Dwelling upon hegemony, many people usually remember British predominance in the nineteenth century. However, those times have past and it is important to search for other examples of power. The order in the world should be created under the supervision of one specific power. While the political regime depends on the elements of the international order, the stability in the world should depend on hegemony.
Still, Robert Keohane states that “hegemony can facilitate a certain type of cooperation – but there is little reason to believe that hegemony is either a necessity or a sufficient condition for the emergence of cooperative relationships” (Keohane 31).
Moreover, to be a hegemonic country, one should be able to have access to the resources of other countries (Keohane 33), however, there is no such a country today. And there is no need to have it. The globalization of the economy makes it impossible to develop the hegemony. The countries are functioning on the international market, they are involved in international politics, and the access of another country to the crucial raw materials of countries, to control the sources of capital and hold advantages in goods does not have any sense.
Hegemony is the possibility and the desire of one specific country to have enough power to control other countries. The modern situation makes it impossible for one particular country to become dominant as in this case, many problems may appear. The modern world is interconnected. Many countries are dependent on each other. The prices in one country depend on the prices in another. The currency rates are also dependent.
To function on the rules and norms of hegemony one specific country should have enough military power to protect its subordinates, it should have a strong economy to be able to impact the economical situation of other countries and it should be an authority to make other countries a subordinate. None of the currently existing countries have the ability and the desire to bear such a responsibility.
Dwelling upon the responsibility, it should be mentioned that hegemony is not just the desire to rule others, it is a great responsibility for lives and the level of existence of others. Living in the modern world of global relationships it seems almost impossible for one specific country to ruin the current state of affairs and to become too powerful to make others subordinate. Moreover, looking at the current state of affairs it becomes obvious that there is no need to have a hegemonic country in the modern world.
Susan Strange tried to develop the theme of the US hegemony in the modern world in case of the country’s desire, however, it seems too impossible for it, paying attention to the fact that there are European countries which are strong enough and they would never allow the USA to rule them. Susan Strange’s theory was based on American imperialism. However, the author of the article stated that the stable and even dominant position of the American dollar could make the country hegemonic in the world (Strange 483).
Looking at the modern current position, it should be stated that the dollar is not that stable as several years ago. The modern market of currency is too unstable to dwell upon the problem of hegemony in the modern world. Moreover, the affairs have been developed in such a way that the modern international relationships in the conditions of global marketing make it impossible for any country to implement hegemony in the world.
Reference List
Keohane, Robert. After Hegemony. New Jersey: Princeton. 2005. Print.
Strange, Susan. “A Critique of Regime Analysis.” International Organization 36.2 (1982): 479-496.