But one answer can be glimpsed from a contemporary study, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, by Yale historian Paul Kennedy.

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Thus it happens that during an economic bust, like the one in 1990, bookstore shelves sag with gloomy titles, such as The Age of Diminished Expectations, Econoquake and The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers.

FORBES: Pity Pot Priesthood

The eminent historian Paul Kennedy wrote a book entitled The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers in which he argued that powerful countries typically undercut their economic strength by trying to control too much territory, leading to their decline.

FORBES: Foreign Policy on a Tighter Budget