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Power and Influence in India: Bosses, Lords and Captains (Exploring the Political in South Asia)
by Pamela Price Arild Engelsen RuudTaking cognisance of the lack of studies on leadership in modern India, this book explores how leadership is practiced in the Indian context, examining this across varied domains — from rural settings and urban neighbourhoods to political parties and state governments. The importance of individual leaders in the projection of politics in South Asia is evident from how political parties, mobilisation of movements and the media all focus on carefully constructed personalities. Besides, the politically ambitious have considerable room for manoeuvre in the institutional setup of the Indian subcontinent. This book focuses on actors making their political career and/or aspiring for leadership roles, even as it also foregrounds the range of choices open to them in particular contexts. The articles in this volume explore the variety of strategies used by politically engaged actors in trying to acquire (or keep) power — symbolic action, rhetorical usage, moral conviction, building of alliances — illustrating, in the process, both the opportunities and constraints experienced by them. In taking a qualitative approach and tracking both political styles and transactions, this book provides insights into the nature of democracy and the functioning of electoral politics in the subcontinent.
Power and Knowledge in Southeast Asia: State and Scholars in Indonesia and the Philippines (Rethinking Southeast Asia)
by Rommel A. CuramingExamining two state-sponsored history writing projects in Indonesia and the Philippines in the 1970s, this book illuminates the contents and contexts of the two projects and, more importantly, provides a nuanced characterization of the relationship between embodiments of power (state, dictators, government officials) and knowledge (intellectuals, historians, history). Known respectively as Sejarah Nasional Indonesia (SNI) and the Tadhana project, these projects were initiated by the Suharto and Marcos authoritarian regimes against the backdrop of rising and competing nationalisms, as well as the regimes’ efforts at political consolidation. The dialectics between actors and the politico-academic contexts determine whether scholarship and politics would clash, mutually support, or co-exist parallel with one another. Rather than one side manipulating or co-opting the other, this study shows the mutual need or partnership between scholars and political actors in these projects. This book proposes the need to embrace rather than deny or transcend the entwined power/knowledge if the idea is for scholarship to realize its truly progressive visions. Analyzing the dynamics of state–scholar relations in the two countries, the book will be of interest to academics in the fields on Southeast Asian history and politics, nationalism, historiography, intellectual history, postocolonial studies, cultural studies, and the sociology of knowledge.
Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa
by J. Cameron Monroe Akinwumi OgundiranThis volume examines the archaeology of precolonial West African societies in the era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Using historical and archaeological perspectives on landscape, this collection of essays sheds light on how involvement in the commercial revolutions of the early modern period dramatically reshaped the regional contours of political organization across West Africa. The essays examine how social and political transformations occurred at the regional level by exploring regional economic networks, population shifts, cultural values and ideologies. The book demonstrates the importance of anthropological insights not only to the broad political history of West Africa, but also to an understanding of political culture as a form of meaningful social practice.
Power and Legitimacy
by Anne QuémaAn interdisciplinary analysis of the ways in which symbolic acts create social norms, Power and Legitimacy is an important contribution to the growing body of scholarship on law and literature. Drawing on the theoretical insights of Judith Butler and Pierre Bourdieu, Anne Quéma demonstrates the effect of symbolic violence on the creation of social and political legitimacy.Examining modern jurisprudence theory, statutory law, and the family within the modern Gothic novel, Quéma shows how the forms and effects of political power transform as one shifts from discourse to discourse. An impressive integration of the scholarship in these three fields, Power and Legitimacy is a thought-provoking analysis of the basis of power and the law.
Power and Legitimacy: Challenges from Russia (Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe #39)
by Stefan Hedlund Per-Arne Bodin Elena NamliThis book sheds new light on the continuing debate within political thought as to what constitutes power, and what distinguishes legitimate from illegitimate power. It does so by considering the experience of Russia, a polity where experiences of the legitimacy of power and the collapse of power offer a contrast to Western experiences on which most political theory, formulated in the West, is based. The book considers power in a range of contexts – philosophy and discourse; the rule of law and its importance for economic development; the use of culture and religion as means to legitimate power; and liberalism and the reasons for its weakness in Russia. The book concludes by arguing that the Russian experience provides a useful lens through which ideas of power and legitimacy can be re-evaluated and re-interpreted, and through which the idea of "the West" as the ideal model can be questioned.
