Great Powers, Strategy and International Order

This chapter raises the following main points: Great powers are distinguished from other members of the international system not only by their extensive military political and economic capacity but also because they play a distinctive role in managing order in the international system.The primacy of great powers is underwritten by three key assumptions. First, that great powers are able to impose order on the system; second, that they share a common understanding about the structure and purpose of the order they manage; and finally, that great powers cannot be constrained by international institutions, laws or norms.Circumstances in the twenty-first century increasingly challenge the status of great powers. As power is redistributed, there is no consensus among the powerful as to the nature or purpose of international order.The experience of the US, as the only great power is beginning to show the diminishing returns of pursuing a great power grand strategy. This is in part because there are no other great powers to help sustain the order but also because of the declining capacity of states to shape outcomes in a globalized world.