Is America the most powerful nation in the state system?

Is America the biggest Super Power in the World? or do they have a Kryptonite?

Is the USA a global hegemon?

The most powerful nation in the world may also be known as a global hegemon, but the question is, a the USA the global Hegemon? or is it another country, China?, Russia?, do we even have a global hegemony?

It can not be denied that the USA is a powerful country it has a global military dominance, economic resilience, a high population and unrivalled structural power. It has however been argued that the USA is no longer a global hegemon because the power of the military is becoming redundant, America has suffered relative economic decline, the USA has damaged soft power and a decline in diplomatic influence. This blog will look at both sides of the argument to decide whether or not America is the most powerful nation in the state system.

 Military Power

+ Global military dominance

The USA has a massive military lead over the rest of the world. In 2011 the 42% of the worlds military spending was spent by America, and had a five hold lead over China which is the second largest military spender. The USA has over 700 military bases in over 100 countries, as well as a strong lead in high tech weaponry and air power. The USA is the only country that can intervene militarily in any part of the world and sustain multiple operations.

- Redundant military power

Dominant military power may no longer be a secure basis for hegemony. There is a huge gap between the destructive capacity of the US military machine and what it can achieve politically. The forced withdrawals of the US military from Lebanon in 1984 and Somalia in 1993, and the difficulty of winning the asymmetrical wars of Iraq and Afghanistan, demonstrate how the use of terrorist, irregular armies and insurrectionist tactics can prevent the most advanced power from victory.

Economic power

+ Economic resilience

32% of the worlds spending on research and development is spent by the USA, giving the country an almost impregnable technological lead over other countries ensuring high productivity levels. China is decades away from matching the USA in technologically advanced economic sectors. Furthermore, just as the British empire remained a global hegemony until the mid-twentieth century despite being overtaken by the USA and Germany, which suggests the USA may be able continue to maintain global leadership in a world in which it is no longer the economic number one.

- Economic recline 

Although the USA remains the worlds largest economy, its competitors, especially China and India, having been growing very quickly in recent years, with the Chinese economy set to overtake the US economy by 2020. The 2007-09 global financial crisis may have further weakened the USA by exposing floors in the US economic model and making people question the dollar's position as the worlds leading currency.

Soft power

+ The US Population

The US population is expected to reach 439 million by 2050, with big increases in the number of Hispanics and Asians, helping to build on economic performance and keep the US's populations average age relatively low in comparison to the ageing population of Europe, Japan and China. Associated with this is the highly educated and skilled nature of the skilled population, practically in areas such as science and technology. It is commonly accepted that up to seven of US universities feature in the worlds top 10, while no Asian university has ever entered the top 20.

- Damaged soft power

The USA's soft power has declined in a number of ways. Its reputation has been damaged by its association with corporate power and the widening of global inequality causing resentment from developing countries and causing them to be against globalisation and Americanisation. Serious damage has also been done to the USA's moral authority by the "war on terror" generally and the Iraq war in particular, made worse by the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and in the Guantanamo detention camp.  

+ Unrivalled structural power

The USA exercises disproportional influence over the institutions of global economic governance and over NATO. Despite the growing influence of the developing world and of emerging economies, no country is close to challenging the USA's influence over global economic decision- making. This was reflected in the leading role that the USA played is formulating a global response to the 2007-09 global financial crisis. 

- Declining diplomatic power

The USA has lost influence in Latin America, it has to rely on Chinese diplomacy to exert influence over North Korea, EU diplomacy to exert influence over Iran and its capacity to exert pressure on Israel is also limited. Furthermore China and Russia are largely immune from US diplomatic pressure. The decline in the USA's structural power is also evident in the rise of the G-20 as the key forum of global economic policy-making.      

To conclude

It does appear that America is the most powerful nation in the state system because even though the way global power works is different from how it use to be and the USA needs to keep up with the changes if it wants to remain a global hegemon.