No. 144 The Dubious Leader: USA in the Wake of Recent Developments

‘Institute for Western Affairs' Bulletin (No.144/2013) Prof. J.Kiwerska, ‘The Dubious Leader: USA in the Wake of Recent Developments'.

"Just as Rome, Venice and the British Empire in their time, America today is the principal global organizer, a superpower which drives the world forward, a force for balance which stands in the way of anarchy", wrote Robert D. Kaplan, a leading American journalist, in 2003. A question worth asking is whether the statement holds true to this day. Has the United States retained its status as a dominant global superpower whose consent and backing are required for anything ever to happen in the world? Is its impact on resolving key global political, economic and social problems disproportionately heavy? Does it continue to set standards and values?