End of Hegemony, Beginning of the World

This topic is always a difficult one for me to face whenever it has come up in my studies of political science. Indeed as a military member it is one that weighs on me every day. I was born within the borders of the most powerful nation on the planet, riding high having just vanquished the Soviet Union, untouchable by any power. My country has acted with a free hand, sometimes with the most benevolent of intentions, sometimes not, for most of my life. Regardless of American missteps, however, I have never lost faith in American exceptionalism or in American stewardship of the international system. It is for that reason that the inevitable end of American hegemony pains me.

History has taught us that no empire lasts forever, with no exception. American hegemony will end, but when and how? Professor Jackson's lecture focused on hegemony, forecasting, and transitions of power. It also gets my brain going, wondering just how all of this will play out. Given a resurgent China, a war-weary America, and a resurgent Russia, how will the transition from American hegemony play out? I maintain that we are moving to a multipolar world with a handful of great powers helping maintain a system of lesser powers. I also maintain that this is the best outcome for my personal end goal for the world: the human project.

An end to hegemony will lead to Bremmer's G-Zero world, a scenario where a lack of global leadership means either greater cooperation or its opposite; he posits that we are already there, but I would say that American/Western leadership are still quite strong. I think that in this multipolar, G-Zero situation we'd see initial conflicts, some of which we have already seen brewing with Russia's resurgence and more adventurous Saudi and Israeli interventions. Watch for more as American hegemony wanes. Once we have settled in this new multipolar system I foresee a split to greater regional cooperation, as smaller states break for stronger regional guarantors of security and economic prosperity. Following this stage I think we will see greater global cooperation among these regions, with an eventual leap to a true world government.