On 4th October 1957 the Soviet Union launched into space the first earth orbiting satellite called Sputnik.The then Soviet leader Nikita Krushev, grinning from ear to ear, proclaimed that an eclipse had covered the United States.The commie went on to prophecies that the Soviet Union would bury the United States.The US did not comment.12 years later Neill Armstrong,an American astronaut,became the first man to land on moon.22 years later there was no Soviet Union.But the American dream continued unabated.Despite grand declarations of people like Krushev ,that the American power was a thing of past ,the US won the space race and successfully rose like a phoenix from the ashes of the Vietnam war to bury the great red army in the sands of Afghanistan and emerge as the sole superpower in 1991.
Post 9/11 and after its inability to achieve decisive victory in either Iraq or Afghanistan led many scholars to question American military power. The Global financial crisis only added teeth to their arguments that USA is no longer the preeminent power but in fact is on the decline along with her European allies. While there may be some merit in the first part of the argument ,(after all the threats in 21st century comprises of Non state actors which can challenge even the best equipped state) the second part represents gross underestimation of the resolve of the American people as well as misunderstanding about the reasons for the growth and prosperity of United States.
The most common mistake that people make is to have a euro-centric view of America. When people say that the West is declining they hyphenate US with Europe. although there are cultural, religious and ideological similarities between the two the differences in their history,growth and psyche is very palpable. The European countries achieved prosperity through capturing and looting the Asian and African countries.The Industrial revolution would not have been a success if the European traders did not have easy access to cheap raw materials from Asia and Africa. Sheer military power made Europe what it was and this led to the devastation in form of bloody wars across the continent.On the other hand the United States became prosperous owing to its innovative culture,education system that encourages creativity,the entrepreneurial mindset of its people and above all its ability to absorb cultures,religion's,nationalities from across the globe and mould them into one United States of America. Nowhere i am saying that Europe did not possess some of these traits but without the colonies Europe was a tiger without claws. Many scholars criticises the American Imperial hegemony and associate the American growth to its military dominance across the globe. These critics will do well to understand that even before the US acquired her only colony in Philippines in 1898 she had one of the top four GDP in the world. American wealth did not come through looting but through her own ability to innovate and create. Talent is nothing without opportunity and US became that land of opportunity.
In the 21st century the US is facing multiple challenges in a form that it has never faced before. Today the threat to US is not from conquering states but from failed ones. It is true that the US has not been able to respond adequately to these challenges but the battle has just began. As far as the global financial crisis is concerned it is not the first time the US is facing such economic crisis. The US economy is such that from time to time it has undergone periods of glut. This was true of the great panic of 1837 and of the great depression of 1929. From each of these crisis the US emerged as stronger and powerful country just when everyone had written it off. This is due to the fact that the fundamentals of US as a country remain strong.
It's education system continues to attract millions of students from abroad. The number of illegal immigrants in US as of 2010 were about 11 million showing people across the globe still chase the American dream. The political leaders ,scholars and others who regularly accuse the US of different crimes send their children to study in US. People criticised the high handed policies of George Bush and held rallies and mass protests across the US.While no one would justify those policies one bit ,but the interesting question is would such rallies or demonstrations be ever allowed in countries like China or Russia? Rule of law, freedom to choose, commitment to protect the lives of its citizens anywhere and anytime is what makes America the country it is.Indians who criticise the US counter terror policies as being amoral and unethical are actually jelous that their own government does not have the guts to do what America does for its citizens. Some scholars in India talk about the need to have common Asian front particularly East Asian front including India against the west and US. What they fail to understand is the America has more allies in Asia than in Europe. It is no wonder then that East Asian summit decided that it would remain incomplete without Russia and America participating. There was never a third world trade union that India thought it was leading during the cold war and today there no such Asian brotherhood that some in India wants to embrace. This is not to mean that US is the perfect country in the world. Far from it. Every country has skeleton in its cupboard and US is no exception. The racial discrimination against the blacks, Women, Iraq war and Vietnam war being cases in point.The US still needs to learn a lot from the world but the good thing is that it is aware of this fact. One of the strengths of the American people is that they are downright pragmatic and tend to live in real world.The American leadership has realised that it no longer is the only indispensable country in the world. Other powers are rising and it is necessary to engage and work with them if global stability and prosperity is to be achieved.
The reality is that US remains the only country capable of projecting power across the globe. It still remains the worlds largest market and largest economy.It is militarily superior to any country. The U.S spent more on defence in 2003 than the next 15-20 big spenders. It still leads the world in Technological and Research fields. U.S spends 3 times more than six other powers combined on R&D. It still posses the only Blue water navy in the world and is superior to any other nations in case of nuclear weapons. This too with only 3.5% of defence spending of GDP. Even demographics favour the US. While dealing with a country like US one should not jump to conclusions regarding its decline. After all it is still the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Point taken the United States still is way way ahead of China in terms of its economy but the point to be noted is the Change in the world order into a multi polar world where there are multiple power centers,the United states is slowly but steadly trying to accept the fact that other nations would eventually catch up in the near future...in the Asian century...its a slow and steady cops and robber chase :)(in the Indian movie sense of teh cop,taking a long time to catch the theif but eventually does :D :D).
ReplyDeletevery interestingly put though enjoyed the read....
Well done Sanket...your sense of loyalty is very much visible in this piece.
ReplyDeleteWhy skeletons? The US has an entire cemetery in its cupboard.
With regards to pre-eminence, a rethink is required as you seem to forget that there is a rising power in the east, growing in an accelerated manner.
There is now a power shift towards the east, and it is time for the US to prepare itself to face the new realities. Dismissing this as a myth is geopolitical suicide.
As usual, powerfully written in style.