America is one of the most important nations to exist of all time. It has an incredible position in international affairs and is an all-around powerhouse. While yes, there is competition for this top spot, America seems to be the king of the world. One could argue that as a consequence of several factors America is currently the top nation in the world. America has a lot of things going for it despite modern performances in Iraq and Afghanistan. America has organizations and groups like the UN and the G7 backing it up. The G7 is a collection of nations.
According to the government of Canada, “The G7 is an informal grouping of seven of the world’s advanced economies, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as the European Union.” America also has many military-based advantages like the fact that it has many bases in foreign nations. All in all, while the rest of the world has been attempting to improve, especially China, America still has the top spot. One could argue that this “top spot” is just closer to the metaphorical international floor. America, as a consequence of many factors still has military and economic hegemony over the entire world.
American Advantages
Firstly, the military arguments are very simple. America has many bases in foreign nations which means that it can exert force in many nations in the world. On top of this America is the global center of capitalist imperialism which affords the opportunity to treat the world like a grocery store. Furthermore, America has the largest military budget in the entire world along with the most nuclear weapons giving the U.S. an incredible military advantage. All of these factors contribute to America’s incredible military dominance in global affairs. While yes it was this same military that faltered in the Iraq and Afghanistan situations, it is possible that these events were outliers.
The Military Industrial Complex
America’s incredible military budget balloons every year quickly approaching 1 trillion dollars. This affords America greater resources to not only spread but maintains the nation’s supremacy worldwide. America also has the highest amount of nuclear weapons compared to any other nation. What this means is that America stands out among nations as the best-funded military in the world.
According to Statista, “The United States led the ranking of countries with highest military spending in 2021, with 801 billion U.S. dollars dedicated to the military. That constituted 38 percent of the total military spending worldwide that year, which amounted to 2.1 trillion U.S. dollars.”
The Blanket Effect
America’s incredible $25 trillion GDP is being put to use when it comes to America’s military. As it is now as long as America’s GDP continues to grow it looks like the American military budget will also continue to grow. This contributes to an incredible international position that creates fear in other nations. According to the Cato Institute, America has 750 bases in 80 countries all across the world. This incredible military presence creates a “blanket” situation. The “blanket” would be the fact that there is no place in the world where one could hide from the American military. America has several times more military bases than its peers. “America also has three times as many installations as all other countries combined. The United Kingdom has 145. Russia has two to three dozen. China five,” according to Cato.
American Omnipresence
The omnipresence of America’s military is an inescapable fact. There is no place in the world that America hasn’t taken over or made peace with. On top of all this, America has the highest nuclear weapon count of any other nation. Nuclear weapons are a factor in whether or not one’s mention could be attacked by nuclear weapons. If one’s country has nuclear weapons, no country will attack that country with nuclear weapons in fear of being attacked with nuclear weapons.
If a country does not have nuclear weapons that country is eligible to be nuked. In this situation, the only way to protect oneself from humanity’s greatest weapon is to make sure that their nation has a nuclear weapon. However, this situation wouldn’t exist if any nation had nuclear weapons. As a consequence of this global realization, there have been peace talks to destroy and dismantle portions of everyone’s nuclear weapons. However, former president Donald Trump left the INF treaty that would limit nuclear arms. Ultimately, this means that as long as America has nuclear weapons the world still faces a nuclear threat.
American imperialism
In general American supremacy looks like imperialism. One of the basic features of imperialism is“the territorial division of the whole world among the biggest capitalist powers,” as stated by Vladimir Lenin in “Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism” — chapter 7. This can be seen in how America treats foreign nations.
The allegory of a grocery store is sufficient when describing the way America treats the world. If any nation has a valuable metal like cobalt which is used for technology, America will exert control over that nation and that resource. This results in the ballooning in corporate power and corporate profits as a consequence of the access to cheap valuable resources won by the military-industrial complex. In this way, the wealth of America is built on the bones and blood of nations that were crushed under its imperialist boot.
When the World Is a Grocery Store
This is part of the reason why America has so many bases, this willingness to destroy or corrupt whatever nation it wants with no pushback results in an imperial periphery scared of one nation. If imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism according to Lenin, then America is a clear example of an imperialist power. With more military bases, more nuclear weapons, and more money to throw at their military, America settles into a great position in international affairs.
