Robert Kagan on American Dominance: Why we need the 800-pound gorilla

Published: July 25, 2008, 10:44 am

In a more perfect international liberal order, an old-fashioned superpower like the U.S. would seem a relic of the past. But in the fourth of five book excerpts, Robert Kagan explains why an American-dominated world is better than the alternatives.Global public opinion polls suggest a strong international desire for a diminished American role, a move toward greater multipolarity and equality in the international system. In the United States itself, there are calls for humility, for a tempering of ambitions and a greater sense of limits.But whether American power and expansiveness will continue to be the most pressing problem in the years to come, or whether it is the most pressing problem even today, is increasingly debatable. In a world heading toward a more perfect liberal order, an old-fashioned superpower with a sense of global mission might seem a relic of the past and an obstacle to progress. But in a world poised precariously at the edge of a new time of turmoil, might

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