Hegemony or Survival; America’s Conquest for Global Dominanc
- Noam Chomsky's "Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance" argues that the United States uses economic, ideological, and military power to maintain global supremacy, often at the expense of democracy and human rights.
- He critiques institutions like the IMF and World Bank for exacerbating global inequality and condemns U.S. military interventions for their violent pursuit of hegemony.
- Chomsky warns that this relentless quest for dominance threatens global stability and the existence of humanity itself.
Hegemony or Survival; America’s Conquest for Global Dominance, a thought-provoking and prominent work by Noam Chomsky, which explores the role of the United States in global politics. It peculiarly focuses on the pursuit of hegemony to maintain its supremacy in the entire globe.
Hegemony explicit in the phenomena of dominance or leadership of one state or group over others. It typically involves the ability to exert influence or control over policies, economies, or ideologies to rule on them. America’s hegemonic power is no new to the world. Ranging from economy, ideology, globalization, and trade, it always strives for its paramountcy.
It is generally speculated that power politics originates from the motive of controlling. Powerful always seek dominance and that is why they want to internalize acceptance in their surrounding. America’s quest for insurmountable power is coming at a heavy cost, but still, its superiority is beating the drum. The world spares no effort to increase manipulation in the name of equality. It ensures that freedom never comes without barriers. If one wants to dominate, one first needs to inculcate the fear of competition and destroy hope within its competitors. Chomsky also addresses the impact of globalization on the world order. Chomsky argues that the IMF and World Bank, through their lending and structural adjustment programs, impose conditions on borrowing countries that can have detrimental effects on their economies and societies. It disproportionately benefits the wealthy elite within borrowing countries and multinational corporations, while exacerbating poverty and inequality for the majority.
Historically, it is evident that history repeats itself in different landscapes and it is always crafted by powerful. Violence is a powerful instrument of control. Consequently, America’s history is rich with instances of bombing, invasion, barbarism, and blame game. Hegemony through violence is also maintained through cultural and ideological means, where dominant ideologies, values, and norms are imposed or internalized by subordinate groups. It counters the narratives and power structures which upholds and subjugate the people.
As it is postulated by Niccolo Machiavelli that,
“If any injury has to be done to a man, it should be so severe that the vengeance need not be feared”, and the United States is appropriate to it.
Human beings are always power-hungry, and when it comes to leadership it subjugates and crafts its supremacy, but the tricks fluctuate. United state’s stratagem is to express concern ie., voice for the voiceless. Ironically the beauty of altruism successfully fails there. Hierarchies and power dynamics within societies can shape individual motivations for seeking power.
United State’s quest for dominance believes in conquering through actions therefore, it controls the economy and polity to grasp the attitude and opinion. The Unites States exerts significant political influence through alliances, international organizations like the United Nations, and diplomatic initiatives. It often plays a leading role in addressing global challenges such as security threats, climate change, and humanitarian crises. But, historically it is evident that United States has always supported regimes and those governments who support their interests, manifests it.
Chomsky delineates that in doing so they have repeatedly shown a total disregard for democracy and human rights, in stark contrast to the US government’s professed support for those values. The ruthless military interventions in maintain so called peace and order in the globe, the ferocious and barbaric killing of people in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan and, cold blooded war on terror were few examples of its hegemony via violence.
It is argued that this continual pursuit of global hegemony threatens the existence of humanity itself because of the increasing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. In short, the pursuance of superiority results in controlling the ideological system of the world. In a nutshell, the serious erosion of democracy exhibits the fact that those who call themselves the ‘charter of democracy’ are the ones who have vanquished their morals. The support behind the merciless regimes and the sustenance through Weapon of Mass Destruction by United States to its subordinate countries shows its true color. The country which demonstrates itself the best in its democratic values, pestering on upheaval of underdeveloped countries and often acts as a dove in international community, it deep inside a stink like a mackerel which is chipping away the peace and order of the entire globe.
The author is a lecturer in Higher Education department and believes that words are powerful enough to transcribe the stories into reality.
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