The evolvement of new emerging military-focused countries, including China, North Korea, Russia, on the international relations stage unfolded discussions about what kind of world order will be installed in the future. Researchers and policymakers stated that after the Cold War, the United States took leadership and created a unipolar world with a single superpower. This paper will discuss courses of action that the U.S. can choose to maintain its global military and economic power status, advantages, disadvantages, and costs.
Considering the first course of action that the United States can undertake, namely retracting its powers from the forefront of the military scene, several essential issues should be discussed. From my point of view, the state cannot back off from world military supremacy entirely. However, it is suggested that hybrid warfare that other countries, for instance, Russia, started utilizing, requires the U.S. to change its strategy and develop a modern military defense (Chivvis, 2017). Therefore, the U.S. can retract from specific local conflicts, such as protests in Eastern Europe, that do not influence the state’s dominance.
The strategy of withdrawing military dominance from the world military scene has both benefits and drawbacks. The benefits include avoiding supporting other countries or sending troops to fight against other states that involve capital and human investments necessary for operations (The U.S. Department of Defense, 2018). While drawbacks are the possibility of losing power that other states can use to influence the United States and the lack of protection from emerging military organizations and countries, such as China and Iran, that create new bases and weapons (The U.S. Department of Defense, 2018). The retraction course of action involves changes in costs, including the increase of financial costs to switch to other forms of warfare, a decrease of human capital, and possible political expenses.
Talking about the second course of action when the U.S. continues to do whatever is necessary to maintain its military superpower status, several considerations can be mentioned. I believe that the U.S. should not do anything to achieve the military superpower; instead, I think that it is crucial to restrain other countries and organizations, so they cannot achieve the same level of power. Some researchers state that despite significant military landscape changes, the U.S. will hold supreme power (McNeil, 2019).
The strategy to continue putting all efforts to support the military superpower has unique advantages, disadvantages, and substantial costs. The main advantage is preserving the U.S. army superpower that brings assurance that American resources and people will be protected, and political opinion will be valued. Analysts point out that the drawbacks of maintaining superpower status include the necessity to focus more on international relations (Congressional Research Service, 2020). The costs of pursuing the supremacy strategy are also high (Payne, 2016). The state must put its national sovereignty in the first place that requires invasive operations costs, human and resource capital, and moral considerations (Congressional Research Service, 2020).
Overall, it can be stated that it is preferable to retract military power and be more analytical regarding operations that should be conducted. The theory of global politics and ideology that can be close to my perspective is realism that highlights that international systems are characterized by conflict, and foreign affairs are dominated by military rivalries (D’Anieri, 2019). Therefore, I would not state that the U.S. should completely back off from the military forefront because countries can present a threat, but to develop new ways of conducting warfare to ensure that the U.S. holds power and balances its resources.
Works Cited
Chivvis, C. Understanding Russian “Hybrid Warfare” and What Can Be Done About It.The RAND Corporation. 2017, Web.
Congressional Research Service. U.S. Role in the World: Background and Issues for Congress.Congressional Research Service. 2020, Web.
D’Anieri, Paul. “Magical Realism: Assumptions, Evidence and Prescriptions in the Ukraine Conflict.” Eurasian Geography and Economics, 60(1), 2019, 97-117, Web.
McNeil, Taylor. “Why the United States Is the Only Superpower.”Tufts University. 2019, Web.
Payne, R. Global Issues: Politics, Economics, and Culture. 5th ed., Pearson, 2016.
The US Department of Defense. Summary of the National Defense Strategy of the United States. The US Department of Defense, 2018, Web.