US Leadership in the World: Decline or Resurgence? - Essay Sample

Introduction

The United States leads globally concerning the general military power and comparative economic power. The economic power is considered due to the function of the US dollar as the global reserve currency. However, despite all this, the US is still less able to penetrate the international community and shape and further regulate the program of international multilateral organizations that are assisted in creating its leadership in the world. America is decreasing as the leader of the World Order due to the rise of threats in the global military, new emerging world order, and global economic changes.

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One of the elements that are causing the decline of America as the leader of the World Order is due to the rise of threats. China has demonstrated the ability to project power when it comes to the global military. In the past few years, it has been observed that China has attained its first aircraft transporter, began to build its first external logistics station in Djibouti, and further enlarged its maritime forces by 400% to 10,000 (Acharya, 2018). A report showed that China's military modernization had improved their capabilities to handle emergencies along its periphery, for instance, the Taiwan crisis. As such, this will enable them to undertake a range of military activities in Asia beyond the traditional territorial claims of China (Acharya, 2018). Therefore, it is evident that this is a threat to the US, and they will need to share their resources and even leadership with other countries, which means reducing their dominance.

On the other hand, there is an emerging world order referred to as "Multiplex World." Its main aspects are that leadership and power are gradually disseminated. The power irregularities persist, but the capability to generate order and deliver goods in the economies and security depends on a wide variety of elements such as corporations, foundations, transcontinental social activities, and local establishments like the EU. The power to interrupt directive is also detached, and the inter-state conflicts are no longer a threat as compared to intra-state disputes or those associated with non-state performers such as the revolutionary sets. Therefore, it is apparent that this a different world compared to the instant post-World War 11 period when the US rose as the prevailing power of the world. Also, it is not the multipolar domain that was observed in the 19th and early 20th centuries (Acharya, 2018). Conventionally, multi-polarity meant having numerous excessive influences in a global system. Competition and cooperation are what create their order. Currently, globalization has led to the rise of more actors, interconnection and interdependency of the world to a greater extent. Before the World Wars, the aspect of interdependence was only about the other nations in the world, depending on the US and European foreign controls (Acharya, 2018).

There is a global economic change where the West and the US is declining while China and India are rising. The Economic Intelligence Unit has projected that the US economy could be overtaken by China in nominal GDP in terms of the US dollar by 2026 (Acharya, 2018). The IMF depicted that this had already occurred concerning PPP by the end of 2014 (Acharya, 2018). However, regarding the PPP, the overall picture is a sharper change from the West to the others and mostly Asia. As such, this trend will reshape globalization and finally the world governance mainly when compared to the Western-led globalization of the 19th and 20th centuries (Acharya, 2018).

The decline of America as leader of the World Order is due to the rise of threats in the global military, a new emerging world order, and global economic changes where new nations have started and projected to dominate in the future. China has been seen to enhance its military activities concerning the acquisition of new resources and even leadership. Also, the "Multiplex World" where power and leadership are being slowly distributed shows the displacement of America in being the leader of the World Order. Therefore, the decline of America as the leader of the World Order is attributed to external factors.

References

Acharya, A. (2018). The end of American world order (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Polity.