B-1 Ch-3 US Hegemony in World Politics - Revision Notes

 CBSE Class 12 Political Science

Revision Notes
Chapter-3
US Hegemony in World Politics

  1. America refers to the United States of America. It covers two continents-the North and the South America, the US is only one of the countries of the continent which is a symbol of US hegemony.
  2. After the disintegration of USSR in 1991, the first instance of US hegemony came into observation through:
    • 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. 
    • econd, the US did not start behaving like a hegemonic powerright 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.
    • Operation Desert Storm by the UN during first Gulf War to retreat Iraqi forces from Kuwait.
    • The First Gulf War revealed the vast technological gap that had opened up between the US military capability and that of other states.
  3. William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton, the newly elected President of the US in 1992 and again in 1996, During the Clinton years, it often seemed that the US had withdrawn into itsinternal affairs and was not fully engaged in world politics. In foreign policy, the Clinton government tended to focus on ‘soft issues’ like :
    • Democracy promotions,
    • Climate change
    • World trade rather than of military power and security.
  4. The above mentioned policies of the US were contradicted in response to
    • Yugoslavian action against predominant Albanian population in Kosovo
    • By targeting bombards through Operation Infinite against Al-Qaeda
    • In response to the bombings of US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, Dar-es-Salaam and Tanzania in 1998.
  5. On 11 September 2001, nineteen hijackers hailing from a number of Arab countries took control of four commercial aircrafts shortly after take off and crushed into World Trade Centre in New York, Pentagon building in Arlington. Virginia (US Defence Department) and the capital building of the US Congress in Pennysylvania, came to be known as event of 9/11 in the US.
  6. In response to 9/11, George W. Bush won the elections in the US succeeding Bill Clinton. The US launched Operation Enduring Freedom against all those suspected behind attack in 9/11 mainly Al-Qaeda and Taliban regime.
  7. The US forces made arrests all over the world,
    • Transported and detained the persons in secret prisons like Guantanamo Bay,
    • A US navy base in Cuba where the prisoners did not enjoy the protection of international law
    • Or the law of their own country or that of the US.
    • Even the UN representatives were not allowed to meet these persons.
  8. On 19 March 2003, the US launched Operation Iraqi Freedom to prevent Iraq from developing Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) in the ostensible purpose to control oil fields and installing a regime in Iraq friendly to US.
  9. World Political power is in the form of military domination,economic power,political clout and cultural superiority.
  10. The international system dominated by a sole superpower ,or hyper-power,is called a 'Unipolar' system.
  11. Hegemony is an international system with only one center of power to be gained and retained in the form of military domination,economic,political chart and center superiority which was enjoyed only by the US after disintegration of Soviet Union.
  12. Hegemony is an international system with only one centre of power to be gained
    • Retained in the form of military domination,
    • Economic political chart and central superiority
    • Which was enjoyed only by the US after disintegration of Soviet Union.
  13. Hegemony as hard power is based on
    • Military capabilities of a country and the US has proved it.
    • The US today spends more on its military than the next 12 powers
    • Even technologically no other power can match with the US.
  14. Hegemony as structural power
    • Must sustain global structure in economic sense.
    • The US has provided global public goods as sea lanes of communications (SLOCs)
    • As well as accounts for 15 percent of world trade if EU is included and 20 per cent in world economy.
    • The US has contributed basic economic structure in the form of Bretton Woods System and Degree in MBA.
  15. Hegemony as soft power implies class ascendency in social, political and ideological spheres which is more effective than coercion to move hand in hand and the US was proved ultimately triumphant in this.
  16. The first business school in the world ,the wharton school at the university of pennsylvonia, was establishled in 1881.The first MBA course were initiated around 1900.
  17. Though the US has been a hegemonic power, still it experiences some constraints in itself
    • As institutional architecture (division of power).
    • pen nature of American Society
    • The presence of only one organisation in international system to moderate the exercise of American Power i.e. NATO.
  18. After the collapse of Soviet Union,
    • India decided to liberalise its economy and integrate it with global economy.
    • Hence the US also found India an attractive economic partner due to technological dimension and the role of lndian-American diaspora.
  19. India needs an appropriate mix of foreign policy strategies to deal with the US.
    • Either India should maintain aloofness from Washington and comprehend its military power
    • Or to establish mutual convergences or to lead a coalition in weaning the hegemony assay from its dominance.
  20. To deal with the hegemony,
    • All the states bear the different strategies either to extract benefits by operating within hegemonic system
    • Or to stay away as far as possible from dominant power i.e. Russia, China and European Union have opted this policy.
    • Both the policies are known as Bandwagon Strategy and to hide respectively.