Artikel

De afbrokkelende Amerikaanse hegemonie en de toekomst van de Pax Americana

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Abstract

The decline of American hegemony and the future of the Pax Americana – Since the publication of Paul Kennedy’s best-seller, “The rise and fall of the great powers” - a growing number of American intellectuals have made a hot issue of the thesis that American hegemony is in decline. The U.S., say the philosophers of decline, has failed to strike a proper balance between its overseas commitments and the demands of a maturing domestic economy. Left uncorrected, this imbalance, which Kennedy terms "imperial overstretch", will continue to erode the economic foundations that are the true base of America’s global power. The U.S., they propose, must therefore adjust its world role accordingly, practise a policy of devolution and come to terms with the more plural world of the future. Although the decline diagnosis is accepted by authors with very different philosophical backgrounds, some social scientists maintain that Kennedy’s arguments are overdrawn and stress the immense cultural and structural power which the U.S. still enjoys. Proponents of the decline argument suggest that the U.S. should use this remaining power to encourage the emergence of a plural and cooperative world structure. However, some examples from the recent past indicate that America’s imperial self-image is likely to frustrate such a ’grand reformulation’ of its world role.

How to Cite:

Devuyst, Y., (1989) “De afbrokkelende Amerikaanse hegemonie en de toekomst van de Pax Americana”, Tijdschrift voor Sociale Wetenschappen 34(1), 25–42. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tvsw.95001