A great power must have the capacity to do “big things.” Mobilizing the economy to win World War II, fielding the Manhattan project, rebuilding Europe through the Marshall Plan, and landing a man on the moon are among the big things that the United States mobilized to do. It requires the state to act on a grand scale, design a program that can deliver on tight timelines, and harness the talents of the whole society to do so. These cases can illuminate what it takes for a state to operate at this level.
First Reads
