The Paradox of American Power: Why the World's Only Superpower Can't Go It Alone

The U.S. “war on terror” response to the attacks of September 11, 2001 has exposed the extent, already apparent on various other fronts, to which U.S. foreign policy has become unilateralist, arrogant, and parochial. It is pursuing a limited conception of the U.S. national interest with a limited focus on the utility of “hard” (military) power. Instead, it should be aiming to defend American pluralist values by means of an inclusive, multilateralist foreign policy, based on a judicious mix of “hard” and “soft” power.