Professor Christopher Layne, who holds the Robert M. Gates Chair in National Security at the George H. W. Bush School of Government and Public Service, has been commissioned by the National Intelligence Council (NIC) to write a paper on the “Unipolar Exit,” an examination of whether U.S. primacy is waning, and if so, what this means for both American grand strategy, and for international politics, during the 21st century’s early decades.
Widely recognized for his research and writing on American foreign policy, Layne is an Intelligence Community (IC) Associate, and one of a select group of scholars who consult with the National Intelligence Council on a range of policy matters. He is also a member of the NIC’s study group on Strategic Relations to American Preeminence. He recently published a review essay on “The Waning of U.S. Hegemony—Myth or Reality,” in the International Security, the leading journal in the field. The essay reviews five publications which address the question of whether the international system will remain unipolar or is being transformed into a multipolar system.
