Foreword to Capacity and Resolve Foreign Assessments of U.S. Power

June 19, 2011

Five years ago, CSIS launched a Commission on Smart Power to propose an optimistic vision for revitalizing U.S. global leadership. The perception at the time was that the United States had turned an angry face to the world, lost its moral authority, and relied too heavily on hard military power.

This perception began to change in the closing years of the Bush administration and with the changeover to the Obama team, but the ensuing economic crisis exposed two great structural challenges facing the United States. First, in a globalized world, vectors of prosperity quickly become vectors of insecurity. And, second, the center of gravity in world affairs is shifting to Asia.

During the past two years we have heard a steady chorus predicting, and in some places celebrating, America’s decline. I never believed this for a simple reason. Every serious problem in the world still requires American involvement. But the chorus keeps singing, and it has started to shape people’s perceptions at home and abroad.