, scholars, commentators, and practitioners of foreign policy have debated what structure of world power would follow the bipolar u.S.-Soviet competition, and what U.s. foreign policy would replace containment. Those who hypothesized a long "unipolar moment" of extraordinary U.S. relative power have proven more prescient than those who expected the relatively quick emergence of a multipolar world.! Those who recommended a policy of "primacy" -essentially hegemony-to consolidate, exploit, and expand the U.s. relative advantage have carried the day against those who argued for a more restrained U.S. foreign policy.2 One can argue that the jury is still out, the
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"moment" will soon pass, and the policy of hegemony enabled by great power will be fleeting. But the evidence does not support such predictions. Unipolarity and US. hegemony will likely be around for some time, though observers do suggest that the United States could hasten its own slide from the pinnacle through indiscipline or hyperactivity.3
