The International Organizations: Hegemons

The International Organizations
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The International Organizations
Hegemons have existed before but none as powerful and dominant as the United States comes to mind. Arguments have been put forth over the necessity of hegemons especially with regard to global order. Before the United States became a hegemon, the world had been accustomed to the growing power of the European nations. Britain was a superpower and countries like France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, among others were working just as hard to exert their dominance. However, with many countries vying for the top post, the world experienced World War 1 and World War 2. So, the necessity of a hegemon lies in its ability to maintain global order or the creation of a new one (Huygens, 2017). Since the ascension of the United States to the state of hegemony, the world has been relatively peaceful even though coming to the brink of war a few times.
The causes of hegemonic decline can be divided into internal and external causes. Internal causes mainly include the domestic political climate that reduces the power of the hegemony. External causes, on the other hand, are those that are outside a country but that have a greater impact on overthrowing a hegemony. One internal cause involves the leadership of a hegemony. For example, with the election of President Trump, the U.S. to the eyes of many made itself weak at the international stage. President Trump has worked hard to try and ‘make America great again.’ However, as indicated by Ikenberry and Nexon (2019), his movement away from America’s commitment to “liberal order has produced significant doubts about American leadership.” Aside from the internal politics of the U.S., there is also the rise of China which continues to grow and pose a threat to U.S. China’s efforts to shape “regional and global international relations” continue to strengthen its position. So, internal politics, as well as rise of challengers, can lead to the decline of hegemonies.
Every hegemony has an end but it is not yet clear whether the U.S.’s end as a hegemony will happen any time soon. It is true that challengers like Russia and China exist. However, the U.S. is still the largest economy in the world (Drehle, 2019). The U.S. has held this position for a long time and even with China’s emergence, it will still be di...