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Us Religious Hegemony

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Nikolas

Does the USA still remain a global hegemon?

Hegemony is the political, economic, or military predominance or control of one state over others. This power is based on the countries structural position which enables the hegemon to shape the actions and influence other states by using soft power (Soft power is the ability to shape the preferences of others through appeal and attraction via politics, culture and foreign policies) more often than not rather than hard power (Hard power is the use of military and economic means to influence the behavior or interests of other political bodies aggressively) and use of force. The US is commonly known as a superpower or ‘hegemon’ though this idea has been challenged by both external and internal factors like the economic prowess of other countries like China who’s rise has been astonishing and are projected to overtake the USA by 2030 as the greatest financial power.

If judged in military terms then the USA appears to remain dominant, their lead over the rest of the world is huge. In 2011, the US accounted for 42% of the world’s military spending and had a x5 fold lead over China, the second largest military spender. The US has around 700 military bases around the world as well as an unequivocal lead in high tech weaponry that can intervene militarily in any part of the world and sustain multiple operations like in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Though, their power in military terms could be rendered redundant due to their lack of achievements proven by withdrawals from Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia in 1993 as well as their asymmetrical wars in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrates how the use of terrorist guerrilla tactics can thwart even the most advanced military power. Also, the ideals of neo-colonialism always spring to mind due to the puppet governments they attempt to install like General Pinochet in Chile over

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