I argued in this thread from 2008 that we are seeing an emergence of a multi-polar world order, one in which powers are able to exert power in regions, but not as a global hegemon in the way the US did.
“By diminished status I mean that we are exiting a period when the US was an important actor across virtually every region of the world. We are entering a multi-polar world where regional powers are exerting greater influence into arenas where the US had previously had more sway.
Using China as an example, political conflicts are not only inevitable, but happening now. China owns a great deal of our debt and the absence of a Soviet counter weight gives China greater freedome to stretch its infuence at the expense of US power/prestige.
It is clear that the EU, India, China, blocs in South America are all working to fill political space previously held by the US. There have been a number of global initiatives on the environment, and proliferation at which the US was virtually non-participatory.
Culturally, the American brand is an all time low. While we suffered a similar diminished brand after Vietnam, this time I believe it is different. I believe this because we lost Vietnam in the context of the cold war. It was still a bi-polar world and Vietnam did not fundamentally change that.
The current period of realignment was inevitable with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. New blocs were bound to form, but the US has made a number of catasrophic choices in the post cold war era that have greatly weakened our positon: 1) rejection of climate change, has alienated even our closest allies, and cut us off from scientific dialogue and innovation; 2) the lack of universal health care has made our industries uncompetitive, we can no longer compete with foreign firms that do not have to pay employee health insurance; 3) refusal to pursue new energy sources and embrace lifestyle change that is not automotive relient; and 4) the invasion of Iraq, which has done great harm to the democratization of the world and as I said, diminished the US brand. I believe that this has done permanent harm, democracy in many corners of the world is seen as nothing but a tool of American imperialism, we have destroyed space in the Muslim world for pro-western and democratizing forces, who are now seen as nothing more than tools of America.
In my opinion, America’s soft power had always been more effective than it’s economic and military might and this resource was squandered. I do not believe we can regain it because in our new mulit-polar world, there are too many forces that will quickly move in to occupy the space we once inhabited.”