Even if other nations are catching up, it doesn’t matter when none of them have a high military budget or more nukes than America. The World is a grocery store for the American empire, it doesn’t matter if there is more lettuce on aisle seven when America owns the entire store.
Poor Nations Are Rich Nations
However, it must be asked, “Why does America own the entire store?” America “owns the entire store” because America purposefully keeps certain nations poor for the benefit of other nations, primarily itself. America, as Lenin said about imperialism, has effectively carved up the world into haves and have-nots.
“The result of neo-colonialism is that foreign capital is used for [the] exploitation rather than for the development of the less developed parts of the world. Investment under neo-colonialism increases rather than decreases the gap between the rich and the poor countries of the world,” according to Nkrumah in “Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of Imperialism.”
Like Taking Cobalt From a Nation
What this all means is that America has been using things like IMF loans and “development” plans to purposefully oppress small nations. Many of these nations are the nations with the most resources. American foreign policy is much like the saying “It is easy to take candy from a baby.” The problem is that the “baby” is an entire nation of people, and the “candy” are natural resources that have been effectively and efficiently stolen for the enrichment of imperialist nations, primarily the U.S. America is free to use these stolen resources to enrich itself and its allies further deepening the divide between nations that “have” and the nations that “have not.”
This results in an incredible position in global affairs for America. America has effectively made entire sections of the world de facto American territory. There are old political cartoons of octopi and their tendrils taking over the world. However, the artist would usually make the octopus whatever nation they wanted to call authoritarian at the time. Moreover, the comparison is very true of American foreign policy. Yet, this is all only one factor that plays into the dominance of the American empire.
The Global Markets
The other side is the economic dominance of America in the global market. America is one of the most economically dominating forces in the entire world. Most of the top international corporations are American-made, the American dollar is the international standard, and America has the largest GDP as well.
This gives America an overwhelming advantage in the global market. Simply, having the largest economy in the global market gives an incredible advantage. Having most of the international top international companies be American-born also gives advantages because of corporate taxes. America could take advantage of that fact, however, America tends to be very pro-corporate so that won’t happen.
American Corporations
Corporations are some of the most powerful entities in the entire world. The amount of power a corporation like McDonald’s has is incredible. They can influence politics, influence the minds of people, and they can interact with the economies of nations. Many of these corporations have internal economies several times bigger than many 3rd world nations.
For many cities across the world, American corporations are the only means of sustenance and jobs. This situation is also reflected in American cities as well. The corporate monopoly of both domestic and international is another aspect of imperialism further enriching America with corporate profits.
American corporations like Lockheed Martin benefit from the military-industrial complex that was mentioned earlier. American foreign policy and corporate America work hand in hand. The resources that are stolen from nations by the American military are used to invest and enrich American corporations.
On top of this, those enslaved by the American military are at times used for cheap labor for American companies. American corporations also take advantage of countries that don’t have strong labor laws for even higher corporate profits.
Exploitation and Suffering
This essentially creates a death spiral of exploitation and suffering. The first step is America finding something interesting in the grocery store, something like cobalt, gold, or diamonds on the shelves.
America sends its overfunded military to destabilize that nation. The nation falls under the might of the military-industrial complex. What happens next is that America installs a right-wing dictator that follows America’s economic interests and in turn, suppresses their own people.
Finally, the resources of that nation essentially become free real estate as American corporations pick at the resources within that nation like vultures picking at a dead carcass. This is the death spiral described earlier in full detail.
American corporations are responsible for the deaths of millions of people in many different countries. This is the power of American corporations, and by extension, America. Here is a quote describing this exact process “As we have seen, the US intervention in Latin America during the 1980s was part of a long pattern of soft economic imperialism (discussed in earlier chapters under the rubric of [the] informal empire) to forcibly open doors the world over to sustain and enhance American prosperity,” according to “Imperialism and the Developing World: How Britain and the United States Shaped the Global Periphery.”
American Dollars
America also influences the global market through the American dollar. The U.S. dollar is one of the most powerful pieces of paper ever printed. It has only a few competitors in value and is a very valuable asset in and of itself. A thousand American dollars can buy entire homes in some nations which is an astounding level of power.
