Americans are fond of “leadership” — both the word and the thing — but others can be forgiven for taking a dimmer view of it. “Leadership” means having informal control over others without submitting to formal vetting by them. As Johns Hopkins University professor Michael Mandelbaum argues in The Frugal Superpower, the leadership the US has exercised since the second world war, and particularly since the cold war, has made it “the world's de facto government”.
美國人喜歡「領導權」——無論是這個字眼還是這東西本身。但其他人對美國的「領導權」卻不看好,這也情有可原。「領導權」意味著,對他人擁有非正式的控制權,而事先無需得到他們的正式認可。正如約翰•霍普金斯大學(Johns Hopkins University)教授邁克爾•曼德爾鮑姆(Michael Mandelbaum)在《節儉的超級大國》(The Frugal Superpower)中所辯稱的,美國自二戰以來、尤其是冷戰以來所行使的領導權,已使它成爲「事實上的世界政府」。