As I see it | An America without independent institutions cannot stay No 1
If reviving a country and the international order means institutional reform and renewal, Donald Trump is deliberately doing the opposite
When you buy a stock, you are paying for future profits, not current earnings. It seems that a similar principle applies to countries. The fact that a company or a country is at the top now means nothing if the main indicators are flashing red.
I am reminded of this investment adage by a new article in Foreign Affairs, titled “The Multipolar Delusion and the Unilateral Temptation”. It argues there has been, and still is, only one hegemonic pole in the international order, and that is the United States.
From the title, you know what Mohan is going to argue. “The number of genuine poles in the world today is the same as it has been for the past 35 years: one,” he wrote.
Most interesting is that the article argues only the US can restrain its own powers. Now that everyone is claiming the moment of multipolarity has arrived, it doesn’t need to act with restraint any more.