This century’s defining battle could be won or lost without a shot fired. As President Barack Obama’s National Security Strategy makes clear, the rules-based system we have led since World War II is competing against alternative, more mercantilist models. Unlike past challenges to American leadership, this competition is primarily economic in nature, and victory hinges more on opening markets and raising standards than on building bombs and raising armies.
To be sure, the traditional link between economics and strategy hasn’t been upended as much as extended. Beginning with the first estimates of national income, which were developed in 17th century Europe …read more
Source: Foreign Policy
