NCERT Class 12 Political Science US Hegemony in World Politics

Chapter 3

US Hegemony in World Politics The attack

AYESHA, JABU AND ANDREI

Ayesha was doing very well in her studies at a high school in the outskirts of Baghdad, and was planning to study medicine in university. She lost a leg in 2003 when a missile slammed into an air raid shelter in which she was hiding with her friends. Now she is learning to walk all over again. She still plans to become a doctor, but only after the foreign armies leave her country.Jabu is a talented young artist who lives in Durban, South Africa. His paintings are heavily influenced by traditional tribal art forms. He wants to go to art school and later open his own studio. However, his father wants him to study for an MBA and then jointhe family business. The business is not doing too well; Jabu’s father feels that with an MBA degree, Jabu will be able to make the family business profitable. Andrei is a young man living in Perth, Australia. His parents are immigrants from Russia. His mother gets very angry every time Andrei puts on blue jeans to go to church. She wants him to look respectable in church. Andrei tells his mother that jeans are “cool”, that they give him the sense of freedom. Andrei’s father reminds his wife how they too used to wear jeans when they were youngsters in Leningrad, and for the same reason that their son now invokes. Andrei has had an argument with his mother. Jabu may be forced to study a subject that he has no interest in. In contrast,

Ayesha has lost her leg and is lucky to be alive. How can we even discuss their problems in the same breath? We can, and must, do so. As we shall see in this chapter, all three have been, in different ways, affected by US hegemony. We will meet Ayesha, Jabu and Andrei again. But let us first understand how US hegemony began and how it operates in the world today. We will follow the popular usage of the word ‘America’ to refer to the United States of America. But it may be useful to remind ourselves that the expression America covers the two continents of North and South America and that the US is only one of the countries of the American continent. Thus, the use of the word America solely for the US is already a sign of the US hegemony that we seek to understand in this chapter.

BEGINNING OF THE ‘NEW WORLD ORDER’

The sudden collapse of the Soviet Union took everyone by surprise. While one of the two superpowers ceased to exist, the other remained with all its powers intact, even enhanced. Thus, it would appear that the US hegemony began in 1991 after Soviet power disappeared from the international scene. This is largely correct, but we need to keep in mind two riders to this. First, as we shall see in this chapter, some aspects of US hegemony did not emerge in 1991 but in fact go back to the end of the Second World War in 1945. Second, the US did not start behaving like a hegemonic power right from 1991; it became clear much later that the world was in fact living in a period of hegemony. Let us therefore look at this process by which US hegemony got established more closely. In August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, rapidly occupying and subsequently annexing it. After a series of diplomatic attempts failed at convincing Iraq to quit its aggression, the United Nations  mandated the liberation of Kuwait by force. For the UN, this was a dramatic decision after years of deadlock during the Cold War. The US President George H.W. Bush hailed the emergence of a ‘new world order’.

A massive coalition force of 660,000 troops from 34 countries fought against Iraq and defeated it in what came to be known as the First Gulf War. However, the UN operation, which was called ‘Operation Desert Storm’, was overwhelmingly American. An American general, Norman Schwarzkopf, led the UN coalition and nearly 75 per cent of the coalition forces were from the US. Although the Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, had promised “the mother of all battles”, the Iraqi forces were quickly defeated and forced to withdraw from Kuwait.

QUESTION

1. Which among the following statements about hegemony is incorrect?

a. The word implies the leadership or predominance of one State.

b. It was used to denote the predominance of Athens in the ancient Greece.

c. The country having hegemonic position will possess unchallenged military power.

d. Hegemonic position is fixed. Once a hegemon, always a hegemon.

2. Which among the following statements is wrong about the contemporary world order?

a. There is an absence of world government, which could regulate the State’s behaviour.

b. The US is the predominant player in world affairs.

c. States are using force against one another.

d. States, which violate international law, are severely punished by the UN.

3. Which among the following statements is wrong with regard to ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’?

a. More than forty countries joined in the US-led coalition of the willing to invade Iraq.

b. The reason given for invading Iraq was to prevent it from developing weapons of mass destruction.

c. The action was taken with the prior approval of the UN.

d. The US-led coalition did not face major resistance from Iraqi forces

4. Give an example each of the three kinds of hegemony that are dealt with in the chapter. Do not cite examples that are in the chapter.

5. Mention three ways in which US dominance since the Cold War is different from its position as a superpower during the Cold War.

6. Match the following:

i. Operation Infinite Reach

ii. Operation Enduring Freedom

iii. Operation Desert Storm

iv. Operation Iraqi Freedom

a. War against Al-Qaeda and Taliban

b. Coalition of the willing

c. Missile attack in Sudan

d. First Gulf War

7. What are the constraints on American hegemony today? Which one of these do you expect to get more important in the future?

8. Read the three extracts in the chapter from the Lok Sabha debate on the Indo-US deal. Develop any one of these into a full speech defending a certain position on Indo-US relations.

9. “If big and resourceful states cannot resist the US hegemony, it is unrealistic to expect much smaller and weaker non-state actors to offer any resistance.” Examine this proposition and give your opinion.

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