5. Pitfalls and Lessons Facing America’s Hegemonic Policy

What are the somewhat inevitable traps and sometimes major disasters that befall America’s hegemonic policy? Are they avoidable? Does power in some way demand action, no matter how damaging that action could be? Can you prevent the misreading of history that led to the Vietnam War, or the groupthink and lack of knowledge that led to the second Iraq War? How can the United States as the hegemon judge when not to go down the proverbial rabbit hole? Is that even possible with our current circumstances? Does the susceptibility of the United States to serious and harmful misjudgments prevent the United States from being the liberal hegemon? There has never been a major actor on the world stage who has not fallen into this trap. Yet disastrous mistakes like Vietnam and Iraq do not erase the fundamental question of who can and will organize the world.