Post Class Reflection

I enjoyed the back and forth debate over who poses the greatest threat to the US in yesterday's class. I think the takeaway from that was that there is no one sole threat that will completely knock us out as the dominant global power. If anything, I would say that we are our biggest threat. The decisions our government and leadership make on how the US moves forward plays a huge role in our legitimacy and hegemony. That is what will truly effect whether we stay on top or not, because other factors or countries can then fill up that void that the US leaves behind.

A common underlying thread present in all four cases presented was the role or impact our economy plays in these threats. The state of our economy fuels many of the issues that feed into these threats or stem from them. With financial insecurity and uncertainty comes unrest among the populace. This could exacerbate the internal collapse that was brought up. People seeking jobs and concerned about their future welfare are going to want to stand behind the protectionists policies and actions that the current administration is employing. Stresses placed on our spending also affects and is effected by our economy. Throwing all our resources into rising up to challenges or intervening in conflicts around the world, puts a drain on our spending capacity and left over resources.

What I got from this topic was that while there are threats out there that could present a problem for the US as a hegemon, I don't believe that any of them are significant enough yet to knock the US out of the top spot. The US has demonstrated in the past a resilience to weather most storms. The real global issue, as mentioned in class, that everyone should be concerned with is global warming/climate change. This is the pressing threat to global world order and could have a significant impact on the international system.



Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 16, 2018 at 2:39 PM

    Short term outlook looking good, long term outlook not so hot. I summed up a lot of the same points, especially the bits about unrest. I think it would be interesting too to see if there is a great brain drain at some point in time. Some might lean towards protectionism, but educated and skilled workers might take off for better opportunity, kind of like how we like to steal everyone's best and brightest to keep progressing. But if nothing else, just remember, the gluten free diet is the largest threat to America. We'll start to lose weight and slowly vanish. If that gets published in the onion then it won't be fake news.

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