Paper Topic:

`Will American Hegemony Produce a Better World for Everybody?` YES

Will American Hegemony Produce a Better World for Everybody

Introduction

Hegemony is defined as leadership , predominance , especially of one society over another . Encarta dictionary defines it as Control or dominating influence by one person or group especially over society or one nation over others . Referring to America , Stanly D . Brunn pointed out the world 's single remaining superpower is the accountable hegemon (p . 36 . Every one would agree that the United States maintains its status as the only remaining superpower in the world though perhaps economically Japan and the rest of

the G7 member countries are at par with the US . However many would disagree if one would say , `the U .S . remains the world 's police ' and much more if one would add a good policeman indeed ' Thus the question `Well American Hegemony Produce a better World for Everybody poses an important analysis of the role of the United States in the global community

But in the realist perspective , they see that the American attitudes towards international is unstable not because of any special malign characteristic but because of the inherent insecurity that unequal power confers on weaker states . Michael Cox , Timothy Dunne , and Ken Booth pointed out their argument , In anarchic s , weaker states are threatened by extreme concentrations of power and will seek protection in counter-hegemonic groupings (p . 193 . But this has been debated issue as some contends that the American unipolarity is a highly durable political . Cox , Dunne , and Booth argued that the American is built on power . They point out the extended system of American-led security protection in Europe , the Middle East , and Asia is an essential element of this and it can only be sustained by dominant military capabilities , which in turn depends on continuing American economic and technological strength (p . 193

Realism like any other ism such as naturalism and liberalism is a philosophical position , therefore cannot be subjected to the test of falsifibility or cannot be proved or disproved . Benjamin Frankel point out that realism viewed peace as the result of power equilibrium than a cessation of conflicting ambition (p . 6 . They regard society as basically conflictive and the struggle for power among rival groups is a fundamental condition of human existence (Frankel ,

.6 ) Frankel cited that there is a differing position within realism . He noted that realist believed that human beings were driven by lust for power , while the rest including him , regarded power as essentially instrumental to and necessary for the achievement of other goals such as security and even liberal ideals (Frankel ,

. 6

The American Hegemony

American hegemony has been interpreted in some ways . Demetrios Caraley quoting the words of The Economist stated , The united states bestrides the globe like a colossus . It dominates business , commerce , and communications its economy is the world 's most successful , its military might second to (p . 105 . Caraley also cited French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine arguing that the United States had gone beyond its superpower status...

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