Power and Loss in South African Journalism: News in the age of social media
by Dr. Glenda DanielsThis timely collection of essays analyses the crisis of journalism in contemporary South Africa at a period when the media and their role are frequently at the centre of public debate. The transition to digital news has been messy, random and unpredictable. The spread of news via social media platforms has given rise to political propaganda, fake news and a flattening of news to banality and gossip. Media companies, however, continue to shrink newsrooms, ousting experienced journalists in favour of 'content producers'.Against this backdrop, Daniels points out the contribution of investigative journalists to exposing corruption and sees new opportunities emerging to forge a model for the future of non-profit, public-funded journalism. Engaging and dynamic, the book argues for the power of public interest journalism, including investigative journalism, and a diversity of voices and positions to be reflected in the news. It addresses the gains and losses from decolonial and feminist perspectives and advocates for a radical shift in the way power is constituted by the media in the South African postcolony.A valuable introduction to the confusion that confronts journalism students, it has much to offer practising media professionals. Daniels uses her years of experience as a newspaper journalist to write with authority and illuminate complex issues about newsroom politics. Interviews with alienated media professionals and a semi-autobiographical lens add a personal element that will appeal to readers interested in the inner life of the media.
Power and Love: A Theory and Practice of Social Change
by Adam KahaneA new approach, proven in the field, for making progress on our most important and difficult collective challenges Based on Kahane’s first-hand experiences working with teams of business, government and civil society leaders around the world Profound, personal and practical The two main ways that people try to solve their toughest group, community and societal problems are fundamentally flawed. They either push for what they want at all costs—in it’s most extreme form this means war—or try to completely avoid conflict, sweeping problems under the rug in the name of a superficial ”peace.” But there is a better way: combining these two seemingly contradictory approaches. Adam Kahane argues that each is a reflection of two distinct, fundamental drives: power, the single-minded desire to achieve one’s solitary purpose; and love, the drive towards unity. They are inextricable parts of human nature, so to achieve lasting change you have to able to work fluidly with both. In fact, each needs the other. As Martin Luther King put it, “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic.” Kahane delves deeply in the dual nature of power and love, exploring their complex and intricate interplay. With disarming honesty he relates how, through trial and error, he learned to balance between them, shifting from one to the other as though learning to walk—at first falling, then stumbling forward, and finally moving purposefully toward true, lasting reconciliation and progress. For the last twenty years Kahane has worked around the world on a variety of challenges: economic development, food security, health care, judicial reform, peace making, climate change. He has worked with diverse teams of leaders—executives and politicians, generals and guerillas, civil servants and trade unionists, community activists and United Nations officials, clergy and artists. He has seen, up close and personal, examples of inspiring progress and terrifying regress. Power and Love reports what he has learned from these hard-won experiences.
Power and Organizations: Collection: Power And Organizations Power And Politics (Foundations for Organizational Science series)
by Stewart R Clegg Nelson X. Phillips David Courpasson"A marvelous addition to the literature on both organizations and power. It is well-grounded in the research on these topics and especially the wide-range of relevant theorizing... The book is terrific at bringing together theory, research and the world of organizations." - George Ritzer, Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland "This book tirelessly illuminates the nooks and crannies of the power literature...taking readers on an audacious tour of power's multiple conceptualizations and expressions." - Hugh Willmott, Diageo Professor of Management Studies, University of Cambridge "Clegg and his associates expose the power dynamics that lie at the heart of all political and organizational arenas, and in so doing, they shed light on the underbelly along with the creative potentialities in organizational life." -Joyce Rothschild, Professor of Sociology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University "Strange but true - most studies of organizational hierarchies downplay the issue of power or uncritically assume more is better, while ignoring its pernicious effects. Stewart Clegg, David Courpasson and Nelson Phillips set the record straight." - Joanne Martin, Merrill Professor of Organizational Behavior and, by courtesy, Sociology Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Stanford In this tour de force, Stewart Clegg, David Courpasson and Nelson Phillips provide a comprehensive account of power and organizations, unlocking power as the central relation of modern organizations and society. The authors present an excellent synthesis of organization, social and political theory to offer an overview of power and organizations that is historically informed, addresses current issues and is comprehensive in scope. Power and Organizations reviews the evolution of theories on power and organization, presenting not only the theorists who identify power as positive, but also dealing with the negativity of power and the real horror of which organizations are capable, which has thus far been underplayed in organization theory. At the core of organizational power projects are organizational elites, whose politics and projects are examined extensively in the book. The book concludes by examining the implications for organizations and their elites of the trends, tendencies, and theories considered in the course of the book. This book is required reading for graduate students and researchers in areas such as organizational, social and political theory.
