Towering slabs of granite and a wall of gold stars are part of Washington’s World War II memorial, commemorating the US soldiers who lost their lives in that conflict. It is a suitably imposing tribute to a decisive intervention that sealed America’s status as a ‘superpower.’ But since then, much has changed, most obviously, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of China. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have changed perceptions about what American global leadership can and should do, both in the US and abroad. So what might that mean for the next American president’s foreign policy?
