As the U.S. government debates what to do about Syrian chemical weapons use, the time is apt to reflect on the declining utility of overwhelming global military dominance. U.S.’s current military and economic position may resemble Britain’s circa 1870, when the empire was at the height of its power, but whereas the British followed a two-power strategy (that its naval forces would be as large as the next two largest navies in the world), today the U.S. apparently has the same military expenditure as the next 12 best-funded militaries worldwide combined. Nevertheless, long gone are the days when being the top nation militarily meant you could invade half-continents, and get countries to adopt your national sport. Ironically, although the U.S. military system has the power to wipe civilisation off the face of the planet, it is actually considerably less capable of actually imposing its political leaders’ will on the world than the British armed forces were over a century ago.
Source: Bloomberg / Businessweek / Reuters