American Hegemony in the Twenty-First Century: Consensus and Legitimacy
Abstract: Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has been the world’s only unquestioned superpower. How the United States evaluates its position as global hegemon has important consequences for American foreign policy, particularly with regards to the potential for future policy constraints. Thus, this paper seeks to consider the question: How durable is American hegemony? The paper first defines the state of American hegemony and then considers the primary challengers: Europe, Russia, China, Japan and imperial overstretch. It will conclude that in the long-term, East Asian geopolitical instability poses the greatest threat to American hegemony, but that in the short-term, the hegemony will prove to be quite durable as long as the United States can counteract the phenomenon of imperial overstretch. In order to diffuse both internal and international threats to hegemony, American leaders should work to pursue national interests within a framework of consensus and legitimacy as much as possible.
American Hegemony in the Twenty-First Century: Preserving the Status Quo by Fostering Consensus
I. Introduction: Why Hegemony Matters
The Soviet Union’s collapse at the end of the Cold War left the United States without its major global rival. Now alone at the top, the United States’ strategic imperatives have shifted remarkably. The shift has been significant enough to prompt fundamental questions about the international order and whether this new “unipolar moment” will last. Indeed, since 1989, political scientists have clamored to define the United States’ status relative to the rest of the world. Indispensable nation? Sole super...
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It is somehow strange for today’s reader to find out that the situation with America’s foreign affairs hasn’t changed much. As some clever people have said, “The History book on the shelf is always repeating itself.” Even after nineteen years, Americans think of themselves as citizens of the strongest nation in the world. Even after the September the 11th. Even after Iraq. And Afghanistan.
Michelangelo was born in Caprese, Italy on March 6th 1475. His family was politically prominent as his family had large land property. His father was a banker and was looking to his son to engage in his businesses. As a young boy, he has ambitions of becoming a sculptor, but his father was very discouraging of this. He wanted his son to live up to the family name and take up his father’s businesses. Michelangelo became friends with Francesco Granacci, who introduced him to Domenico Ghirlandio(biography.com). Michelangelo and his father got into a series of arguments until eventually they arranged for him to study under Ghirlandaio at the age of thirteen. Ghirlandaio watched Michelangelo work and recognized his talent for the art and recommended him into an apprenticeship for the Medici family palace studio after only one year of at the workshop. The Medici’s were very rich from making the finest cloths. Lorenzo, which was one of the most famous of the family had a soft side for art and is credited for helping the Italian Renaissance become a time of illustrious art and sculpting. At ...
The sistine Chapel and mainly the Creation of Adam fresco are treasures to the world of art, Michelangelo the creator brought his discipline of sculpting into painting the frescoes and the human silhouette.
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After the eighteen long years of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which limits gays from being open about their sexuality in the military services, was finally brought to its end. President Barack Obama signed the reverse of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on December 22, 2010. It was also stated that “The services will no longer separate service members under DADT (U.S. Department of Defense). Nevertheless, homosexuals should have the opportunity to serve in the military because the job had nothing to do with anyone’s sexual orientation.
The Roman Republic is highly praised for its innovation, influence and expansion. In a period of expansion, there was a setting of constitutional precedent for the future late Republic and Roman Empire. The Roman Republic can also be viewed from the perspective of internal balances of power. That being said, although the Republic was not a full democracy, as stated by Polybius, it did provide some political power to the people. Although the Roman people played a significant role in politics and had some power, said power was limited through checks of the Senate and Consul, and most positions of power were very concentrated in the hands of Patricians and aristocrats. The powers that all citizens inherently possessed did however play a significant
His artwork took sculptures and paintings to another level. While he was sculptor and a painter, he also was a poet. One of my personal favorite quotes by him is, “the greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it”. Michelangelo is saying that we settle; we do not push ourselves. We find contentment in not making a change or challenging the world, but we are okay with hiding behind the norm. Michelangelo did not settle. He performed to his best ability, and he left the world
The magistrates are what the American government would consider the executive branch. They were the leaders of the political and military aspects of government and were led by the consuls. In most cases, the magistrates were only able to hold office for one year, this way they did not have enough time to accumulate power and ultimately overthrow the government or leave a significant impression on the Republic ...
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The author’s reasons for this are that the United States is the most powerful nation economically and technologically, in addition to having the most powerful army. This makes it difficult for one to argue with the unipolarity of the U.S. I believe that unipolarity exists, but I disagree with the suggestion that it is stable, as the stability of a system largely depends on the leadership, and within a unipolar system leadership will be all the more integral to the existence of the system. This is especially in a country such as the United States, as the leadership changes every four to eight years and the tactics used to deal with hegemony will change with those leaders, thus creating an unstable
As time went on Michelangelo goes on the create some of the best Statues and paintings known to man today. Aside from his “artistic” life Michelangelo was also an architect and a poet, he designed buildings such as the Laurentian Library and the Medici Chapel, but his biggest accomplishment came in 1546, became the head architect of Peter’s Basilica. For him when it came it poetry, he wrote over 300 poems that have come to be known as “Michelangelo's sonnets,” which are still read by people to this day. Even Though, he is known for his memorable sculptures and paintings, Michelangelo did not have the best personality. He was short-tempered, so he did not really work well with others, when Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, he fired all of his workers, because he wanted everything to the peak of perfection. A lot Michelangelo’s works did remain unfinished, but the ones that he did complete are still some of the best in history; from Pieta, David, The Last Judgement, to the ceiling
The Roman Republic is highly praised for the innovation, influence and expansion that it had on the rest of the world. In a period of expansion there was also a setting of constitutional precedent for the future late Republic and Roman Empire. The Roman Republic can also be viewed from the perspective of internal balances of power. That being said, although the Roman Republic as not a full democracy, as stated by Polybius, it did provide some political power to the people. Constitutionally, the Roman people played a large role in politics, but said power was limited through checks of the Senate and Consul, an most positions of power were very concentrated in the hands of Patricians and aristocrats, who can be seen as upper citizens in Rome.
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A famous example of a book being much better than the film is “Into Thin Air”. The movie was so fabricated and the plot lines were dramatically different from the book it was based off of. The movie was so bad, Jon Krakauer, the author himself expressed his hatred towards the movie and recommended people to read the book instead.
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