Twenty-five years ago today, the world’s strongest military state found itself powerless to prevent attacks on its homeland by al Qaeda, a small transnational terrorist group.

Now, a quarter of the way into the 21st century, it’s possible to identify the major trends that have shaped the world and New Zealand’s place in it since that terrible day.

The response by the United States to the atrocities led eventually to a quagmire in Afghanistan, an illegal invasion of Iraq, and an ill-defined “war on terror” that arguably set in motion the forces shaping today’s fraught geopolitical landscape.

The post-9/11 era has been marked by the clear erosion of an international rules-based order previously led by the US and enshrined in institutions like the United Nations.

The Iraq invasion in 2003, China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and subsequent full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, all point to a new era of power politics.

The US has managed to prevent a repetition of 9/11. But this should not mask the costs in terms of America’s power, autonomy and influence in the world.

Military overreach (fighting simultaneous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq), the 2008 global financial crisis, high debt levels, and the........

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