scholarly journals STRUCTURES OF MODERN HEGEMONY: THE USA CASESTUDY

The present paper is devoted to the study of hegemony as a process of power distribution, which is based on the constant interaction of modes – dynamic characteristics of hegemony. Hegemony was often viewed as a phenomenon or state of political and ethical reality though macrohistorical, world-system and socio-economic studies during the twentieth century showed that hegemony should be considered as a process, i.e. as a whole directed and stable set of relationships (economic, social, political, military, cultural, etc.), which form the normative-value space of both society and forms of political organization, such as empires or modern states. The article analyzes the hegemony of the United States of America as a modern empire, which is characterized by transnationality, the use of «reasonable power» and the creation of an extensive infrastructure of control and discipline in various spheres of life of both societies and states. The use of structural-functional and world-system approaches has shown that US hegemony consists of four main modes (as further research may reveal other modes): capital, power, power relations, and ideology, which have a specific set of structures with their own content that provide reproduction of hegemony and its further expansion. It is proved that dollarization of the world, control over the banking system and stock exchanges, constant use of its own military forces and their mobility, control over international associations (both global and local levels), transnationalization of culture, technology and information, production of global trends, transformation of hierarchies of values and globalization processes are components of modern hegemony, its dynamic characteristics and structures that ensure its functionality. The existing structures create a dominant position of the United States in the world, which is reflected in the transformation of normative value systems of different societies, and also serve as a basis for structural and functional metamorphoses in political systems of different countries in the orbit of hegemonic influence.

Author(s):  
Przemysław Potocki

The article is based on an analysis of certain aspects of how the public opinion of selected nations in years 2001–2016 perceived the American foreign policy and the images of two Presidents of the United States (George W. Bush, Barack Obama). In order to achieve these research goals some polling indicators were constructed. They are linked with empirical assessments related to the foreign policy of the U.S. and the political activity of two Presidents of the United States of America which are constructed by nations in three segments of the world system. Results of the analysis confirmed the research hypotheses. The position of a given nation in the structure of the world system influenced the dynamics of perception and the directions of empirical assessments (positive/negative) of that nation’s public opinion about the USA.


1992 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis McNamara

The development of South Korea's cotton manufacturing industry during the First Republic (1948–1960) is examined as a way to better understand the process of “reincorporation” of a peripheral state into the postwar capitalist world system. An examination of the character of cotton manufacturing in South Korea, and the role played by the United States in reincorporating the former Japanese colony into an American-dominated world system, suggests the process was largely one of “constrained bureaucratic expansion.” The study illustrates how the earlier process of incorporation under Japanese hegemony shaped subsequent reincorporation under American suzerainty. Additionally, the analysis underscores the importance of geopolitical factors, and the interaction of the local situation with the world system in shaping the process of reincorporation.


2012 ◽  
pp. 146-150
Author(s):  
Rose M. Brewer

What is clear to me in this current moment of capitalist crisis and the demand for its alternative is this: African peoples throughout Africa and the diaspora – the United States, Brazil, the Caribbean, Europe – are at the center of dispossession: social, economic, political, and environmental.


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