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Redefining World Power

By William Pfaff
America and the World 1990
Article Summary and Author Biography

"Today there is not, as some argue, a single superpower, the United States; there are none". National power rests on a triad of (1) military power (2) economic and technological competitiveness (3) social cohesion and public consensus on national goals. Though pre-eminent in the first, the USA has faltered on the other two, with the result that "the world is moving towards a restored pluralism of power, a multipolar geopolitics". Concludes with speculation on three variables likely to shape the multipolar world (1) the future of the disintegrating USSR (2) relations within the EC, particularly as affected by German unification (3) how far the USA will be able to retrieve its position in respect of the second and third legs of the triad.

William Pfaff's latest book is Barbarian Sentiments: How the American Century Ends (1989). He is a contributor to The New Yorker and a columnist for The International Herald Tribune and The Los Angeles Times.

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