The World Is Still Better Off With US Hegemony
The Pax Americana was never perfect, just preferable to no pax at all. Here’s hoping that it stays with us a bit longer.
Hegemony at dusk.
Photographer: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
“Hegemon” is a loaded word, even if the Greek root simply means leader. In world politics the term refers to a superpower that dominates the international system as a whole, for good or ill. In our lifetime, the United States has been such a hegemon, and controversially so. Now, though, America’s relative global clout seems to be slipping as other powers rise. And that’ll have far-reaching consequences for global politics and matters of war and peace.
As it happens, I recently relocated to what a colleague has aptly called Hegemon HQ — that is, Washington, DC. It’s the ideal perch to investigate this big question about American leadership, which I intend to do in several of my future columns. Is US power actually waning, or does it just seem that way? Does the US, going into a presidential election next year, even want to remain hegemon? Or are Americans fed up with defending that battered regime so awkwardly named the “rules-based international order”? Not least, should the world root for American decline or continued US preeminence?