After decades of overwhelming American dominance in international affairs since the illegal dissolution of the Soviet Union, other nations are catching up, defying and in some cases even overtaking the US to once again form a multipolar world. These nations include China–which is on track to become the world's largest economy in the next few years and hosts 1.4 billion people– and Iran, one of the world's largest oil and gas producers. BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) is a common acronym to denote some of the most prominent nations involved in this multipolar development. These nations, as well as many others in the Global South, have been forging increasingly strong economic, political, and even military ties to each other, slowly breaking American economic hegemony.
Definitions must be addressed for those not familiar with political economy. In short, unipolarity means the domination of one state over all others, especially when there is limited or no counterbalance. In the United States' case, most of the world is physically occupied by Uncle Sam with over 1,000 military bases, as well as many secret international torture sites. Economically, the United States has controlled other nations via "international" institutions like the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the CIA and State Department, and a myriad of multinational corporations that advance American interests via the private influence of government. Multipolarity, as one might guess, is a more equitable distribution of power among several or many states. Rather than serving the population of just one country, multipolarity by definition provides greater utility by providing greater self-determination to more nations and their people.
Perhaps this multipolar movement is not much of a surprise. After all, Uncle Sam has been on the decline on multiple fronts as of late. Militarily, the United States has suffered embarrassing defeats from Vietnam to Afghanistan despite being the world's best equipped and most powerful fighting force. It is difficult in terms of morale for the US to ever have higher ground. American troops who do not know why they are invading a foreign country do not have the same dedication to the cause as those desperately fighting for liberation from horrific oppression (i.e. the Viet Cong or the DPRK). Partially as a result of lacking military performance, the American top brass have tried to be more calculated the past few decades. The overt overthrows of democratically elected countries or outright invasions have slowly decreased in frequency. Yet, they certainly are still happening. The invasions and bombing campaigns against Yugoslavia, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan that killed millions of unarmed civilians immediately come to mind. In recent years, the United States has directly interfered in the affairs of Somalia, Venezuela, Cuba, and other nations, often via directives from the CIA. Venezuela and Cuba in particular are victim to crippling unilateral (and illegal according to international law) sanctions that deprive civilians of basic necessities, and furthermore prevent other nations from providing said necessities for fear of economic retaliation and isolation. Cuba and Venezuela in particular have nationalized resources such as oil, which deprives Western capitalist firms the opportunity to still exploit those markets. These frustrations of the ultra-wealthy quickly translated to the aforementioned sanctions, designed to coerce these governments into "opening up" their markets to Western capital. Covert actions such as spying have even extended to America's own allies, such as Israel and South Korea, as the American ruling class has become increasingly more desperate to retain its top place and impose its will on other nations. Even America's own allies are not immune from this toxic attitude.
Economically, the United States is staggering. Major financial crises, or recessions, are becoming more regular. Today, we are seeing interest rates on consumer debt rivaling that of the 2007-2008 financial crisis. The federal reserve has been "aggressively raising" interest rates, which puts tremendous pressure on average Americans still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic's socioeconomic fallout. Many commodities, from wheat to oil, are extremely expensive at the moment because of embargoes, short supply, and conflicts affecting areas such as Russia and Ukraine. For the first time in history, total American credit card debt has exceeded $1 trillion, along with $2 trillion in student loan debt. This is unsurprising considering the rise in commodity prices and inflation, coupled with the stagnation or even decline of real wages. Default rates on credit cards are also the highest in decades. Households' net worth is contracting for the fourth time since 1990. These challenges deeply impact the well-being of everyday people and are eroding their trust in the entire political and economic system. Increasingly, individuals and families are having to choose between paying their rent/mortgage or paying for food. Young adults, especially those in Gen Z, are finding it very difficult to leave their parents' house (almost half of young adults still live with their parents, a figure not seen since the Great Depression) because the cost of living is so expensive, never mind buying a house to obtain equity and stability. Unlike the very high home ownership of socialist nations such as the USSR and Cuba, relatively few Americans own their homes, especially when compared to peer nations.* The United States is the only OECD country to still have its life-expectancy decreasing over three years after the onset of the pandemic, as peer countries return to pre-pandemic levels. A significant part of the US economy, commercial real estate, is in currently in drastic decline. Earlier this year, we witnessed three out of four of the largest bank collapses to date in the United States. And as the oil money and other resources extracted from other countries via imperialism and military occupation have evaporated, so too has overall American wealth. American wealth is highly unequally distributed. This was best demonstrated during the pandemic, as the ultra-wealthy accumulated tens of billions in wealth, while the vast majority of Americans lost money.