Power and Paradise in Walt Disney's World
by Cher Krause KnightIn this fascinating analysis, Cher Krause Knight peels back the actual and contextual layers of Walt Disney's inspiration and vision for Disney World in central Florida, exploring the reasons why the resort has emerged as such a prominent sociocultural force. Knight investigates every detail, from the scale and design of the buildings to the sidewalk infrastructure to which items could and could not be sold in the shops, discussing how each was carefully configured to shape the experience of every visitor. Expertly weaving themes of pilgrimage, paradise, fantasy, and urbanism, she delves into the unexpected nuances and contradictions of this elaborately conceived playland of the imagination.
Power and Paranoia in Syria-Iraq Relations: The Impact of Hafez Assad and Saddam Hussain (Durham Modern Middle East and Islamic World Series)
by Amjed RasheedThis book examines the perplexing twists and turns in Syria-Iraq relations which since the establishment of modern Syria and Iraq after the First World War have zigzagged between cooperation and hostility countless times. It questions why both countries switched regional and international alliances, but never formed one of their own, and assesses the role played by structural forces such as geopolitics, ideology, and regime survival. It also argues that a key factor was the individual personalities - the agency role - of Hafez Assad and Saddam Hussain, both of whom had a monopoly of power, similar ambitions and leadership styles, and great mistrust of each other, with the result that they clashed. It goes on to show how both were caught between commitment to pan-Arabism and the imperative for regime survival, and how this led them both to weaken pan-Arabism instead and construct sectarian polarisation to ensure regime survival. The book concludes that their ruthless fight left a heavy legacy where in both countries regime survival overshadowed state consolidation and nation-building, with both countries divided into smaller communities of faiths and ethnicities at war with each other.
Power and Party in an English City: An account of single-party rule (The\new Local Government Ser. #No. 20)
by David G. GreenPower and Party in an English City provides an account of how decisions are taken by the state at the level of locality. More specifically, it is an account of the private policy-making activities of a ruling Labour group of councillors in the major English city of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Despite the fact that local government in most of the towns and cities of England is one-party government, very little is known abotu the private behaviour of ruling party groups. In this book David Green provides a penetrating empirical study of the realities of local government. The author seeks to examine and analyse the importance of party discipline, the relationship between the Labour group of councillors and the party outside the council, the power of the committee chairmen, the role of local patronage and the openness of the local policy-making process. The government of Newcastle is perhaps the most closely association in the public mind with T. Dan Smith, the corrupt local politician. In fact, Smith had left local politics in Newcastle in teh mid-1960s. How was the city being run a decade or so later? This study is however much more than an inside view of the affairs of a single authority. The last part of the book is devoted to a discussion of aspects of some traditional and modern theories of democracy and specifically to what author sees as the inadequate advocacy of participatory democracy in recent years. Green makes a major contribution to our thinking about the kind of democracy that is possible in modern large-scale societies, explores weaknesses of moder theories and puts forward some original modifications to modern democratic theory, in the light of a theory of knowledge which is seen as more appropriate for modern natural and social scientific activity. This book was first published in 1981.
Power and Place in Etruria: The Spatial Dynamics of a Mediterranean Civilization, 1200–500 BC
by Simon StoddartThis volume fills a gap in the study of an important, yet neglected case of state formation, by taking a landscape perspective to Etruria. Simon Stoddart examines the infrastructure, hierarchy/heterarchy and spatial patterns of the Etruscans over time to investigate their political development from a new perspective. The analysis both crosses the divide from prehistory to history and applies a scaled analysis to the whole region between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Arno and Tiber rivers, with special focus on the neglected region between Populonia on the coast and Perugia and the north Umbrian region adjoining the Apennines. Stoddart uncovers the powerful places that were in dynamic tension not only between themselves, but also with the internal structure constituted by the descent groups that peopled them. He unravels the dynamically changing landscape of changing boundaries and buffer zones which contained robust urbanism, as well as less centralized, polyfocal nucleations.
