DISADVANTAGE/LEADERSHIP BAD

USA LEADERSHIP IS ON-BALANCE HARMFUL

AMERICAN HEGEMONY CANNOT BE SUSTAINED AND IS MORE HARMFUL THAN BENEFICIAL, TO US AND THE WORLD

CHRISTOPHER LAYNE, The Plain Dealer November 17, 1999 SECTION: EDITORIALS & FORUM; Pg. 11B HEADLINE: SUPERPOWER ROLE IS SELF-DEFEATING

At the heart of that strategy is America's desire to perpetuate its supreme global role. And why not? What could be better than being the sole superpower in a unipolar world? The answer usually given in Washington is "nothing." In the real world, however, this unilateral dominance - what political scientists call hegemony - is self-defeating. Hegemony cannot be sustained, and attempts to do so may ultimately prove harmful to American interests.

THE CURRENT OF HISTORY GUARANTEES THAT EFFORTS TO REASSERT USA HEGEMONY WILL FAIL

RICHARD N. HAASS, Director of Foreign Policy Studies, and Chair in International Security at the Brookings Institution, Foreign Affairs, September, 1999 / October, 1999; Pg. 37 HEADLINE: What to Do With American Primacy // ln-10/99-acs

Moreover, U.S. superiority will not last. As power diffuses around the world, America's position relative to others will inevitably erode. It may not seem this way at a moment when the American economy is in full bloom and many countries around the world are sclerotic, but the long-term trend is unmistakable. Other nations are rising, and nonstate actors -- ranging from Usama bin Ladin to Amnesty International to the International Criminal Court to George Soros -- are increasing in number and acquiring power. For all these reasons, an effort to assert or expand U.S. hegemony will fail. Such an action would lack domestic support and stimulate international resistance, which in turn would make the costs of hegemony all the greater and its benefits all the smaller.