A Model of US Hegemony

The obvious fact of US global hegemony has taken quite some time to enter public awareness. It is frequently described now, sometimes quite critically, sometimes celebrated as a great blessing to the world – e.g. in Thomas L. Freedman’s The Lexus and the Olive Tree. Understanding Globalisation (1999). Even the notion of an American Empire has come into use, the term often being used in a complacent manner. The most spectacular acknowledgement of US dominance was presented by the US historian Paul Kennedy. Until recently the prophet of American decline, he celebrated the one remaining global superpower with a brilliant essay in the London Financial Times. Its telling title is “The Eagle has landed” (Kennedy, 2002). This essay was illustrated with a frightening giant eagle surrounded by tiny animals symbolising Great Britain, Russia, China, India, Japan and France.It is one thing to recognise and acknowledge, or to reject US hegemony. It is, however, quite a different matter to capture this situation in a model which allows description, explanation and forecasting of events, as well as an explicit discussion of political options in coping with the hegemon. Such a model is also crucial for understanding globalisation as the making and emergence of global rules