alliances or armaments. National interests counted for far more than governmental affinities. Hence, democracies and autocracies were at times pitted against their own while cooperating with their opposites in pursuit of their goals. The United States, Britain, France, and Germany competed overseas for markets and resources. Russia and the Austro-Hungarian empire spread over land to secure borders, acquire territory, or expand spheres of influence. Their interests collided in frontier zones such as the dying Ottoman empire in southeastern Europe or in Asia and Africa. Clashes occurred in the Pacific, Central Asia, and the Balkans. The present seems to remember the past, because great-power rivalries are re-emerging. The cast of characters is somewhat altered, but the parts played by the powerful actors are not that historically unfamiliar. THE RETURN OF HISTORY To be sure, the modem global state system has different features than its nineteenth-century precursor. Telecommunications, electronic capital transfers, free trade agreements, weapons of