Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A Leader Without Followers? The United States in World Politics after Bush

  • The End of the ‘unipolar Moment’?
  • Published:
International Politics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper argues that while the US might retain the desire, and up to a point the material capacity to lead, it is likely to find itself increasingly without followers. Partly this is because the US is less accepted as a model, partly it is because of differences on specific policies, and partly it is because of the changing foundations of legitimacy in international society. The big issues likely to dominate the international agenda in the coming years are more likely to decrease than to increase the willingness of others to follow the US. The waning of US leadership is not just a consequence of the particular incompetence of the Bush administration over the last 8 years, though that has surely amplified the problem. It reflects deeper changes that make global hegemony by any single power, or even by the West collectively, decreasingly legitimate.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Kevin Conrad representing Papua New Guinea, Bali Conference, December 2007 (http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/B/BALI_CLIMATE_CONFERENCE?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT — accessed December 24, 2007)

  2. An earlier version of this paper was presented to a seminar of the Global Policy Institute of the London Metropolitan University on 8 November, 2007 and the text may be found on the Institute's website. I am grateful for permission to reproduce various passages within this much more extended version.

References

  • Allin, D.H. (2004) ‘The Atlantic Crisis of Confidence’, International Affairs 80 (4): 649–663.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bacevich, A.J. (2002) American Empire: the Realities and Consequences of U.S. Diplomacy, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Betts, R.K. (1993–4) ‘Wealth, Power and Instability: East Asia and the United States after the Cold War’, International Security 18 (3): 34–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boukhars, A. and Yetiv, S.A. (2003) ‘9/11 and the Growing Euro-American Chasm over the Middle East’, European Security 12 (1): 64–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buzan, B. (2004) The United States and the Great Powers: World Politics in the Twenty-First Century, Oxford: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buzan, B. (2006) ‘Will the ‘Global War on Terrorism’ be the New Cold War?’, International Affairs 82 (6): 1101–1118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calleo, D. (1999) ‘The United States and the Great Powers’, World Policy Journal 16 (3): 11–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calleo, D. (2004) ‘The Broken West’, Survival 46 (3): 29–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chace, J. (2003) ‘Present at the Destruction: The Death of American Internationalism’, World Policy Journal 20 (1): 1–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christensen, T.J. (2001) ‘Posing Problems without Catching Up: China's Rise and Challenge for US Security Policy’, International Security 25 (4): 5–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, I. (1989) The Hierarchy of States: Reform and Resistance in the International Order, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, I. (2005) Legitimacy in International Society, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, J.C.D. (2004) ‘Is There Still A West? The Trajectory of a Category’, Orbis 48 (4): 577–591.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clinton, W.J. (1997) ‘Inaugural Address’, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/print.php?pid=54183(accessed December 2, 2007).

  • Crossette, B. (2002) ‘Killing One's Progeny” America and the United Nations’, World Policy Journal 19 (3): 5–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daalder, I.H. and Lindsay, J.M. (2003) America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy, Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deudney, D.H. (2007) Bounding Power, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, D.H. (2005) ‘Isolationsim Revisited: Seven Persistent Myths in the Contemporary American Foreign Policy Debate’, Review of International Studies 31 (2): 237–261.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guzzini, S. (2002) ‘Foreign Policy Without Diplomacy: The Bush Administration at a Crossroads’, International Relations 16 (2): 291–297.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haass, R.N. (1999) ‘What to Do With American Primacy’, Foreign Affairs, September/October (web offprint, 12 pp.).

  • Harper, J.L. (2005) ‘Anatomy of a Habit: America's Unnecessary Wars’, Survival 47 (2): 57–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hendrickson, D.C. (2002) ‘Towards Universal Empire: The Dangerous Quest for Absolute Security’, World Policy Journal 19 (3): 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hurrell, A. (2002) ‘There Are No Rules” (George W. Bush): International Order After September 11’, International Relations 16 (2): 185–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hurrell, A. (2007) On Global Order, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ikenberry, G.J. (2001) After Victory: Institutions, Strategic Restraint and the Rebuilding of Order After Major Wars, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ikenberry, J.G. (2002) ‘Multilateralism and U.S. Grand Strategy’, in S. Patrick and S. Forman (eds.) Multilateralism in U.S. Foreign Policy, Boulder CO.: Lynne Rienner, pp. 121–140.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kapstein, E.B. (1999) ‘Does Unipolarity Have a Future?’, in E.B. Kapstein and M. Mastanduno (eds.) Unipolar Politics: Realism and State Strategies After the Cold War, New York: Columbia University Press, 464–490.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kapstein, E.B. and Mastanduno, M. (eds.) (1999) Unipolar Politics: Realism and State Strategies after the Cold War, New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katzenstein, P.J. and Keohane, R.O. (eds.) (2006) Anti-Americanisms in World Politics, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kupchan, C.A. (1998) ‘After Pax Americana: Benign Power, Regional Integration, and the Sources of Stable Multipolarity’, International Security 23 (2): 40–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kupchan, C.A. (2002) The End of the American Era: US Foreign Policy and the Geopolitics of the Twenty-first Century, New York: Alfred Knopf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kupchan, C.A. (2006) ‘The Fourth Age: The Next Era in Transatlantic Relations’, The National Interest 85: 77–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lake, D.A. (1999) ‘Ulysses's Triumph: American Power and the New World Order’, Security Studies 8 (4): 44–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Layne, C. (1997) ‘From Preponderance to Offshore Balancing: America's Future Grand Strategy’, International Security 22 (1): 86–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Layne, C. (2006) ‘The Unipolar Illusion Revisited: The Coming End of the United States’ Unipolar Moment’, International Security 31 (2): 7–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lustick, I.S. (1997) ‘The Absence of Middle Eastern Great Powers: Political “Backwardness” in Historical Perspective’, International Organization 51 (4): 653–683.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prestowitz, C.P. (2003) Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions, New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rees, M. (2003) Our Final Century, London: William Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross, R.S. (1999) ‘The Geography of Peace: East Asia in the Twenty-first Century’, International Security 23 (4): 81–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy, D. (1994) ‘Hegemon on the Horizon? China's Threat to East Asian Security’, International Security 19 (1): 149–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shambaugh, D. (1996) ‘Containment or Engagement of China? Calculating Beijing's Responses’, International Security 21 (2): 180–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spiro, P.J. (2000) ‘The New Sovereigntists: American Exceptionalism and Its False Prophets’, Foreign Affairs 79 (6): 9–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valencia, M.J. (2005) The Proliferation Security Initiative: Making Waves in Asia, Adelphi Paper 376, London, IISS.

  • Walker, W. (2000) ‘Nuclear Order and Disorder’, International Affairs 76 (4): 725–739.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ward, A. (2003) ‘China and America: Trouble Ahead?’, Survival 45 (3): 35–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, A. (1992) The Evolution of International Society, London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, A. (1997) The Limits of Independence: Relations Between States in the Modern World, London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, P. (2005) ‘International terrorism: the changing threat and the EU's response’, Chaillot Paper 84, Institute for Security Studies, Paris, 53pp.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of International Relations, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London, W2A 2AE, UK

    Barry Buzan

Authors
  1. Barry Buzan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Buzan, B. A Leader Without Followers? The United States in World Politics after Bush. Int Polit 45, 554–570 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1057/ip.2008.21

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ip.2008.21

Keywords

Search

Navigation