What Have We Learned?

Abstract

It is often said that victors of the Second World War succeeded in winning the peace in their respective spheres of influence, whereas the victors of the First World War had failed to do the same. The jury is still out on the presumed victors of the Cold War. The world of 2019 is less stable, less predictable, and less orderly than the world of twenty years before; or so it is perceived. In this chapter we suggest several lessons that may be learned from this mismatch between perceptions and realities of American power in the world and reflect on how some of the perceived mistakes of the post-Cold War era may be remedied before a good deal more of America’s power and influence is lost.