The Post-American World

Zakaria notes in the Preface that the first edition of the book was published just in time for the 2008 financial crisis, an event that advanced his thesis that the dominant position of the West (and the United States specifically) in global politics was beginning to wane, especially in terms of economics. This gave way to a more genuinely global and multipolar international system. Since the second edition was published in 2011, there is now more than a decade’s worth of additional evidence to consider the validity of his thesis. The most significant development has been the continued ascent of China on the world stage, a trend that Zakaria details but has accelerated further since the time of his publication. Under the Obama administration (which Zakaria touches on only briefly in the updated edition), the US attempted a so-called “pivot to Asia,” sold as a refocusing of resources away from the Middle East but generally understood as an attempt to contain growing Chinese power.

China was, and currently is as of 2025, under the leadership of Xi Jinping, who took power in 2011. China responded to the US by making more assertive claims in the South China Sea, and it introduced the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank as an alternative to the Western-dominated World Bank. US efforts to prevent some of its allies from joining failed, as Australia, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom are all members. China’s economic growth has slowed in recent years due to an aging population and overinvestment in real estate. Nonetheless, China is still the leading producer of alternative energies, and its growing consumer market leads many trading partners to overlook some of its questionable human rights practices.

While itself a Western power, Russia has also been pivotal in widening the gulf between “the West and the rest,” especially following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The US and its European allies have viewed the conflict through the lens of defending the “rules-based international order” against aggression. However, states like India, the continued development of which relies on access to Russian oil, have refrained from complying with Western-led sanctions even as it cooperates with the West in other regards, such as its own rivalry with China. China and India alike generally rely on good relations with the West to advance their core interests, but it is evident that the West is not able to dictate terms. These states will not hesitate to go their own way when their interests collide.

One of the most consequential effects of increasing globalization has been increasing patterns of migration to Europe and the United States. Whether seeking economic opportunities, fleeing violence, or losing their homes to the effects of climate change, millions of people have made what is often a life-threatening journey to seek refuge in more developed Western countries. This has created a backlash in the form of anti-immigrant political movements, which have won elections in the US and many European states. For example, opposition to migrants was a major motivator in the UK’s “Brexit” vote. However, they have struggled to formulate policies that deter or divert patterns of mass migration, furthering Zakaria’s point that the traditional modes of state policy are less effective in a more transnational global system.

The most potent evidence for this came in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic, when an outbreak in Wuhan, China, led to millions of deaths and massive economic disruption around the world, confounding most governments’ attempts to contain it. The world very much remains “post-American” in the sense that the US cannot simply impose its will, as seen most viscerally in the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan. There are also systemic forces at work, such as the movement of peoples and even viruses, that present fiercer challenges to the nation-state than those Zakaria describes in the text. It is not merely a post-American world; it may also be turning into a post-national world.