During the Cold War, the U.S. position in the world was a lot
like the ancient philosopher-astronomer Ptolemy’s theory of the
universe. For Ptolemy the Earth was at the center with the other
planets, indeed all the other celestial bodies, revolving around
it. So too, the United States was at the center of the Cold War
world. We were the wielder of power, the economic engine, and
the bastion of free world ideology. Indeed with the demise and
defeat of the Soviet Union, American centrality seemed even more
immutable. We were the sole surviving superpower, the American
economy was driving globalization, and Democracy was spreading
across the globe. The world seemed even more Ptolemaic than it
had during the Cold War. Not anymore. The 21st century world is
a Copernican one. The Earth/United States is not at the center.
It/we have our own orbit. Other planets/countries do too. This
is evident geopolitically with rising powers like China, India
and Brazil, recovering powers like Russia, and evolving powers
like the