US Leadership Fades: Europe's Uneasy Alliance Enters New Era

Geopolitics expert Manlio Graziano argues a new world order is emerging. In it, the United States remains a superpower but has stopped acting as the "leader of the free world." For fifty years, strategic failures in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan have exposed the limits of American global dominance. This has led to a decline in U.S. influence, or hegemony. The result is a period of U.S. strategic incoherence. Graziano states this creates a difficult dilemma for Europe. Europe still needs American partnership for security and other goals. However, European nations now know they cannot fully trust or rely on the United States as they once did. This forces Europe into an uneasy and uncertain relationship with its traditional ally.