Why America’s Military Power Is an Illusion – Prof. Jiang Xueqin

Описание: This lecture dismantles the comforting myth of American military invincibility and traces how the United States quietly traded strategic restraint for imperial hubris. Beginning with the stark decline in troop numbers, naval power, and manufacturing capacity, Professor Jiang Xueqin argues that America today is structurally incapable of sustaining a major, prolonged war—especially against a peer competitor. The illusion of dominance, he explains, is propped up not by real capacity, but by spectacle: rapid strikes, overwhelming firepower, and the doctrine of “shock and awe.”

The roots of this doctrine lie in the trauma of Vietnam. The war exposed the limits of mass armies, democratic consent, and public accountability in sustaining empire. Through the Pentagon Papers, Americans learned that their leaders knew the war was unwinnable, yet continued fighting to preserve credibility and avoid humiliation. From this betrayal emerged a new military philosophy designed to escape democracy itself—wars without sacrifice, oversight, or public consent. Shock and awe was never meant to build nations or stabilize societies; it was designed to destroy states, break resistance, and send a message. Iraq, Libya, and Syria were not failures of execution but confirmations of intent.

Professor Jiang contrasts this with America’s earlier post–Cold War theory of empire in 1991, when limited objectives, international coalitions, and UN legitimacy restrained U.S. power and preserved global order. The abandonment of that model, he argues, was not strategic necessity but imperial indulgence. Overcommitment, lack of focus, and arrogance now define American power—an empire stretched thin, unwilling to invest in its own foundations, yet still tempted to fight wars it can no longer afford. The result is a dangerous illusion: the belief that shock and awe can substitute for strategy in a world that has fundamentally changed.

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