Paradoxes of Power

David Skidmore is Professor of Politics and International Relations at Drake University and author or editor of several books including International Political Economy: The Struggle for Power and Wealth (Wadsworth 2002) and Contested Social Orders and International Politics (Vanderbilt University Press 1997).

• Introduction; I: U.S. Dominance and Its Limits; 1: American Primacy in Perspective; 2: The Decline of America's Soft Power; 3: The Inadequacy of American Power; 4: America as a European Hegemon; 5: A Global Power Shift in the Making; II: An American Empire?; 6: History Lesson; 7: Is the U.S. an Empire?; 8: The New American Militarism; 9: The American Empire; 10: The Case for American Empire; 11: The Empire Slinks Back; III: Strategic Choice; 12: Democratic Realism; 13: After Neoconservatism; 14: Leadership at Risk; 15: Is American Multilateralism in Decline?; IV: Attitudes toward American Power at Home and Abroad; 16: The Paradoxes of American Nationalism; 17: Power and Weakness; 18: The Effects of September 11; 19: Views of a Changing World 2003; 20: Taming American Power; V: Case Studies in U.S. Grand Strategy; 21: The National Security Strategy of the United States of America, 2002; 22: The Case for Overthrowing Saddam Was Unimpeachable; 23: America's Imperial Ambition; 24: Realism's Shining Morality; 25: Bounding the Global War on Terrorism; 26: The End of the Bush Revolution; Conclusion

“In the light of the September 11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent U.S. invasion of Iraq, America's role in the world has become an increasingly contentious question. The final chapter in the Iraq undertaking has yet to be written, but in the meanwhile a wide and discordant range of voices has been heard on the issue. David Skidmore has effectively brought together a fine collection of essays that will help sharpen the debates.” —Ole Hosti, George V. Allen Professor of International Affairs, Duke University