Finally, I'm confused: Doug, you say that "the system isn't one of competition among major powers anymore" but also point to "dispersed and polycentric power." Where are the centers of power that are competing with the US if not in the core? China?
I said that there was little competition for real estate among the imperial powers (or was, until the Bush admin tried to bring back the good old days). Dispersed and polycentric doesn't necessarily mean competitive. China's hardly competing with the U.S. right now, given that so much of its production is by and for U.S. (and other) MNCs.
I wrote about all this at some length in a review of Empire: <http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Empire.html>.
Doug
