Power and Willpower in the American Future Why the United States Is Not Destined to Decline

To argue against the widely proclaimed idea of American decline might seem a lonely task. After all, the problems are real and serious. Yet if we take a longer view, much of the discourse about decline appears exaggerated, hyperbolic and ahistorical. Why? First, because of the deep underlying strengths of the United States. These include not only size, population, demography and resources, but also the scale and importance of its economy and financial markets, its scientific research and technology, its competitiveness, its military power and its attractiveness to talented immigrants. Second, there is the weight of history and of American exceptionalism. Throughout its history, the United States has repeatedly faced and eventually overcome daunting challenges and crises. Contrary to a prevailing pessimism, there is nothing inevitable about American decline. Ultimately, the ability to avoid serious decline is less a question of material factors than of policy, leadership and political will.

1. The American future: problems of primacy, policy, and purpose; 2. Domestic and global interactions: economics, energy, and American power; 3. American attitudes and institutions; 4. Threats to persistent primacy and the rise of others; 5. Stretch or 'imperial overstretch'; 6. Power and willpower in the American future.

This book argues against the widely proclaimed notion that the United States is destined to decline. Today's problems are less severe than those the United States has overcome in the past. Ultimately, the ability to avoid serious decline is less a question of material factors than of policy, leadership and political will.

Robert J. Lieber is Professor of Government and International Affairs at Georgetown University, where he previously served as Chair of the Government Department and Interim Chair of Psychology. He is an authority on American foreign policy and US relations with the Middle East and Europe. He received his undergraduate education at the University of Wisconsin and his PhD at Harvard, and he has held fellowships from the Guggenheim, Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He has also taught at Harvard, Oxford and the University of California, Davis, and has been Visiting Fellow at the Atlantic Institute in Paris, the Brookings Institution in Washington and Fudan University in Shanghai. Professor Lieber is the author of The American Era: Power and Strategy for the 21st Century and is also the author or editor of fourteen other books on international relations, US foreign policy and energy security. He has been an advisor in several presidential campaigns. His articles and op-eds have appeared in leading scholarly journals, magazines and newspapers. His media appearances have included The News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS TV, ABC's Good Morning America, NBC and CBS network news, The O'Reilly Factor, BBC World Service, Al Jazeera and other radio and TV programs in Europe, the Arab world and Israel.