Soft power vs hard leverage: Japan, U.S. diverge on foreign aid strategy

Stephen Walt, a professor of international affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School, says the U.S. does not have the extraordinary autonomy it had in earlier periods and a predatory approach risks hurting its leadership status.

Walt traced America’s evolution over dinner with reporters last week: from benevolent hegemon and alliance leader during the Cold War, to a careless hegemon trying to remake the world in its image in the unipolar moment, to how it is acting in this new era of multipolarity.

Today, the U.S. is acting as a predatory hegemon, using its privileged position to extract concessions from others, including some of its closest partners, Walt said.

Read at Nikkei Asian Review

Featuring

Stephen
Walt

Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Relations

Harvard University