Following WW2 the United States found itself in a position of global dominance and that dominance has lasted for more than sixty years, during which time America remained a hegemony.

 

But What Is A Hegemony Responsible For?

Militarily, a hegemony is responsible for stabilizing key regions and guarding the global arenas.

Economically, it must offer public goods by opening its domestic market to other states, supplying liquidity to the world economy, and provide the reserve currency.

A hegemony is supposed to solve international crises, not cause them. It is supposed to be the lender of last resort, not the biggest borrower.

Does the U.S. Still Meet The Above Criteria?

Sadly or not, the answer is most likely, "No".

America no longer seems able to win wars, and not only is its economy in the pits but it’s now predicted that the interest on its debts will equal its total income by 20120 meaning it will effectively be bankrupt.

So What Happened?

Many would claim that much of America’s decline can be attributed to its own self-defeating policies and although that’s true in part it’s also because other countries such as China, India, and Russia are in the ascent.

When Will China’s Economy Overtake Amrica’s?

China’s economy is growing much more rapidly than the United States’ and leading economic forecasters predict that it will overtake the U.S. as the world’s largest economy, measured by overall GDP, sometime around 2020.

In 2008, China already passed the U.S. as the world’s leading manufacturing nation, and that’s a title the United States had enjoyed for over a century, and this year China will displace Japan as the world’s second-largest economy.

Weaknesses in the fundamentals of the American economy have been accumulating for more than three decades and the collapse of its economic system leading in turn to the loss of its global preeminence were forecast in the 1980s by many people including, David Calleo, Paul Kennedy, Robert Gilpin, Samuel Huntington, and James Chace.

So What’s To Be Done?

America’s leaders need to adjust to the new world order, but there is so far little sign that they are about to do so.

The foreign policies of individual countries are shaped by the ideas that their leaders hold about them, and perhaps more than most, America’s foreign policy is the product of such ideas.

Why Is It So Hard For U.S. Leaders To Adapt To Reality?

America’s leaders still belive in exceptionalism (being different from the norm) and that belief dates back to the Puritans.

The U.S. is different, better, and morally superior to the rest of the world.

An Example Of U.S. Thinking

Around forty five years ago, Edmund Stillman and William Pfaff wrote that;

"The United States is a model for the world and America’s wants and values are universal".

Which is something that George W. Bush harped on repeatedly.

Good Versus Evil

The above assumptions invest American foreign policy with a tendency to see the world in terms of good versus evil.

And because the U.S. looks through this prism, it believes it has the obligation to prevail in this global struggle, and such thinking is delusional.

The End Game

When you are big, strong, and powerful, you can afford to make the same dumb mistakes over and over again, but when your power declines, you will begin to pay a price for repeating your mistakes.