If there's one indisputable fact about this most polarizing of figures, it's that he is hard to get rid of -- and every retreat, even his most recent withdrawal from political life, lays the groundwork for an eventual counterattack.

Now, more than ever, the United States might be tempted to pull back from the world.

In this IIGG Working Paper, the authors argue that the United States should initiate a new phase of democratic internationalism based on the "pull of success rather than the push of power."

The post-war U.S. approach to strategy is rapidly becoming insolvent and unsustainable. If Washington continues to cling to its existing role on the premise that the international order depends upon it, the result will be increasing resistance, economic ruin, and strategic failure with consequences harming U.S. credibility, diplomacy, and military operations.

Walter Russell Mead explains that American "decline" is a misnomer; international relations are still rebalancing following the end of the Cold War as regional powers take on international importance.

A mapping of the twenty-first-century world that provides a detailed strategy for reconciling the West with the "rise of the rest."

Nikolas Gvosdev and Ray Takeyh argue that the justifying of America's Libya campaign solely on humanitarian grounds marked a fundamental break with past U.S. policy prescriptions for such military interventions.

Richard N. Haass argues that the United States should adopt a doctrine of Restoration as its guiding foreign policy framework, focusing on "restoring this country's strength and replenishing its economic, human, and physical resources."

It's tempting to see the 9/11 attacks as having fundamentally changed U.S. foreign policy. It's also wrong.

Richard N. Haass says a doctrine of restoration can strengthen the U.S. position abroad by focusing on nation building -- at home.

Henry Kissinger's new book argues that the United States should yield gracefully to China's rise; Aaron Friedberg's gives the opposite advice.

With China's clout growing, the international community needs to better understand China's strategic thinking.

The Obama Administration released its first National Security Strategy on May 27, 2010.

George Friedman compares the first year of President Obama's foreign policy to that of former President Reagan. He contends that Obama's strategy has been "enigmatic" early on and will need to define his policy in the months ahead.

Experts recall how the the United States envisioned its role in a post-Soviet world two decades ago when the Berlin Wall fell and whether expectations of 1989 square with the challenges of 2009.

Listen to experts recall how the the United States envisioned its role in a post-Soviet world two decades ago when the Berlin Wall fell and whether expectations of 1989 square with the challenges of 2009.

Watch experts recall how the the United States envisioned its role in a post-Soviet world two decades ago when the Berlin Wall fell and whether expectations of 1989 square with the challenges of 2009.