Big growth in the developing world is not a threat. It's time to talk about the advantages of a multipolar world
By Charles Kenny
Salon - Sunday, Jan 12, 2014
The historian Robert Kagan has complained that pundits recently went
from America boosting to America bashing in awfully short order. In
2004, he notes, Fareed Zakaria was arguing that the United States
enjoyed a “comprehensive unipolarity,” and yet only four years later the
Newsweek editor and CNN host was talking about the “post-American world.”
But
it isn’t just the chattering classes. According to Pew survey evidence
across fourteen nations, the percentage of respondents who said that the
United States was the leading power in 2010 was still 40
percent—compared to 36 percent who said China. In 2012, China led the
United States 42 percent to 36 percent. And while the Chinese themselves
don’t believe it, American respondents are even more convinced than the
global average that their days at the top are over.
As a result,
self-flagellation is in the air in America. More specifically, the
flagellation of Washington is in the air. Why is the country on the
skids, falling behind, destined to be a second-rate power? Blame
Congress. And the president. And (always) the East Coast Media Elite.
Read more....
No comments:
Post a Comment