Chapter Fourteen
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another power’s rise.
In Nye’s opinion, it is misleading to use the analogy of Great Britain
for America. Britain had the absolute naval supremacy at that time, and set
up the empire, but in the First World War, the UK was in fourth place in
the rankings in terms of the size of its army and the GDP of major global
countries, while it was third in the military expenditure. Along with the
national independence movements which spread like a storm at that time,
it was no longer a treasure to sustain such an enormous empire, but rather
a huge burden. On the contrary, the US has much more freedom than the
UK in taking actions. The UK was in the face of pressure from Germany
and Russia’s rapid rise, while the US benefits from the natural barriers of
the Atlantic and Pacific, which make it’s neighbours–Canada and Mexico–
rather insignificant.^9
As to some authoritative sholars’ judgments that whitewash Washington’s
inefficiency in dealing with the issues of Afghanistan and Iran by quoting
America’s glorious past, Nye has retorted that America’s power is not like
before, but it was not as powerful as people thought either. After World
War II, America owned nuclear weapons and became the unique Global
Power. However, the US still had no alternative but to “lose” China, and it
couldn’t drive the communist forces out of Eastern Europe, solve the
deadlock of the Korean War, prevent the fall of North Vietnam, nor shake
Castro’s governing in Cuba. National power measured by resources rarely
equals the expected result.
In the face of doubt that America has suffered a lot from its long-
lasting empire, Nye argued that is not true for the moment. On the
contrary, in the past decades, the proportion of spending in defense and
military in GDP continues in a downward trend. However, the US is still
likely to decline, due to its domestic conflicts, rather than its long-lasting
empire. The Roman Empire crumbled from within, and some analysts
have noticed this trend in current American politics, and predict that the
US will be “losing clout” in international affairs due to ideological
struggles, the collapse of the political system, and economic stagnation.
This possibility cannot be ruled out, but both this trend and the depression
remain vague. As to many American commentators who feel worried
about its inefficient political system, Nye explained that America’s
Founding Fathers set up the system of balance of power and guaranteed
freedom by expanding efficiency. Now America is in a period of severe
partisan opposition, and such political confrontation is quite common in
American history. The current situation is rather severe, but the former had
(^9) http://www.rmlt.com.cn/News/201012/201012101033552615_2.html