In a recent television twelve-part series, "The Rise of the Great Nations", the basic message is that a nation's path to greatness lies in its economic prowess. Militarism, empire, and aggression lead to a dead end. That point is made repeatedly.
The final episode--explicitly on the "lessons" of the series--lays out the keys to great power: national cohesiveness, economic and technological success, political stability, military strength, cultural creativity, and magnetism. The last is explained as the attractiveness of a nation's ideas, corresponding with concept of "soft power" (developed by Joseph Nye, one of the scholars interviewed for the series). The episode ends with a declaration that, in the new world, a nation can sustain its competitive edge only if it has the knowledge and technological capacity to keep innovation. In short, the path to power is through markets, not empires.
You say you missed the series? Little wonder. It was produced and shown in China!! We could sure learn from it, here in America.
This piece of information, along with much more great reading, came out of Fareed Zakaria's book "The Post-American World". I think we will have a president who can meet these goals.