Power and Possession in the Russian Revolution (Histories Of Economic Life Ser. #27)
by Professor Anne O'DonnellA history that reframes the Bolsheviks&’ unprecedented attempts to abolish private property after the revolutions of 1917 The revolutions of 1917 swept away not only Russia&’s governing authority but also the property order on which it stood. The upheaval sparked waves of dispossession that rapidly moved beyond the seizure of factories and farms from industrialists and landowners, envisioned by Bolshevik revolutionaries, to penetrate the bedrock of social life: the spaces where people lived. In Power and Possession in the Russian Revolution, Anne O&’Donnell reimagines the Bolsheviks&’ unprecedented effort to eradicate private property and to create a new political economy—socialism—to replace it.O&’Donnell&’s account captures the story of property in reverse, showing how the bonds connecting people to their things were broken and how new ways of knowing things, valuing them, and possessing them coalesced amid the political ferment and economic disarray of the Revolution. O&’Donnell reminds us that Russia&’s postrevolutionary confiscation of property, like many other episodes of mass dispossession in the twentieth century, largely escaped traditional forms of record keeping. She repairs this omission, drawing on sources that chronicle the lived experience of upheaval—popular petitions, apartment inspections, internal audits of revolutionary institutions, and records of the political police—to reconstruct an archive of dispossession. The result is an unusually intimate history of the Bolsheviks&’ attempts to conquer people and things.The Bolsheviks&’ reimagining of property not only changed peoples&’ lives and destinies, it formed the foundation of a new type of state—one that eschewed the defense of private property rights in favor of an enduring but enigmatic new domain: socialist state property.
Power and Privilege in Roman Society
by Richard Duncan-JonesHow far were appointments in the Roman Empire based on merit? Did experience matter? What difference did social rank make? This innovative study of the Principate examines the career outcomes of senators and knights by social category. Contrasting patterns emerge from a new database of senatorial careers. Although the highest appointments could reflect experience, a clear preference for the more aristocratic senators is also seen. Bias is visible even in the major army commands and in the most senior civilian posts nominally filled by ballot. In equestrian appointments, successes by the less experienced again suggest the power of social advantage. Senatorial recruitment gradually opened up to include many provincials but Italians still kept their hold on the higher social groupings. The book also considers the senatorial career more widely, while a final section examines slave careers and the phenomenon of voluntary slavery.
Power and Protest at an American University: No Confidence, No Fear (The Mobilization Series on Social Movements, Protest, and Culture)
by EllenKathryn Carnaghan E. KuhnThis book examines the successful no-confidence movement led by faculty at Saint Louis University in 2013 in an effort to unseat the university president, considering the reasons for success when similar movements often fail. Through a series of chapters written by faculty from many disciplines at the university, it uses a particular episode of faculty protest to shed light on wider issues concerning the circumstances in which faculty are likely to be motivated to protest, the institutional frameworks that make protest possible and the strategies that get results. As such, it will appeal to scholars of social movements with interests in protest and mobilization in the field of education.
Power and Protest in the Countryside: Studies of Rural Unrest in Asia, Europe, and Latin America
by Robert P. Weller Scott E. Guggenheim"Constitutes an important and timely addition to the literature on peasant rebellion; wisely, the editors have been eclectic in drawing from some of the leading historians, anthropologists, political scientists, and sociologists active in the field an analysis of the forms that rural violence has taken through the past three centuries."--Pacific Affairs
Power and Risk in Policymaking: Understanding Public Health Debates
by Josephine AdekolaThis book presents detailed accounts of policymaking in contemporary risk communication. Specifically, it expands on the understanding of the policy decision-making process where there is little or no evidential base, and where multiple interpretations, power dynamics and values shape the interpretation of public health risk issues. The book argues that public health risk communication is a process embedded within multiple dimensions of power and set out practical way forward for public health risk communication.
