“How powerful is the United States?”
might seem like a dumb question.
By just
looking at the US military, economy, and political influence you could conclude, as
studies by the National Intelligence Council did in 2008 and 2012, that the United States
is the “single most powerful country” in the world.
They also think that it will remain that
way until at least 2025.
So instead of focusing on the United States’ strengths, we’re
going to focus on it’s limitations.
Yes, the United States is the most powerful, but how
effectively can they wield that power?
The answer is: not too effectively.
For starters, the US government is largely
governed by an elaborate system of checks and balances, which is good for maintaining
stability, but bad for wielding power.
For example, the President is the commander and chief of the armed forces, but only
Congress can declare war on other nations or authorize extended military campaigns,
like our current war on terror, which is currently authorized under an act passed by
Congress in the wake of 9/11.
So, right now, the President can do what he needs to
do to fight Al Qaeda, but he cannot conduct extended military campaigns against other
non-al qaeda affiliated nations without Congress’s sign off.
Even if another nation, like
lets say Russia, were to do something that the President disagreed with, like lets say
annex Crimea or invade Ukraine, the President’s hands would still be tied.
Plus, both the President and Congress are in power for limited periods of time and
freely elected by the people.
If the President or Congress were to vote for or start an
unpopular war, it could be difficult for them to stay in office.
So, at the beginning of
any large scale conflict, elected officials have to be at least somewhat certain that
the people will go for it.
This is why the majority of the United States’s overt military
actions are against outside aggressors like Japan in World War Two, rogue states like
Iraq in Desert Storm, or as a direct result of a terrorist attack on US soil or against
US
embassies.
It would be very difficult for our Government to start an overt conflict with a
foreign state without one of those contingencies happening first.
I say overt conflict, because the US does have a history of using covert operations
to overthrow or overly influence other nations.
And it is a history spotted with messy
failures that act more as proof of the US’s lack of power than anything else.
To hear
more about that, check out our video on the US’s current relationship with Iran.
Obviously, that is just one approach to the limits of US power, and there are many
other examples.
Russia and China’s place on the UN security council being chief
among them.
To find out more about that click here and please let us know in the
comments, any other angles you would like us to point to in the future or anything else
you’d like to know.