Michael Cox, Agonies of Empire: American Power from Clinton to Biden

Bristol, Bristol University Press, 2022, 204 pp.

Abstract

With an unprecedented position in the history of international relations after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States and its power preoccupied pundits and historians alike. In the last 30 years, they tried to analyse the sources of American power, its limits, and even its possible decline. The multiple crises that put American hegemony to the test after the Cold War created an ongoing debate between those with a declinist position, who foresee the inevitability demise of American power, and those with an optimistic view, who continue to believe in the dominance of U.S. global leadership.