Power and Space: Essays on a Shifting Relationship (Routledge Research in Place, Space and Politics)
by John AllenPower and Space sets out the inherently spatial nature of power today and seeks to change the conversation around how power exercises us in the contemporary moment.The essays brought together in this book are a response to the fact that conventional descriptions of power and its ordered geographies no longer chime with our lived experience. Spatiality matters to the workings of power nowadays, and this book sheds light on what it is that we face when power is exercised through more subtle, spatially nuanced arrangements. It is divided into three parts, each representing a different kind of engagement with power’s relationship to space, from the spatial shifts in the way power is exercised through to its assemblage-like entanglements and, in turn, its progressive topological character. Throughout the book, a wide range of social, political and economic examples are drawn upon to illustrate a more provisional sense of power, ranging, for instance, from the seductive logic of privatized public spaces to the attempt by a data analytics company to manipulate political behaviour, through to the offshore spaces invented by rising financial elites to challenge the established banking order.Illustrating the new-found abilities of the powerful to make their presence felt, this book provides an accessible account of the practical workings of power in the present day. It will be invaluable to students and academics in human geography and urban studies as well as politics, sociology and cultural studies.
Power and Sustainability of the Chinese State (China Policy Series)
by Keun Lee Joon-Han Kim Wing Thye WooSince the start of the 21st century China has risen to the status of an important world power. This book examines Chinese power, focusing in particular, although not exclusively, on its economic capabilities, and considering how this is likely to develop in the future. It provides a detailed assessment of the key facets of Chinese power today, including GDP, growth, multinationals, and technological and scientific innovation. It identifies the key trends in these areas, compares China’s experience with other important global powers such as the US, and considers how this is viewed by the Chinese themselves, including through the lens of their popular culture and mass media. It goes on to identify the foremost problems facing China and the Chinese state today, including fiscal management and public finance, poverty, inequality and rural development, and considers whether China is capable of overcoming these challenges and continuing its remarkable economic development. It addresses crucial questions such as the impact of globalization on Chinese power, and whether Communist Party rule is sustainable for the foreseeable future.
Power and Technology: A Theory of Social, Technical and Natural Power
by Jan van DijkThe definition of power varies across disciplines. Social scientists tend to deal with social power, philosophers of technology with the relation between technology and society, and ecologists with the relation between natural and social power. Concepts of power and technology are freely used but this relationship is complex and multifaceted. In this analytic and ambitious textbook, Jan van Dijk brings these perspectives together to provide a more comprehensive answer. In attempting to integrate social, technical, and natural power into one framework, he develops a general concept of power which unites all three – the first time such an attempt has been made. The author argues that it is important to look at these concepts together: natural power is not simply a resource for technology and society, and its inclusion is crucial given the ecological impact of technologies. Overall, nine forms of power which comprise the framework are discussed in each chapter – force, construction, coercion, domination, discipline, dependency, information, persuasion, and authority – and at all levels (individuals, organizations, and societies). Van Dijk concludes with some practical implications and asks two key questions: how can automatic and autonomous technology such as AI be controlled by humans? And, how can we find a more sustainable and less exploitive technology? Power and Technology contains many figures, tables and illustrations and is suitable for students and scholars of technology studies and the sociology, philosophy and history of technology.
Power and Terror: Conflict, Hegemony, and the Rule of Force (Chomsky from Routledge)
by Noam ChomskyIn this pertinent book, Noam Chomsky examines the imbalanced dynamics of international power relations and the use of state terror by the United States and other Western powers in the Middle East in the post-9/11 era. This edition features new forewords by Fred Branfman and Chris Hedges reasserting the enduring importance of Chomsky’s work and extending Chomsky’s analysis to recent developments in the Middle East.Chomsky explores international relations since World War II to demonstrate that contemporary acts of terrorism cannot be understood outside the context of Western power and state terror throughout the world, particularly in the Middle East. In doing so, Chomsky demonstrates that state terror is intrinsic to U.S. foreign policy and fundamental in the maintenance of Western hegemony throughout the so-called War on Terror, including throughout the Obama administration.This new edition offers a vital critique of U.S. foreign policy and its reliance on acts of terror to maintain its hegemony in the Middle East. It will therefore be vital reading for those who wish to understand the grim realities of Western foreign policy.
