Introduction

Walt imagines how various leaders would view US power: does he imagine that all the states and their leaders have similar basic views or different ones? Is the view of France, India or Israel fundamentally different from that of North Korea, according to Waltz? Should it be?

Chap. 1: The Foreign Policy of Primacy

How does US foreign economic policy reflect efforts to achieve primacy? Is this any different from what US policy would be if it were not trying to achieve primacy?

What is the relationship between democracy and human rights, on one hand, and primacy on the other, according to Walt? How does the 2006 NSS view democracy and human rights? Does this accord with a power-centric view of the world?

Is the US really engaged in a break with the international status quo, or is it just more assertive than it was in the past? Is the US hubristic in its pursuit of primacy?

How much did perceptions of US change between 2000 or 2002 versus 2004 and after? Does this indicate that US policies (e.g., the Iraq war) rather than US power changed the foreign public’s views?