Do we need American hegemony in the global economic system to build Essay

Do we need American hegemony in the global economic system to build and maintain the liberal global capitalist economic order - Essay Example What is more relevant to this essay, though, is the mode and manner in which this grand transformation in global economics was brought about. It was not as if those different regimes across the world saw the merits of neo-liberal capitalism and assented to join in the party. The truth is much more complex and far less pretty that what propaganda has projected. It is reasonable to say that American military might had been the primary factor in bringing about this transformation. Either the threat of the forceful action or direct military involvement has been a coercive factor in the global economic order (the ongoing occupation of Iraq is a prominent recent example). There is also the interests of regional elites, who saw the benefits of aligning with the mighty at the cost of disregarding democratic considerations. Now into its fourth decade, neo-liberal capitalism seems to have strongly entrenched, and it is difficult to see how its march could be stopped. It is in this context that the topic question of this essay has to be pondered upon. The essay topic can be broken down into two components. First, we need to ask if neo-liberal