FAJARDO, Michelle B.

The Rise and Decline of the United States as the Hegemon in the
International Political Arena

The end of World War 2 did not necessarily marked the return of the world to its
regular order, rather it paved way to a new bipolar world order after the once mighty
European states spearheading the international stage in the 1930s were left ruined by
the Second World War. The two hegemon left in the arena were none other than the
Soviet Union and the United States of America.
In the case of the USSR, it can be assumed that the because it joined the war at
the last minute and exemplified great resistance against the Allies’ enemy Germany,
that it was the reason why they emerged as one of the victors of the war. Firstly,
USSR’s Red Army, was not demobilized at the end of the war unlike other European
countries like Great Britain and France. Furthermore, USSR had numerical superiority in
terms of men and arms.
The United States on the other hand did received loss in terms of human lives
and resources in the war but it was nonetheless relatively low so it didn’t really hurt
them even after the US Army was temporarily demobilized after the end of the warfare.
And even then, it did not stop US from becoming the world’s leading military power.
According to Margaret MacMillan author of ‘The Uses and Abuses of History’, “these
two powers were so great that the term “superpower” had to be coined for them. The
United States was both a military power and an economic one; the Soviet Union had
brute force and the intangible attraction of Marxist ideology to keep its own people down
and manage its newly acquired empire in the heart of Europe”.
The face-off between these two superpowers in what was called as the Cold War
was rooted in a political, economic, and propaganda fronts where proxy wars like the
Korean War and Vietnam War happened instead of actual head-on fight between US
and the Soviet Union. The Cold War utilized only a limited recourse to weapons which is
why it is also describe as the battle of ideologies; the Soviet Union was for communism
and US for capitalism. When the US claimed victor, it ultimately led to the fall and
disintegration of the Soviet Union and the spread of capitalism around the world.
I will now move on to the events and factors that changed the political landscape
of the most powerful state in the world and also the relationships it had with other states
and how these essentially influenced or led to the ‘decline’ of the United States in the
international politics. First I want to address that I personally believe that the position of
the United States in the international arena changes with its president and the events
that happened while that certain leader was in power. Like in the case of the 9/11
terrorist attack of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in September 11, 2001,
President Bush decided that the best way to counter this terrorist attack was to first
impose a regime change on the alleged states that sponsored the Al Qaida, which was
Iraq and Afghanistan. Furthermore, he pushed for the unilateralism which suspended
American diplomatic engagement to states in the Middle East and Korean Peninsula.
Another outcome of the 9/11 terrorist attack was the US proclamation of the ‘war on
FAJARDO, Michelle B.

terror’ which basically says “Either you are with us or you are against us” to the whole
world. If a certain country decided it was an ally of the United States then they get
leniency from her but if they are against, then there is a price to pay and that country will
be labelled as an enemy of the United States.
The United States has then continued to place itself in the agendas of as many
countries as it can. According to the Hegemonic Stability theory the international system
will remain stable if a dominant world power or a hegemon will seek to promote rules
and regimes and continue to keep global peace and cooperation. I believe the United
States as the hegemon of the international system, takes on this role of a 'world police'
where it's job is to cater the demands of the world but the problem is the United States
is everywhere but it's resources can only do so much. When President George W. Bush
attempted to swallow a significant portion of the Middle East, America bit more than it
can swallow. According to Paul Kennedy, there is a symptom that afflicted imperiums
like the Roman Empire where regional or global aspirations outstrip national capacities.
Furthermore, Kennedy projected the United States as the latest victim of "imperial
overstretch". In my opinion, the total amount of United States' global interests and
obligations exceeds its power and resources to defend itself at the same time.
With the election of Donald Trump however, I think that the direction of United
States will take a direct U-turn. President Donald Trump seeks to recast the global
position of America. He retracted the United States from multilateralism and
championed for the "America First" banner and to prove that he is serious about this
isolationist approach, he withdrew membership from the Trans-Pacific Partnership,
which was originally US-led and also abandoned the 195-nation Paris international
climate change accord. President Trump has changed the way United States is
perceived by other countries in the international arena as the 'dependable hegemon’. In
my opinion, this puts in a bad position the long-term allies that have been with the
United States since the Second World War. In Asia, conflict is brewing especially with
the rise of China. With President Trump taking the reins and adopting an isolationist
approach with America, long term allies like the Philippines cannot expect immediate
assistance with regards to the South China Sea dispute. China may use this opportunity
to take all of the disputed territory either by force or by bending the states to its will and
it can be expected that the United States will only do so much or none at all when this
happens.
When all is done, I think that there is a great chance that the present
administration will mark the start of the decline of the United States as the world's
hegemon by being passive or even indifferent to the immediate issues in the
international arena and this could pose as a pressing matter for the United States
especially if China will oust the United States from its seat.