United States as a World Superpower

Ashley Torgerson Dr. Brown world(prenominal) Relations 2nd May, 2012 get together States as a World major occasion The rising to the status of world super authority does not happen overnight. To explore the journey to the top, we must recognize the struggles and obstacles that were overcome. As the Statesns we can proudly introduce that we live in a country with globally recognise supremacy. As stated earlier, it was not an easy title to obtain. Looking back throughout archives we can see specific examples of how we began our rise to power and what it has taken to preserve our power.Some of our more recent history has shown that galore(postnominal) people are questioning how ofttimes longer we will be able to retain this power. I however feel strongly that the States has the ability to remain a world superpower. America was not always seen as one of the worlds superpowers. Our rise to power was focused on a few distinct driving forces. These admit the rise of capitalism, m ilitary dominance, and an stinting boom all which occurred from Post war era such as World warfare II and the Cold War (Baker p. 10). All of these factors contributed to the gaining of Americas power.It is also important to look at the factors that gave America the ability to keep this power. Those influences were surrounded around Americas capableness to become a dominate power in the international system, and maintaining a stable economy (Mandelbaum p. 213). History has shown many an(prenominal) examples of countries rising and overtakeing from power. Due to this many Americans feel they we are on a similar path. Contributing to this downward path is the increasing power of Asian and Middle Eastern (Bar p. 41). Of these countries China is recognized as one with the most potential.China has gained an increasing role in the world system through material capabilities, hard powers, and through human or cordial capabilities or soft powers. (Gilley p. 245) Chinas biggest draw is its material capabilities because it has direct the nation to become one the worlds fast growing industries. During the three decades to 2010, China achieved maybe the most rapid sustained rate of economic development in the history of the human species, with its real economy growing almost 40-fold between 1978 and 2010. (Unz p. 12) season this shows the vast power of Chinas economic domain, its soft powers cannot be over looked.The Chinese work force not only supports its internal lead for products but it also supports that of the hundreds of various countries the products are shipped too (Unz p. 11) Without a large skilled work force this may not be possible. From these reasons we can close that China is taking strides in the right direction of super power and in years to come may even surpass the United States. Although the crisis of power struggle is occurring, America refuses to go down without a fight. The United States still has the worlds strongest military. (Walt p. 6). Having a strong military not only establishes the United States supreme power but it helps enforce to other countries that they have the ability to keep that power. With power comes a responsibilty. The United States military forces are often called upon to intervene in ecumenic problems, demonstrating its dominance in international affairs. Aside from military intervention the United States plays a key role in international affairs through economic investment (Ferguson p. 23). Investment in a widespread of areas keeps the economy diverse.We see the effects of a diverse economy daily through products being vendable all around the world (Brzezinski p. 291). The United States has the available resources to provide for the world market. All of these factors go into making life easier in the United States, thus producing a society that is living longer and spending more money (Brzezinski p. 292-294). Ultimately these reasons secure the United States position as dominant world power. Ba sed by of these various reasons I feel strongly that the United States has the capability to remain as a world superpower, not being surpassed by China.It is true that many factors go into determining a world power but these three stand out to me economic stable, military power, and at the top of social and heathen end of the spectrum. While China may have the economic means to compete, they do not have the dominant military force the United States has. United States is the only country with the means to invade multiple medium-size countries in other continents and still sustain very few casualties. No other country presently is even near having the ability to project military power with such force and range (Internet Source).The combination of economic stability and military power has led to the United States large impact in the international system. Hegemonic responsibilities are always put on the worlds dominant power. The United States has dealt with these responsibilities fo r many decades and has turn up its ability to lead the world in a harmonious way. Anna Applebaum from the dWashington Post writes The United States is a superpower without a partner, meaning that the United States has handled the world as a dominant power for this long and is not losing grasp of that. BibliographyAcademic Journals 1. Bar, Shmuel. Americas fading Middle East influence. Policy Review 166 (2011) 41+. Academic OneFile. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. 2. Baker, Andrew. Constructing a post-war order the rise of US hegemony and the origins of the Cold War. CHOICE Current Reviews for Academic Libraries Feb. 2012 1129. Academic OneFile. Web. 22 Mar. 2012 3. Ferguson, Yale H. Approaches to Defining Empire and Characterizing United States Influence in the Contemporary World. International Studies Perspectives 9. 3 (2008) 272+. Academic OneFile. 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