AMERICAN HEGEMONY AND WORLD PEACE

by Gennady Shkliarevsky

The world today is in turmoil.  Tensions, conflicts, and no-end wars are on the rise.  A Third World War is not a distant possibility; it is a real fact that stares us in the face.   Some observers claim that WWIII is already in progress.

Views and opinions on the current global situation differ.  All of them agree, however, that the world needs order and peace.  The creation of the new world order preoccupies the American political class.  In her recent contribution to

The American political class is hell-bent on establishing American hegemony as the solution to the growing world disorder.  In her recent contribution to Foreign Affairs, a premier platform of American political elites on foreign policy, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has outlined the view that is widely shared by American policymakers and influencers.  Rice argues that the United States must not succumb to isolationism.

It must remain engaged in world affairs and play a key role in combatting world disorder.  In her view, the United States is well-positioned to design the new world order, and it must accept the challenge.  The U.S. must establish its hegemony and enforce the new order.  It is the best fit for this role since, as Rice puts it, “great-power DNA is still very much in the American genome.”   Rice cautiously avoids using the word “hegemony” due to its negative connotation.  She uses a new and more popular term, “the alliance of democratic states,” that is very popular these days.  The euphemism hardly conceals the fact that Rice argues for American hegemony since the U.S. is obviously in charge of this alliance.  In her view, there is “simply no other option.”

Rice is not an isolated voice in support of hegemony.  There are many voices among the American political elites in support of American hegemony.  They all recognize that the world needs to transition to the new liberal world order, and the U.S. must be the leader in this transition.  President Biden has repeatedly pointed out that the order created after WWII “has lost its steam” and needs a reset.

In his view, America is the country that “holds the world together.”  In the new world order, America must “unite the world in ways that it has never been.”  Biden’s words leave no doubt that he talks about hegemony.  As he stressed on one occasion, “Now is a time when things are shifting . . . There’s going to be a new world order out there, and we’ve got to lead it.   And we’ve got to unite the rest of the free world in doing it.”

Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the NATO alliance, is another voice that makes similar pronouncements.  In his article “What NATO Means to the World,” published by Foreign Affairs on the eve of the recent NATO summit in Washington, Stoltenberg outlined NATO’s vision of the future world order.

The most important part of this vision is that NATO’s security concerns will no longer be confined to the defense of the transatlantic community or Europe.  A renewed and stronger NATO will be vastly expanding its role well beyond Europe.  Speaking for the entire alliance, Stoltenberg writes:  “We will work hand in hand with our partners in the Indo-Pacific on shared security concerns.”  The article emphasizes that the proxy war in Ukraine is an integral part of the creation of the new liberal world order.

These and similar statements are not just words.  The Western alliance is taking concrete steps toward the realization of its hegemonic vision.  The alliance continues to provide weapons for the Zelensky regime in support of its proxy war in Ukraine.  The alliance urges its members to increase their military budgets even above the required 2% of GDP.  This year European allies and Canada have increased their military spending by 18%–the highest increase since the end of the Cold War.

There is no doubt that the West pushes for the establishment of a new liberal world order in which the U.S. will exercise its hegemony.  The establishment of American hegemony is not going to be easy.  There will be many powerful counties—including China, Russia, and Iran among many others–that will resist such order.  They have the will and considerable resources to put up a stiff competition that will inevitably lead to tensions, conflicts, wars, and suffering.  Yet despite such gloomy prospects, the United States remains irrationally committed to this course.  Why is the American political class committed to such an irrational course?  What is the reason for its commitment?

Perhaps the most obvious answer to this question is that it does not see any other choice.  However, this answer only raises more questions:  Why is it that the U.S. does not see any possibility of establishing order and peace in the world other than through hegemony?  Why is this exclusive focus on hegemony?

The American political practice, including its foreign policy, has its roots in liberalism.  The main organizing principle of liberal theory and practice is reason.  The importance of reason for human civilization is hard to overestimate.  Human reason represents the most powerful level of organization of reality.  Its power is infinite.  There are no problems in the world that can stand up to this power.  The reliance on reason is well justified.

The problem, however, is that the liberal view of reason is limited and subjective.  Objectivity requires the inclusion of all possible views and perspectives.  The liberal view is anthropocentric; it views reason exclusively from a human perspective.  Such a perspective is inevitably exclusionary since it excludes all non-anthropocentric perspectives.  The anthropocentric approach disempowers reason.  As a result, the liberal practice cannot unlock the infinite potential of reason.

The world today is very different from the way it was at the end of WWII when the United States adopted a hegemonic approach.  This approach has become particularly pronounced and aggressive after the fall of communism and the emergence of the United States as the sole superpower in the world.  There is little chance that this approach will succeed in today’s world.  Its cost will be forbidding, and strong resistance will be invoked.

There are many reasons for the current disorder.  However, all these diverse reasons have one fundamental cause.  All conflicts in the world today are a result of clashes of differences.

Liberalism sees clashes of differences as intrinsic and inevitable.  They are, so to say, due to the nature of reality.  According to liberalism, these clashes are ineluctable and unpreventable; they can only be mediated or ameliorated.  Mediation and amelioration are no solutions, and they are not particularly effective.  As the current turmoil and divisions in the United States show, American liberals cannot effectively cope with clashes of differences even in their own country.  Using this approach globally will undoubtedly be even less effective.

Also, mediation and amelioration require enforcement of rules and regulations.  Such enforcement can only come from an overseeing power that will exercise its hegemony.  That is the reason why American liberal establishment sees hegemony as the only way to create and maintain order in the world.

The pursuit of hegemony will undoubtedly produce much resistance.  Its cost will be prohibitively high.  However, while these are serious reasons, they are not the only or the most important reasons for rejecting this course.  The creation of a stable world order and enduring peace requires a solution to the problem of difference.  Palliatives are not a solution.

Hegemony works on exclusion.  Exclusion disempowers human reason.  It is the main cause of clashes of difference that lead to tensions, conflicts, and wars.  Hegemony will prevent us from finding solutions to problems we face.  On the contrary, it will create many more problems as it will provoke much resistance around the world.  Hegemony cannot create world order and bring peace.

The attainment of a stable world order cannot rely on exclusion and domination.  The new world order requires the solution of the problem of difference.  Clashes among differences are not intrinsic to reality.  Exclusionary practices are the cause of clashes of differences.  We must stop these practices and eliminate exclusion.  There is only one way to achieve this goal.  Our current exclusionary approach sees differences as a threat.  Differences are an important resource that makes creation and innovation possible.

The answer to exclusion is universal inclusion and integration of differences.  This approach will make it possible to create new and increasingly more powerful levels of organization that will give rise to new ideas that will offer solutions to problems we cannot solve today.  The inclusive nature of the proposed approach will empower human reason and will unlock its enormous potential.

In contrast to the hegemonic approach that will be resisted by many nations, the new and inclusive approach will certainly attract their support.  They will find the new inclusive world order to be mutually enriching and beneficial.  It will make all nations part of the creative process that will promote the evolution of human civilization and its survival.

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