2004: The World's Superpower Faces Powerful Challenges

As a new year begins, the United States faces a disunited world with dangers both external and internal.

by Gary Petty

The United States finds itself in a unique place in history. As the world's leading superpower, its military can enforce foreign policy virtually anywhere around the globe. The average U.S. citizen enjoys a standard of living most people in developing countries can only imagine. The fingerprints of American culture, from soft drinks to television programs, can be seen in even the most remote regions.

This unprecedented global influence presents some daunting challenges to a nation that is both the world's economic engine and reluctant police force. Many believed that the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War would bring a new era of global peace and prosperity under Pax Americana. But even at the dizzying heights of global power, destabilizing trends confront the United States in the coming year.

Challenges from Europe

Charles Kupchan, a Georgetown University professor and former member of President Clinton's National Security Council, shocked many pundits with his book The End of the American Era. Kupchan claims that the greatest threat to future U.S. global influence isn't from Islamic terrorists, but from a united and powerful Europe.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld tried to marginalize France and Germany by labeling them "Old Europe" and playing down the economic and political unity quietly coalescing in central Europe. While member nations of the European Union maintain independent sovereignty, they have created a common parliament, established many shared policies and adopted the euro as the official EU currency.

Europe's old rivalries are being replaced by nations without borders. Professor Kupchan writes: "The European project has been an unqualified success. Not only has war among Europe's nations become unimaginable, but the borders among them are undefended and already being crossed without passport or customs control ...

Read the full article at www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn50/superpower.htm

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