Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 08/2009

America's Security Role in a Changing World: A Global Strategic Assessment

April 2009

Academy of Political Science

Abstract

Over the coming decade and beyond, the United States and the international community will face enormously complex security challenges and threats, some of which are not traditionally viewed as security issues. Given the emerging nature of and interdependencies between these threats and challenges, world leaders are increasingly operating in terra incognito. In an effort to assist the Obama administration and international leaders in this new and ambiguous environment, the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) at the National Defense University performed a global strategic assessment with the assistance of 125 contributors. The objective of the assessment was not to provide policy prescriptions but to offer a portrait of the world that respects the breadth and diversity of issues driving this nascent security environment.