Twenty-five years after 9/11, its deepest legacy lies in the wars, surveillance and strategic overreach that hastened the end of US hegemony
So much has happened since the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, that the events now seem both very distant and perhaps less consequential than they appeared at the time. However, both impressions are misleading.
Twenty-five years is a considerable period in a human life, but little more than a moment in history, and however turbulent the past quarter-century has been, the significance of September 11 is only now becoming fully apparent.
Looking back, and setting aside the emotions of the time, what did the attacks actually mean for the international system?
Above all, they brought an end to a decade of virtually unchallenged US hegemony in world affairs.
The significance was partly symbolic in that the attackers struck at the two most obvious centers of American power, the World Trade Center represented its financial might, while the Pentagon represented its military strength. The post-Cold War period, during which the United States had come to believe that no fundamental threat remained to its security or interests, was over.
