Strategic Implications of the Unipolar Moment

Much has been written about today's American empire, its basis and its probable longevity. Is this a "unipolar moment" as Charles Krauthammer speculated,1 or is the American experience somehow exceptional and destined to last forever? If fleeting, what might come next and: most importantly: what might America do now to prepare for its supercession?This paper addresses that question through a historical review of empires. Two criteria: unipolarity and elegance: are proposed to help select three case studies from the universe of possible examples which would provide relevant and useful comparisons to the United States' current situation.2 The imperial decline of Great Britain, Spain, and the Soviet Union are explored with the objective of identifying behaviors or adaptations conducive to elegant decline and those behaviors and adaptations which detract from elegant decline.