Growing up attending public school in the US we were always fed the notion that America was the greatest nation on earth and the bastion of freedom and justice that the rest of the world looked up to. Through mandatory pledge of allegiance recitals every morning starting from the age of five and a one sided way of teaching history how could we not believe such a thing? This is a myth that the US’s comfortable position as the head of the Liberal international order (LIO) allowed it to perpetuate. Nowadays we find ourselves at a turning point. The rise of new global superpowers such as the BRICS is challenging the long perceived Liberal international order and as a result pulling the comfortable seat at the top out from under the US.
Key Points
- The US’s failures
- The Trump administration
- The idea of hegemony
- What follows the end of American hegemony
The US and its Errors
The harsh fact of the matter is that the LIO is out of touch with the developing world. A good example of this is the ever growing redundancy of the G7 pointed out by American Economist Jeffrey Sachs. This development is terrifying to the US. As the G7 is an IO that helps comfort the US and its allied western powers’ notion that they are the most influential powers and that the rest of the world is heavily dependent on their input and the world order is shaped by the actions of these few powers. This notion is becoming even further detached from reality as time goes on.
The US and its allies’ pushing of liberal ideas is falling on deaf ears as developing nations such as the BRICS have their own set of norms. One of which is finding a common enemy in the west and its history of domination. In this way the BRICS are a normative alliance founded on the common enemy of the western powers. By this logic the US created its own new rival by being out of touch with the societal norms of nations outside of the LIO. The US in being blind to this new set of challengers who have joined forces in rejection of the LIO as such a global order
The LIO can only exist so long as the US can remain a hegemony in order to support it. This formula for a liberal international order creates a self defeating prophecy. the post cold war hegemony of the US was only made possible through cooperation with other western liberal powers. and infighting is bound to happen. In more recent years, the Trump administration’s constant antagonizing of IOs and western allies sped up the process of America losing its hegemony. Trump’s pulling out of IOs in an effort to strengthen the US’s power through his “America First” notion ironically enough ended up strongly weakening the US. That strength that made the US a hegemony was also due to its backing from western allies in Europe. This oversight of course makes this new internal division of the LIO a great opportunity for the BRICS to overpower the now split up western powers.
Post-Hegemony
The dilemma regarding hegemony is one that will apply to the BRICS as well. This means that should the LIO be doomed to fail for these reasons so would a BRICS domination of the global order. While the rise of the BRICS spells out an end to the US hegemony it does not necessarily mean that a new hegemony will take its place. For the US it is easy to see their decline in influence as an end to the LIO as a whole. but the BRICs are not as unified as it may seem. Their power comes from a fairly shallow allegiance and they seem to be gaining their influence within the boundaries and norms set by IOs. The rise of BRICS is leading to the US being dethroned but it is unlikely that a new sole hegemonic power will arise from this development. It is far more likely that we will see an extended period of time without a hegemonic power. This could lead to more international dialogue and cooperation now that the playing field is being evened out.
In conclusion, yes the US will lose its hegemony in the coming years. But this is a development that it and its western allies should have seen coming, the global order that worked for them did not work for the other developing powers of the world. The US was blind to this and will now have to deal with the consequences. One in which the US cannot be angry about as it was due to their own failures that the LIO is collapsing. The US will no longer have its hegemony but it will not be completely overpowered as the rising influence of the BRICS is not one that can implement a new hegemony. We will soon enough see a post hegemonic order take shape.
You nicely presented your argument of why we should not worry too much about the end of the LIO. Your post was fact-based and did not appeal to any fears that some people might have. That is how it is supposed to be. Instead of fear-mongering, you made it clear why the end of the LIO is not a bad thing per se and why it is also unlikely that this will even happen. But do not forget to use hyperlinks for the referencing.
Yes absolutely. It was definitely a goal of mine to try to curb the fear-mongering and share a more introspective and critical stance on the development so I am glad to hear that you interpreted it that way.
It is really nice to see that you have provided the perspective of how citizens of the US look at the world and what that means for how the US behaves. Your argument is presented in a clear and understable way. However, it would be nice to see some pictures in the blog post.
Thank you for your comment. I took it into consideration and made the post more lively with some visuals.
Hi! I really enjoyed this nicely written, fascinating, and personal blog post. The topic is indeed super relevant and you provide a good analysis of the current situation. I think that the conclusion is a bit one-sided: there are many signs that prove that the US is not actually losing its hegemony anytime soon and the LIO would not collapse. What do you think about this? Also, by adding pictures you could attract more readers. All in all, a really nice blog post!
“Soon” is very relative. Practically all three schools of thought show significant evidence that we are trending towards the end of American hegemony. It may be much easier to dismiss a collapse of US hegemony because it won’t happen within the next few months but by looking at trends we can see that the world is developing faster and faster in that direction. Thank you for your input.
Thank you for the answer. I guess we will see sooner or later. Good luck with your paper in the third period 🙂
Great blog post, touching upon a very interesting topic and perspective. Introducing the subject referencing your personal upbringing is both original and catchy. However, I notice that you tend to refer to the BRICS as being ‘outside of the ILO’ which I interpret as not being part of the structures and institutions composing it, and I believe this is not true today. They may not be the founders, but they definitely are members of it. Overall, you remain factual and concise which is very appreciated.
Thank you for your supportive remarks. I can elaborate on my language a bit further here. while they do operate within the structures of the LIO. The LIO, being established by the western powers treats the BRICS as outsiders. To more concisely respond to your remark the BRICS modes of operation are not in line with the established norms of the LIO.