This is part of the reason why some people come to America, get an American job, save up money, and send that money home. In certain countries, the American dollar is like a nugget of gold. The omnipresence of the American dollar makes it so special. It can be found in almost any nation in the world. The reason why is that the American dollar is inherently tied to the health of the American economy. Factors like inflation, economic crashes, and wars impact America.
So, every once in a while the dollar takes a hit, however, when America takes a hit, the world takes a hit. An example of this is the 2008 crisis. American mortgage lending ballooned and exploded, and then, as a consequence of the very integrated world economy, the entire world took a hit.
So, in this way having access to the power of the American dollar is like using the economic stability of the world to make a purchase. In many ways, the American dollar is like a “world currency.” The only reason this “world currency” exists, is because of the overwhelming power of the American economy.
The Largest Economy in the World
According to Statista, “The gross domestic product of the United States in 2022 amounted to around 25.5 trillion U.S. dollars.” Furthermore, 25 trillion is an incredible number for a GDP. It is enough to buy several small countries outright.
The American economy is extremely massive and continues to grow. The total purchasing power of America allows for the American empire to make serious money moves all the time. It allows for an overblown military and defense budget.
The American budget grows every day and has no equal. The only real competitor is China, which won’t pass America’s GDP for another decade or so.
Regardless, America could buy entire regions of the world if all it took was matching the GDP of the nation. America has many options for what to do when it comes to the allocation of that incredible budget. America tends to bail out its corporations that fail every five years or so, instead of enriching its people with universal health care or universal education like other nations. Whatever America decides to do with its budget, it will have enough money to do it. Though, there are nations that seem to be catching up to America in this aspect.
Climbers on the Mountain
America has been at the top of the mountain for a very long time. However, there have been a few folks climbing the mountain recently. One notable climber would be China, which has been making its way up the mount since the 20th century. Along with China, there have been nations that seem to be “catching up” to America.
While the growth that scholars like Zakaria note are undeniable, global politics isn’t exactly a zero-sum game. It doesn’t really matter if China economically moves past America, because China is due for a recession as a consequence of its growing population.
According to the New York Times, “By 2035, 400 million people in China are expected to be over 60, accounting for nearly a third of its population.” Outside of China, there is a big problem with the observation of the “ global rise.”
Many argue that it doesn’t really matter how much any nation rises. The system of imperialism and the oppressive structure of the world is still there. It is not dissimilar to how some Black Americans become billionaires. The systemic racism built into the structure of America hasn’t left. The grip on Black Americans’ necks has only loosened slightly. The imperial periphery, much like Black Americans is experiencing “the loosened grip.”
The Imperialist Core
However, a slightly loosened grip is not the same as no grip at all. America and its allies, the G7, are the core of capitalist imperialism. These nations will not allow for too much advancement in nations that they actively enrich themselves with. Most of Southern America and Africa is filled with nations under the “imperial periphery” category.
America has too many global imperial allies for any “growth” to truly matter. Even if China surpasses its population issues and ends up having a larger GDP or economy, the position of America is insurmountable. The position at the top of the world is a position that has been taken by an American eagle.
Imperial Hierarchy
When it comes to international politics the layout is very simple. There is America, American corporations, America’s allies like the G7, America’s enemies, and countries that have been crushed or are being crushed by the American boot.
This is the way things have been for a very long time. For all of these reasons, America is the most powerful nation. It has the strongest allies, the biggest military, and all the biggest companies are American. The nations of the world continue to be choked by the eagle of imperialism.
Written by Kenneth Mazerat
Sources:
Lenin, Vladimir. Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism. 1917. London, Penguin, 2010.
Nkrumah, Kwame. Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism. London, Panaf, 1965.
Statista: Gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States at current prices from 1987 to 2028 by Aaron O’Neill
Arms Control: U.S. Completes INF Treaty Withdrawal By Shannon Bugos
Kohli, Atul, ‘Introduction’, Imperialism and the Developing World: How Britain and the United States Shaped the Global Periphery (New York, 2020; online edn, Oxford Academic, 20 Feb. 2020)
NY Times: China’s Population Falls, Heralding a Demographic Crisis byAlexandra Stevenson and
InternationalGCCA: Canada and the G7
Statista: Countries with the highest military spending worldwide in 2021 by Statista Research Department
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