Still Ours to Lead : America, Rising Powers, and the Tension Between Rivalry and Restraint

Is the United States still a "superpower"? How are the rising powers establishing themselves in international politics and security? What is the future of global stability? For over a decade, Bruce Jones has had a front-row seat as the emerging powers -principally China, India, and Brazil, but also Turkey, Indonesia, Korea, and others - thrust themselves onto the global stage. From Delhi to Doha to Beijing to Brasilia, he's met with the politicians, diplomats, business leaders, and scholars of those powers as they craft their strategies for rising influence - and with senior American officials as they forge their response. In Still Ours to Lead, Jones tells a nuanced story of American leadership. He artfully examines the tension between the impulse to rival the United States and the incentives for restraint and cooperation among the rising powers. That balance of rivalry and restraint provides the United States with a continued ability to solve problems and to manage crises at roughly the same rate as when American dominance was unquestioned. Maintaining the balance is central to the question of whether we will live in a stable or unstable system in the period to come. But it just so happens that this challenge plays to America's unique strength - its unparalleled ability to pull together broad and disparate coalitions for action. To succeed, America must adapt its leadership to new realities America is debating its role in the world. Critics contend that we are leading from behind in places such as Libya, and not at all in places such as Syria. There are pervasive fears about our lost influence in the international economy and of the threat posed by a rising China. The debate has been shaped by concepts of American decline and Western disunity and the rise of a powerful bloc of emerging powers. The result, it is argued, is that we live in a "post-Western" world, a leaderless world, where conflict and disorder will outpace cooperation and problem solving. In this provocative Brookings FOCUS book, Bruce Jones explains why these are myths or, at the very least, exaggerations. The United States is still by far the most influential actor in international politics and security, and it does not face a changing world alone --America has myriad allies, including many of the world's top economic and security powers. Together, the United States and its partners still hold the preponderance of power in international politics and economics and will for some time to come. What's more, the rising powers are deeply divided among themselves --in actuality, there is very little mortar among the emergent BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). And some of the emerging powers are actively seeking to strengthen, not weaken, the international order --though of course, they want a greater seat at the table as they do so. Nor is it just these five that are rising: among the ranks of nations whose influence in international politics is increasing are countries such as South Korea and Germany, close U.S. allies both. And while China is clearly going to challenge some aspects of American leadership, there are other places where the United States and China share interests. This account --which draws on years of insider access to top decisionmakers both in Washington and in the capitals of the rising powers --shows there is more appetite for cooperation than meets the eye. There are risks ahead, to be sure; but in the race between the American-led order and the "coming disorder," it's still ours to lose.

Is the United States still a "superpower"? How are the rising powers establishing themselves in international politics and security? What is the future of global stability?

For over a decade, Bruce Jones has had a front-row seat as the emerging powers—principally China, India, and Brazil, but also Turkey, Indonesia, Korea, and others—thrust themselves onto the global stage. From Delhi to Doha to Beijing to Brasilia, he's met with the politicians, diplomats, business leaders, and scholars of those powers as they craft their strategies for rising influence—and with senior American officials as they forge their response.

In Still Ours to Lead, Jones tells a nuanced story of American leadership. He artfully examines the tension between the impulse to rival the United States and the incentives for restraint and cooperation among the rising powers. That balance of rivalry and restraint provides the United States with a continued ability to solve problems and to manage crises at roughly the same rate as when American dominance was unquestioned. Maintaining the balance is central to the question of whether we will live in a stable or unstable system in the period to come. But it just so happens that this challenge plays to America's unique strength—its unparalleled ability to pull together broad and disparate coalitions for action. To succeed, America must adapt its leadership to new realities.

In Still Ours To Lead, Jones Tells A Nuanced Story Of American Leadership. He Artfully Examines The Tension Between The Impulse To Rival The United States And The Incentives For Restraint And Cooperation Among The Rising Powers. Introduction -- Part I. A Greatly Exaggerated Decline : The Fall And Rise Of Major Powers -- 1. America's Enduring Power -- 2. The Trillionaires' Club -- 3. No Mortar In The Brics -- Part Ii. Of Rivalry And Restraint : The Persistence Of Cooperation -- 4. Overlapping Interests : Transnational Threats And The Security Of Globalization -- 5. Shaping It, Not Breaking It : Economics, Energy, And Climate Change -- 6. Muddling Through And Missed Opportunities : Crisis And Intervention -- 7. Competitors, Not Cold Warriors : U.s.-china Relations -- Part Iii. How America Can Still Win Friends And Influence History -- 8. What Lies Ahead? Of Scenarios And Shadows -- 9. American Leadership In A Fractured Age. Bruce Jones. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 221-251) And Index.