BACK in 1998, Madeleine Albright, then the secretary of state, called the United States the “indispensable nation.” She meant that this country, armed with unmatchable force and influence, stood at the helm of a web of alliances and global organisations that guided world events. More than 50 years after the invention of nuclear weapons, the US had presided over a Pax Americana that had kept the peace among the nuclear powers.
Today, more than a quarter century later, are we still the indispensable nation? The answer is yes – but probably not for much longer. The era of Pax Americana is ending. It is ending not because any rival nation can or will replace us, but because we are abdicating.
