US Ascendancy and World Order : A Critical Analysis

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4 months ago

ABSTRACT

This article deals with US Superiority in world politics. The end of cold war and the disintegration of USSR in 1991 left US as the sole superpower but its dominance could be seen prior to that. This Article elaborates changing aspects of US dominance in world order. It further elaborates how US stands as the power and having a dominance in every sphere and the current challenges. The Article also insights US and India relationship and the upcoming of China as a threat to US ascendancy.

INTRODUCTION

Ascendency is one of the important concept in contemporary politics and in today’s rat race one state tries to dominate other in every arenas to outcast it’s supremacy. The term hegemony owes it origin in classical Greek. It is very important to know what ascendancy means , it can be describes as hegemony or dominance , as Robert Cox said, “Ascendancy means the application of power by a state in with support of less powerful states is achieved by rewarding their consent rather than forcing compliance by the use of threat or punishment. Some of the states use coercion against other to gain dominance.

The end of cold war and the disintegration of USSR in 1991 left the US without any strong competitive rival in the world. This was the beginning of the Unipolar World. The influence of America is clearly evident from our society, the westernization is taking over the place of indigenous customs and culture it is not only in India but everywhere.

EMERGING NEW POWER

The rise of the new world order can be seen from the First Gulf War. The invasion of Kuwait by Iraq made UN to interfere in the scene and the operation was called ‘Operation Desert Storm’. The significance of US hegemony here is, 75% of the military forces deployed by UN constitutes of American military troops, this showed a technological gap between US and other countries.

The hegemonic rule by stationing of NATO forces in the territory of Kosovo depicts the influence of America on other states. The actions of US can be taken as appalling violation of international laws of the world . During the Bush Administration, America’s influence extended beyond its military might. Its engagement in the Persian Gulf and commitment to ensuring stability in Europe positioned it as a superpower on the global stage.

At one point the reason behind US supremacy is in it’s support, 67% favoured America during Cold War. State Hillary Clinton said, “America cannot solve the most pressing problems on our own, and the world cannot solve them without America.” The leaders of America have supremacy and they glorified their supremacy and considered every other as inferiors . ‘Richard Armitage’s book, ‘Powers to lead’ shows a combination of America’s soft power and hard power to control the world . America’s hegemony was not confined to military only but economically , culturally also. The indisputable dominance of the US military serves as the cornerstone of its current authority. America’s superiority in military power is both comprehensive and comparative, as it now holds sway over global military affairs. In concrete terms, the US possesses military capabilities capable of reaching any corner of the globe.

On September 11,2001 , 19 individuals from different Arab nations hijacked four American commercial flights and each were struck in different places of America . this was known as the ‘9/11’ attack and it resulted to approximately 3000 fatalities, it was the most horrific incident happened to US territory since 1776. The US retaliated by “Operation Enduring Freedom” against the culprits , the US military imprisoned them secretly even prohibited UN officials to meet these detainees . Thie show even the biggest peace keeping organisation like UN is bowing towards US.

The earlier ‘Leage of Nations’ collapse was also due to the non cooperation of US in the organisation , the present UN is also standing still is also due to the US is the biggest funder of UN and also a permanent member and a member having a ‘veto power’.

ECONOMIC POWER

America is a superpower in terms of economy . America shares major share in terms of trade and exports all over the world . America is the fastest growing economy since 1980s , it is twice as large as Japan’s economy and one fifth of global output America still enjoys to be hegemon in economic power. In global geo politics , after the disintegration of USSR , among the other largest NATO nations US owes highest GDP to defence as 3.2%,subsequently US gathered various benefits, At present US constitute, 25.5 trillion US dollar at economy .

THE OIL DOMINANCE

US examines it’s policies in Middle East and Oil rich regions. the US has pursued strategies to counter the rise of Iran and Iraq, imposing sanctions to prevent countries like India from purchasing Iranian oil

the Russia-Ukraine crisis has tried to stop the use of Rubble from the international markets and tried to coerce the European countries for not buying Russian oil and gas. Thus, it can be said that in the contemporary era US dominance continues and goes on.

HEGEMONY AS STRUCTURAL POWER

The US should have the option to uphold the global request and have the will and volume to make some strategies for it. The hegemon generally does this to its own benefit, however every now and again to its relative damage as its challengers benefit from the accessibility of the worldwide economy without bearing the costs of supporting it. The US’s vow to the arrangement of comprehensive public products is characteristic of authority in their subsequent significance. Those items that might be appreciated by one individual without distressing the quantity of the product available to another are known as public goods. Things like safe roads and clean air are examples of public goods. In the milieu of the global economy, a orientation to a global public good like sea lanes and sea routes that are regularly utilized by commercial ships is known as communication (SLOCs). Without open SLOCs, free trade in a worldwide economy wouldn’t be possible. The US Naval force has filled this obligation since the Second Universal Conflict, when English maritime could start to diminish. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and World Trade Organization (WTO) can be seen as products of American hegemony.

INDIA AND US

During the cold war era , India opted to stand as neutral by non-alignment movement. Today, we are connected with US mainly in the perspective of technological flow and brain drain and flow of citizens . setting up of MNC’s way a greater way of globalization for us . US poses a supremacy on India and Indians too, westernization and students aspiring to go to US for higher studies shows how indirectly US supremacy is affecting us

CHALLENGES TO US HEGEMONY

China is all set to become the hegemon by overthrowing US, from 1980s the growth rate of China is 10% mainly in economic sphere, in terms of export and import also China is emerging as a superpower. US has been monitoring China’s growth and poses a real threat to US . Even in the UN China is having equal power and status as US is also having , denial of US ideologies is another way of threat to US. In the economic sphere, China contributes of 18.0 trillion US dollar to GDP while US constitutes of 25.5 trillion US dollar, which is not so differentiated amount. Scholars estimates that within 10 years China may surpass US.

CONCLUSION

American ascendancy is a concept of multi-faceted, it is not a static concept, from the end of cold war and even in the pandemic of covid, US stands to be a Superpower . It marks it supremacy in every arena , there is no space left where US have not touched it yet. The emergence of competitive powers like , China can overcome US hegemony. Multilateral cooperations, diplomatic efforts and other international reforms can convert unipolar world into a multipolar world

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