The Future of U.S. Primacy: Power to Lead, But No Longer to Command (Leslie H. Gelb, The National Interest)

U.S. policy makers have to adjust from the power to command to the power to lead—from mostly coercive power to mostly strategic planning and maneuvering. America simply lacks the relative military and economic power it enjoyed in the twentieth century. Equally critical to understand, most international conflicts and problems now occur within nations more than between nations. Terrorists and civil wars are much more elusive military targets than troops fighting in battalions. Dealing with internal economic and political situations is far more baffling than simply telling governments what to do.

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-skeptics/the-future-us-primacy-power-lead-no-longer-command-17149