The Leader of the Free World is a colloquialism, originally used during the Cold War, to describe the President of the United States. The term implies that the U.S. President, as leader of the principal democratic superpower of the time was, by extension, the leader of all of the world's democratic states. After the Dissolution of the Soviet Union the United States of America emerged as the sole superpower in the world thus the phrase 'leader of the free world' now implies that the President of the United States is the unofficial President of the world because the economic, military & diplomatic power of the US enables the President to exercise globally effective foreign policy. Although the Cold War has long ended, the phrase is still used regularly in the United States to describe the U.S. President. The phrase is also used by those who do not approve of America's foreign policy, specifically as a critique of American imperialism .
|
