ABSTRACT
A t the beginning of the third millennium America was toall appearances supreme. Whether one measured American power by the size and dynamism of its economy, continuing attractiveness
to immigrants, the global spread of leading American consumer brands, the
ability to project military power and to wield political influence, the use of
the English language, the prevalence of American popular culture – in all
these categories American power was unmatched. Even the global preoc-
cupation with the theme of anti-Americanism told the same story of
American supremacy. Anti-Americanism was simply the other side of the
coin of America’s global power and success. It was regularly suggested by
commentators that American global influence was proportionately larger than
that of the great empires of the past – the Greek, Roman, and British. Indeed
one of the most popular themes among commentators both outside and
inside the United States was ‘American empire’. The world was now effec-
tively ‘unipolar’. American power might be resented but it was not seriously
contested by any other nation or grouping of nations.
