The Post-American World

Zakaria’s principal thesis is that as the global economy grows, power is spreading into more and more hands. This is ending the period of American hegemony, which has lasted since the end of the Cold War—or arguably since World War II, as the US economy was also vastly more powerful than that of the Soviet Union. This is partially due to American mistakes; the financial crisis of 2008 was an unequivocal example of financial recklessness that delegitimized decades’ worth of Wall Street orthodoxies. On the whole, however, it is a structural phenomenon reflecting broad historical trends. It is, in many respects, a logical follow-up to the era of American hegemony, which accelerated a process of globalization whereby the habits of capitalism, the English language, and shared modes of popular culture became universalized. Specific practices, like the free flow of capital across boundaries and aggressive efforts by central banks to combat inflation, helped to unleash the massive potential of developing economies. Once the West taught the rest of the world how to inhabit a “more open, connected, exacting international environment […] they […] also g[ave] countries everywhere fresh opportunities to start moving up the ladder of growth and prosperity” (28), therefore standing on their own without requiring support or instruction from the West.