Abstract
This chapter discusses the role and power of the United States in a world of globalisation and global governance after 9/11, and specifically in the years 2001–2008. Theoretically and empirically, the Global War on Terrorism served as the background to analyze the style the United States uses its power in different forms to ‘govern’ the world in a hegemonic manner. While this governance is not comprehensive and all-encompassing, it is important in creating and influencing world affairs; it sets agendas and influences policy-making. Hegemonic governance and the use of a superior unipolar position in the international system are based on both material and ideological power. Both dimensions were needed to govern within the context of the Global War on Terrorism. This chapter will first discuss the interrelated role of ideas and matter generally, and for hegemony specifically. It will then discuss United States hegemony more broadly, and conclude with a presentation of how this hegemony was utilised to achieve participation in the GWOT by the EU and ASEAN. Parts of this chapter have been published in a former version in “Hegemony, Equilibrium and Counterpower”, which appeared in International Relations 2010.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
I would like to thank the publishers of International Relations for their generous acceptance to republish parts of a former article.
References
Beyer, C. (2009). Hegemony, equilibrium and counterpower: A synthetic approach. International Relations, 23(2), 411–427.
Beyer, C. (2010). Counterterrorism and international power relations: The EU, ASEAN and hegemonic global governance. London: IB Tauris.
Chirot, D. (2000). How societies change. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press.
Cox, R. (1977). Labor and hegemony. International Organization, 31, 385–424.
Cox, R. (1996). Gramsci, hegemony, and international relations: An essay in method. In R. Cox & T. Sinclair (Eds.), Approaches to world order (pp. 49–66). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cuneo, C. (2007). Hegemony in Gramsci’s original prison notebooks. http://socserv2.mcmaster.ca/soc/courses/soc2r3/gramsci/gramheg.htm. Accessed 21 Jan 2007.
Dessler, D. (1989). What’s at stake in the agent-structure debate? International Organization, 43(3), 441–473.
Engel, S. (2008). The world bank and neoliberal hegemony in Vietnam. In R. Howson & K. Smith (Eds.), Hegemony. Studies in consensus and coercion (pp. 159–183). New York & London: Routledge.
Engel, S. (2006). Where to neoliberalism? The World Bank and the post-Washington consensus in Indonesia and Vietnam. In Paper presented to the 16th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia, Wollongong, Australia, 26–29 June 2006.
Galtung, J. (1978). Peace and social structure. Essays in peace research (Vol. 3). Copenhagen: Ejlers.
Gilpin, R. (1981). War and change in world politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Hobson, J. (2000). The state and international relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Huntington, S. (2008). The lonely superpower. In: Foreign Affairs, March/April, http://www-stage.foreignaffairs.org/19990301faessay966/samuel-p-huntington/the-lonely-superpower.html. Accessed 05 March 2008.
Jackson, R. (2004). Writing the war on terrorism: Language, politics, and counterterrorism. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Kapstein, E. (1999). Unipolar politics: Realism and state strategies after the cold war. New York: Columbia University Press.
Keohane, R. (2000). Ideas part-way down. Review of International Studies, 26, 125–130.
Mearsheimer, J. (2008). Conversations in international relations: Interview with John J. Mearsheimer (Part I). International Relations, 20(1), 105–124.
Moravcsik, A. (2003). Theory synthesis in international relations: Real, not metaphysical. International Studies Review, 5(1), 131–136.
Parsons, C. (2003). A certain idea of Europe. Ithaka: Cornell University Press.
Philpott, D. (2001). Revolutions in sovereignty: How ideas shaped modern international relations. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Simon, R. (1991). Gramsci’s political thought: An introduction. London: Lawrence and Wishart.
Steger, M. (2005). From market globalism to imperial globalism: Ideology and American power after 9/11. Globalizations, 2(1), 31–46.
Waltz, K. (1979). Theory of international politics. New York: Random House.
Wartenberg, T. (1990). The forms of power: From domination to transformation. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Wendt, A. (1992). Anarchy is what states make of it: The social construction of power politics. International Organization, 46(2), 391–425.
Interviews with the Author
Kenneth Waltz (2007, New York)
Alexander Wendt (2007, Ohio)
Kumar Ramakrishna (2006, Singapore)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Beyer, A.C. (2012). Hegemony and Power in the Global War on Terrorism. In: Fels, E., Kremer, JF., Kronenberg, K. (eds) Power in the 21st Century. Global Power Shift. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25082-8_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25082-8_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-25081-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-25082-8
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)