Obama's New Map of the World
As he assumes leadership of this freaked-out world, the success of our new president's foreign policy -- and presidency -- will depend on the thinking he does inside the box.
For roughly the past quarter century, America has run the world using the following two levers: its massive consumption rate and its willingness to deploy military forces around the planet. Together these two drivers facilitated the rise of many new great powers by enabling their export-fueled growth and obviating any need for them to engage in distracting military buildups or overseas interventions.
That U. S. grand strategy has essentially run its course, having proven both amazingly successful (the death of great-power war in East Asia) and extremely exhausting (our crippling debt overhang).
As President Obama renegotiates America's role in this world that we created, four potential flash-cum-bang points stand out for the year ahead.