Preserving Hegemony: The Strategic Tasks Facing the United States

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In The Media

Preserving Hegemony: The Strategic Tasks Facing the United States

The principle task facing the new U.S. administration is to consolidate U.S. hegemony by reaffirming the nation’s global role, renewing its economic strength, and recovering its legitimacy.

By Ashley J. Tellis

Published on Apr 17, 2009

Source: Global Asia

Preserving Hegemony: The Strategic Tasks Facing th The US experience of hegemony in global politics is still very young. Although the United States entered the international system as a great power early in the twentieth century, its systemic impact was not felt until World War II and, soon thereafter, its power was constrained by the presence of another competitor, the Soviet Union. Only after the demise of this challenger in 1991 has the United States been liberated in the exercise of its hegemonic power but — as has become quite evident in the past two decades — this application of power, although potent in its impact when well exercised, is also beset by important limitations. In any event, the now significant, century-long, involvement of the United States in international politics as a great power tends to obscure the reality of how short its hegemonic phase has actually been thus far.

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About the Author

Ashley J. Tellis

Former Senior Fellow

Ashley J. Tellis was a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Recent Work

Paper
Multipolar Dreams, Bipolar Realities: India’s Great Power Future
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India Sees Opportunity in Trump’s Global Turbulence. That Could Backfire.
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Security Military Foreign Policy North America United States

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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