ABSTRACT

The twenty-first century began with a very unequal distribution of power resources. With 5 percent of the world's population, the United States accounted for a quarter of the world's product, nearly half of global military expenditures, and the world's most extensive cultural and educational soft power resources. According to two scholars, “no system of sovereign states has ever contained one state with comparable material preponderance.” 1 However, as I argue in The Future of Power (upon which this chapter draws), power resources do not always translate into power outcomes. Even in the period after World War II, a preponderant United States was frequently thwarted in achieving its preferred outcomes.