Chicago Journal of International Law Volume 10 Number 1 Article 5 6-1-2009 United Nations Collective Security and the United States Security Guarantee in an Age of Rising Multipolarity: The Security Council as the Talking Shop of the Nations Kenneth Anderson Follow this and additional works at: https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cjil Recommended Citation Anderson, Kenneth (2009) "United Nations Collective Security and the United States Security Guarantee in an Age of Rising Multipolarity: The Security Council as the Talking Shop of the Nations," Chicago Journal of International Law: Vol. 10: No. 1, Article 5. Available at: https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cjil/vol10/iss1/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Chicago Unbound. It has been accepted for inclusion in Chicago Journal of International Law by an authorized editor of Chicago Unbound. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. United Nations Collective Security and the United States Security Guarantee in an Age of Rising Multipolarity: The Security Council as the Talking Shop of the Nations Kenneth Anderson* I. INTRODUCTION: POSTULATING THE RISE OF A MULTIPOLAR WORLD Two interrelated theses are these days much in vogue. One is the thesis of US decline and, by corollary, the rise of new Great Powers and multipolarity. Though this thesis is in vogue today, it has been a favorite of writers, politicians, and statesmen over generations-almost a parlor game for intellectuals. It is a parlor game that tends, however, to turn historians into futurists. Proceeding from the unimpeachable, but also uninformative, observation that no empire in the course of history has lasted forever, thence to the claim that the American empire is teetering-these analyses have a predictive track record as poor as they are undeniably popular.