The use of foreign exemplars

James Fallows writing in The Atlantic:

Foreign examples are useful spurs to internal action. Sputnik served that purpose 50 years ago, and Japan's industrial successes led to valuable changes in American corporate and fiscal policies nearly a generation ago. [Today] A look at China can help America address its main shortcomings--reckless fiscal and foreign policies, delay in moving away from dependence on oil--and perhaps also suggest ways the nations can work together...