What Kind of America Does the World Need?

One the global megatrends in the 21st century is the formation of a contemporary world order. The process has started after 1989 and is going on since. It is relying on efforts of various players including, first of all, leading world powers which are pursuing different often contradicting interests and institutional plans. One of the most acute problems is structural: reaching consensus between great powers especially between the Unites States, China and Russia. Growth of Russia’s and China’s activity, certain degree of cooperation in their efforts to influence world order, their rejection of the liberal project built upon Western values and institutions promoted by the United States cannot be left without answer from Washington. America is not going to retreat or retrench, is not pleased with the coming criticism and with the activities of Russia and China. American political establishment tries to neutralize efforts thwarting its plans and interests. The dilemma is whether America needs to come to any kind of compromise with Russia and China on the issues of international security, trade, global problems; or pursue policy of deterring these countries. There is no full consensus on the issues of world order and American global strategy in the political and expert communities. Most active representatives of decision makers in Washington support continuation of decisive even aggressive policy in the world and towards Russia and China. There are opponents to such strategy, but they do not constitute the majority and hardly have influence. Disagreements on foreign policy issues among policy makers were visible during presidential elections in 2016 though most important were still domestic political issues. Outcome of elections and first years of the Trump administration do not give us clear answers about further development of the political situation, about U.S. foreign policy behavior, and about reaction of the American public. It is very important to monitor political moods and preferences in Washington, to analyze debates on the most acute problems of international relations and world order formation. It is necessary to react to American actions and ideas, to suggest our own comments and vision of the future, to promote our alternative views and conceptions to other international players in order to neutralize negative consequences of American actions. In the article the author continues analyzing debates on the most acute issues of world order formation, American and Russian approaches to them using recent publications and discussions with the leading American specialists on this topic.

1. Abshire D.M. (1996). U.S. Global Policy: Toward an Agile Strategy. The Washington Quarterly. Vol. 19. No. 2. P. 41–61.

2. Bacevich A. J. (2010). Washington Rules. America’s Path to Permanent War. America’s Path to Permanent War. N.Y.: A Metropolitan Book. 286 p.

3. Bacevich A.J. (2013). Breach of Trust. How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country. N.Y.: A Metropolitan Book. 240 p.

4. Batalov Ed. (2018). Antropologiya mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenij [Anthropology of International Relations]. Moscow: Aspekt Press. 352 p.

5. Batalov Ed. (2010). Problema demokratii v amerikanskoj politicheskoj mysli [Problem of Democracy in American Political Thinking]. Moscow: Progress-Traditsia. 376 p.

6. Batalov Ed. (2003). Amerika: strasti po imperii [America: Passions on the Empire Issue]. Svobodnaya mysl’ – XXI. No. 12. P. 9–28.

7. Batalov Ed. (2008). Chelovek. Mir. Politika [Individual. World. Politics]. Moscow: NOFMO. 336 p.

8. Brooks S.G., Wohlforth W.C. (2016). America Abroad. The United States’ Global Role in the 21st Century. N.Y.: Oxford University Press. 174 p.

9. Haass R. A (2017). World in Disarray. American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order. N.Y.: Penguin Press. 340 p.

10. Hendrickson D.C. (2018). Republic in Peril. American Empire and the Liberal Tradition. N.Y.: Oxford University Press. 287 p.

11. Kissinger H. (2014). World Order. N.Y.: Penguin Books. 422 p.

12. Layne Ch. (2011). This Time It’s Real: the End of Unipolarity and the Pax Americana. International Studies Quarterly. Vol. 56. No. 1. P. 203–213.

13. Layne Ch. (2006). The Peace of Illusions. American Grand Strategy from 1940 to the Present. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 304 p.

14. Layne Ch. (1997). From Preponderance to Offshore Balancing. International Security. Vol. 22. No. 1. P. 86–112.

15. Lieber J.R. (2016). Retreat and Its Consequences. American Foreign Policy and the Problem of World Order. N.Y.: Cambridge University Press. 142 p.

16. McFaul M. (2002). The Liberty Doctrine. Policy Review. No. 112. P. 1–24.

17. Mandelbaum M. (2010). The Frugal Superpower. America’s Global Leadership in a Cash-Strapped Era. N.Y.: PublicAffairs. 214 p.

18. Mandelbaum M. (2005). The Case for Goliath. How America Acts as the World’s Government in the 21st Century. N.Y.: PublicAffairs. 274 p.

19. Mann J. (2012). The Obamians. The Struggle Inside the White House to Redefine American Power. N.Y.: Penguin Books. 392 p.

20. Mearsheimer J.J., Walt S.M. (2016). The Case of Offshore Balancing. A Superior U.S. Strategy. Foreign Affairs. Vol. 95. No. 4. P. 70–84.

21. Nadkarni V., Noonan N.C. (eds) (2013). Emerging Powers in a Comparative Perspective. The Political and Economic Rise of the BRIC Countries. N.Y.: Bloomsbury. 240 p.

22. Noonan N.C., Nadkarni V. (eds) (2016). Challenge and Change. Global Threats and the State in TwentyFirst Century International Politics. N.Y.: Macmillan. 287 p.

23. Paul T. (ed.). (2016). Accommodating Rising Powers. Past, Present, and Future. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 326 p.

24. Shakleina T., Baykov A. (eds) (2014) Megatrendy. Evolyutsiya mirovogo poryadka v 21 veke [Megatrends. World Order Evolution in the 21st Century]. 2nd edition. Moscow: Aspect Press. 448 p.

25. Shakleina T. (2002). Rossia i SSHA v novom mirovom poriadke. Diskussii v politico-akademicheskih krugakh Rossii i SSHA (1991–2002) [Russia and the United States in New World Order. Debates in Russian and American Political and Academic Communities (1991–2002)]. Moscow: Institute of the USA and Canada Studies, 2002. 445 p.

26. Shakleina T. (ed.) (2014). Situatsionnye analizy. Vypusk 4: America v fokuse rossiiskikh issledovateley [Situational Analyses. Issue 4: America in the Focus of Russian Studies]. M.: MGIMO University, 2014. 416 p.

27. Shakleina T. (ed.) (2017). Vvedeniye v prikladnoj analiz mezhdunarodnykh situatsij [Introduction to Applied Analysis of International Situations]. M.: Aspekt Press. 288 p.

28. Torkunov A., Noonan N., Shakleina T. (eds) (2018). Russia and the United States in the Evolving World Order. M.: MGIMO University. 415 p.