Many states increasingly rely on the United States for either the actual provision of security or the training and equipment necessary to perform security functions. In fact; by 2008, the United States was providing security assistance to 149 countries. While militaries historically have cooperated against a common adversary, the decline of interstate war and the rise of transnational threats have made the prospect of exporting security more compelling. From the Cold War, the United States took away the lesson that by providing for other countries’ security, it could advance its trade and economic agendas and prevent the emergence of military competitors. While world political systems did not quite reach the ‘‘end of history’’ in 1989, it is also true that no peer competitors have emerged to challenge Western-oriented democratic-capitalist systems.

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