U.S. as the Sole Super

¶ … U.S. AS THE SOLE SUPER POWER IN THE WORLD TODAY

A World Superpower

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world experienced a fundamental crisis of leadership: the world moved from a bipolar balance of power to a unitary balance of power. Since the end of World War II, most of the capitalist world had looked to America to provide leadership and protection from the threat of communist incursion. Europe was economically devastated by war -- Japan was deprived of its role as a military force. The U.S. was prosperous and powerful. It used its might for good in the case of the Marshall Plan, which restored economic security to Western Europe, and also for ill, in the case of its intervention in the nationalist conflict of Vietnam.

Vietnam was not the only example of how developing nations were often used as pawns in the U.S.-U.S.S.R. struggle for world domination. The U.S. would often support right-wing Latin American dictators, for example, regardless of whether they were supported by the common populace. The U.S.S.R. did the same with left-wing dictators. NATO provided a counterweight to the Warsaw Pact, but there was no question that a single nation dominated each of these regional organizations, to the exclusion of other powers.

Without two superpowers controlling the world, after the fall of the Berlin Wall the world soon began to become more multilateral and unstable in terms of its balances of power. Regional conflicts erupted in the former nation of Yugoslavia, in Africa, and in Latin America. There was confusion as to the role that the U.S. should play as a peacekeeper, or if multinational organizations such as the U.N. should instead assume command. Of course, given that the U.N. had long been accused of representing U.S. interests, the use of such forces was not a perfect solution.

The dominance of the U.S. continued after the Cold War, not just in a military presence in many nations across the world, but culturally. The values of the U.S. -- capitalism and consumption -- were broadcast on televisions and in film, and then over the Internet. Globalization meant that Western values had a presence in almost every corner of the world -- bringing opportunities in some instances, to work for U.S. companies, gain a better education abroad, and improve one's life. Even in China today, as a result of capitalist outreach, a new middle class has emerged. But whether Western values are 'better' or merely more dominant is questionable. Again, there was criticism of international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, for forcing nations to privatize and engage in economic reforms that were fundamentally Western in nature, not necessarily fundamentally better or keeping with the nation's interests and cultural orientation.