Power and Virtue: Architecture and Intellectual Change in England 1660�1730 (The Classical Tradition in Architecture)
by Shiqiao LiThis is the first full-length study on the connections between English architecture and intellectual change between 1660 and 1730. As new ideas developed in post-Restoration England across the realms of politics, culture, academia and morality, so too did architectural expression of these ideas. Power and Virtue articulately engages English architecture with notions of power and virtue in terms of empirical knowledge on the one hand and humanism and virtuosi on the other.Aimed at an academic readership in history and theory of architecture and the history of English architecture, this unique study will also interest those studying the ideas of material culture.
Power and Water in Central Asia
by Filippo MengaWater is an irreplaceable and transient resource, which crosses political boundaries in the form of rivers, lakes, and groundwater aquifers. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, led to the birth of fifteen countries including the five Central Asian republics, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. When the USSR ceased to exist, so did the centralised Soviet resource distribution system that managed the exchange and allocation of water, energy, and food supplies. A whole new set of international relations emerged, and the newly formed Central Asian governments had to redefine the policies related to the exchange and sharing of their natural resources. This book analyses the role of state power in transboundary water relations. It provides an in–depth study of the evolution of interstate relations in Central Asia in the field of water from 1991-2015. Taking as a case study the planned construction of the Rogun and Kambarata dams in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, the author examines various forms of overt and covert power shaping interstate relations and the way hegemonic and counter-hegemonic measures are put in place in an international river basin. He argues that the intimate correlation between the concepts of power and hegemony can offer key insights to the analysis and understanding of transboundary water relations. While the analytical focus is placed on state power, the book demonstrates that hegemonic and counter-hegemonic tactics represent the ways in which power is wielded and observed. Offering fresh theoretical interpretations to the subjects of power and counter-hegemony in the Aral Sea basin, this book puts forward the original circle of hydro-hegemony, an analytical framework in which the various forms of power are connective in the function of hegemony. It will be of interest to scholars in the field of water and environmental politics and Central Asian Studies.
Power and Welfare: Understanding Citizens' Encounters with State Welfare (Social And Political Power Mup Ser.)
by Nanna Mik-Meyer Kaspar VillardsenIn the welfare provision of today, power takes both the shape of juridical sanctions and of attractive offers for self-development. When state institutions punish criminals, remove children at risk, or enforce sanctions upon welfare recipients the question of power is immediately urgent. It is less readily evident that power is at stake when institutions educate, counsel or ‘empower’ citizens. This book offers a framework for understanding and analyzing these complex and implicit forms of power at play in the encounters between citizens and welfare institutions. Taking as its starting point the idea that power takes many different shapes, and that different approaches to power may be necessary in the diverse contexts where citizens encounter welfare professionals, the book demonstrates how significant social theorists, spanning from Goffman to Foucault, can be used for inquiries into these encounters. Guiding the reader from their epistemological foundations to lucid ‘state of the art’ case examples, the book unpacks each of its six theoretical perspectives, and explains selected key concepts and explicates their potential for analysis. The final chapter discusses the usefulness of the theoretical approaches, their weaknesses and indicates some possibilities of theoretical integration. Including case studies of patients, nursing home residents, unemployed people, homeless people, and young offenders, from the USA, Denmark, France, Sweden, Canada, and Australia, Power and Welfare is designed for students and researchers of social policy, sociology, anthropology, political science, education, nursing and social work.
Power and Willpower in the American Future
by Robert J. LieberTo argue against the widely proclaimed idea of American decline, as this book does, might seem a lonely task. After all, the problems are real and serious. Yet if we take a longer view, much of the discourse about decline appears exaggerated, hyperbolic, and ahistorical. Why? First, because of the deep underlying strengths of the United States. These include not only size, population, demography, and resources, but also the scale and importance of its economy and financial markets, its scientific research and technology, its competitiveness, its military power, and its attractiveness to talented immigrants. Second, there is the weight of history and of American exceptionalism. Throughout its history, the United States has repeatedly faced and eventually overcome daunting challenges and crises. Contrary to a prevailing pessimism, there is nothing inevitable about American decline. Flexibility, adaptability, and the capacity for course correction provide the United States with a unique resilience that has proved invaluable in the past and will do so in the future. Ultimately, the ability to avoid serious decline is less a question of material factors than of policy, leadership, and political will.