It is a hegemon, to use the French term. The Soviet Union has collapsed; Japan has economic but not strategic might; Europe is only in the beginning stages of developing a common defense capability; and China,still a Third World country, is not there yet. The United States, there-fore;, stands alone in the world as the only country with economic, political, military, and cultural ("soft") power, as well as the ability to project ("to touch someone," as the Pentagon puts it) that power to all corners of the earth.