Lecture 16 - Into the XXI Century: the Strange and Contradictory US Hegemony

Question 1

Defining Hegemony

Answer 1

♠ Power superiority
♠ Willingness of others to follow
♠ Mix of force and consent (pressures & accomodations)
♠ Role of specific interests: dominant/hegemonic «social bloc» (Gramsci) at home

Question 2

Is the US today a «hegemonic subject»?

Answer 2

♠ Unique power gap, if measured in conventional/orthodox terms
♠ 1990s: apparent re-launching of a “US model” of prosperity and mass consumption (US-based global brands and icons): Cultural neoliberalism?
♠ New Forms of Consumption, New Centers of US economy: services/finance. Looking East? Pacific more than Atlantic Power?

Question 3

Pillars of new US hegemony: Old? New?

Answer 3

♠ Dollars: consumption + monetary hegemony
♠ Arms: unchallengeable military preponderance
♠ Words: cultural hegemony (is it American? Can it be territorialized? Is it a tool of foreign policy?)

Question 4

The dilemmas (and limits) of US Hegemony in the Post 9-11 World

Answer 4

♠ Nationalist/Militaristic Reaction
♠ No cost-free war
♠ Fiscal Irresponsibility
♠ Impossibile dual consensus

Question 5

What were (and are) the main contradictions of this new American hegemony?

Answer 5

♠ Dual consensus and rejection of US nationalism? (words)
♠ Fiscal Indiscipline, bulimic consumption, debt and dual deficit (dollars)
♠ Nature of War and use of military preponderance? (arms)

Question 6

Christopher Layne, This Time is for Real: The End of Unipolarity and the Pax Americana, «International Studies Quarterly», 2012, pp.202-212

Answer 6

The heart of the Lanes argument is that the US simply does not have the money any more. It’s hard power has been curtailed by recent economic events: the crisis, outsourcing manufacturing to China… The US is not going to have the unchallenged military for much longer and other states are going to be challenging it. The US should wake up and start trying to adjust their international position while they still have the leverage.