Thomas Wright suggests that the Obama administration start thinking about what it can salvage from the decline and fall of Pax Americana:
'The Obama administration should continue to engage emerging powers, but it now needs a new strategy of preservation to ensure the current international order can withstand external pressures and function effectively, even if a major power, such as China, decides to undermine it. To do this the US needs to build new geopolitical partnerships and alliances; Indonesia and India are good candidates. It must seek European support for core principles of openness, including freedom of the seas, space and cyberspace, to be upheld even if China and others encroach upon them. It should give more influence to nations willing to take on greater responsibilities in tackling shared problems â?? including South Korea, and on certain issues Vietnam and Turkey â?? and pressure those who do not.'
If the administration wants to preserve an international environment that values "openness" it will need more than new alliances with emerging Asian powers - it will need an economic and trade agenda to match.
(AP Photo)