How did the world move from the optimism that followed the Cold War to today's increasingly dangerous international landscape? One surprising answer comes from Robert Frost’s "The Road Not Taken." By the early 1990s, the U.S. was the sole superpower and, like the traveler in Frost’s poem, faced a fork in the road. But, unlike the poem, the country took the road most traveled that led to the complicated world today. George Lungu examines the decisions, consequences, and global challenges that continue to influence international affairs today.