Follies of Power: America's Unipolar Fantasy

The imagination of America's political elites is dominated by a unipolar vision, according to which the world is dominated by the United States. But the real world is increasingly plural, and others instinctively fear and resist the American vision. Chapters 2 and 3 of this book look at the disastrous consequences of the vision at work - in the Middle East and in Europe. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 assess the limits of American power - soft military, economic, and moral. Chapter 7 discusses the problems of order and coexistence in a world that is not unipolar but increasingly plural. It speculates on the possible contributions and likely fate of both "Old America" and "New Europe" as models for organizing the future. America's own constitutional equilibrium, David Calleo argues, increasingly requires friendly balancing from Europe. Both sides of the West must liberate their imaginations from past triumphs to face their responsibilities to the new world and to each other.