*It must be noted that using a mortgage, the most common American method to finance a home, is not true ownership. One missed mortgage payment is enough reason for a bank to take back their collateral, the home. Across the board, American housing is often inadequate and extremely unstable.
Politically and socially, the United States has experienced increasing upheaval. The younger generations are progressively becoming more frustrated with the status quo, which often translates to frustration with the overarching American economic and political system, capitalism. Studies have demonstrated, such as this Gallup poll, that younger Americans prefer socialism just as much as capitalism. This is remarkable considering the proclivity towards capitalist ideology that is baked into the American education system. Socially, many Americans recognize and take issues with the historical and contemporary treatment of minorities, systemically speaking. This outrage came to a boiling point during the summer of 2020 after a Minneapolis policeman, Derek Chauvin, fatally choked George Floyd, sparking nationwide protests in support of historically oppressed Black Americans. Although overwhelmingly peaceful, these demonstrations occasionally turned to looting and other actions. As Dr. Martin Luther King noted during the Civil Rights era, rioting is "the language of the unheard". This strong reaction is to be fully expected, considering that the American political structures not only do not represent the masses, but they actively defy their interests every day. Bribery is legalized via federal court cases like Citizens United, which ruled that corporations are persons and can contribute virtually unlimited funding to the political process. Elected officials across the political spectrum receive "compensations"–bribes–from large corporations and ultra-wealthy individuals. In return, all of these politicians represent the corporate agenda, which starkly opposes the interest of average America. American citizens are increasingly learning this reality and rejecting electoralism in favor of sound alternatives, such as as socialism.
As the self-proclaimed "global superpower" and "police state", the United States has a long track record of forcing other countries into submission through violence and coercion. The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 declared all of the Americas and the Caribbean as Uncle Sam's "backyard", to be policed and dealt with in whatever manner the US empire deems expedient. This aggressive imperialist policy has heavily continued up to today. For one, the United States armed forces physically occupy many countries around the world with nearly a thousand international military bases and torture sites such as Guantanamo Bay. Off the top of my head, I can name many nations that have, at least once, been invaded and occupied by the United States: Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria to start. Nations that the US has destabilized to overthrow democratically elected governments via violent force include Egypt, Indonesia, Ukraine, the USSR, Chile, Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti, and many more. Additionally, the United States has propped up tyrannical states such as Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea, Israel, and many others. But relative American military dominance is decreasing as countries in the Global South develop their productive capacities and expand military intelligence.
Internationally, the US is quickly losing credibility and traction to nations primarily outside the Global North. Countries around the world are finished with being under the thumb of American imperialism, whether through violent military invasions of their homelands, or the less apparent economic imperialism that occurs everyday through processes such as unequal exchange, Western-backed color revolutions, and unilateral sanctions. One of the main reasons the United States has retained its international power over the years has been its imperative to extract resources (both commodities and humans) from the Global South, after which value-added production takes place in the United States or another imperial core nation. This process deprives those in the Global South of their resources and the financial return from said resources, leading to vast inequalities between the imperialist and imperialized nations that continue today. However, that relationship is slowly changing.
For example, The People's Republic of China has gone from one of the world's poorest nations prior to the successful 1949 revolution to one of the world's wealthiest nations. We can measure this remarkable achievement on a variety of measures. Contrast the de-industrializing US with China, which manufactures about a third of the world's value-added commodities. This is incredible considering that just a few decades ago, China was an overwhelmingly agricultural economy. At 78, China's life expectancy is now higher than that of the United States. Another measure is purchasing power parity, the measure of absolute purchasing power adjusted for standard of living between countries. Again, China wins over the US in this measure, 33.01 thousand to 26.85 thousand. By this measure, China today has the largest economy in the world. But intangible aspects, which are more difficult to measure, are also important to note. As Benjamin Norton of the Geopolitical Economy Report puts it, China is "the most sovereign country on Earth", even surpassing the United States. Every technological product, for example, is produced within China. Unlike a vast majority of the globe, China is not dependent on Western technology (i.e. iPhones, programs like Google or Instagram) laden with foreign spyware to be successful. China's technology sector outputs have become well respected and desired globally. Outside of energy and food, Norton's description remains true. China is self-sufficient and has effectively no Western coercive force exerted upon the East Asian country. China's win-win diplomacy strategy ensures that bonds are forged with other Global South nations on mutually beneficial grounds, in contrast to the brazen and aggressive demands of the US.
Through major international organizations, the increasing divide between the US and rest of the world plays out as well. The US increasingly finds itself in the tiny minority on United Nations (UN) votes and resolutions, gradually becoming more isolated from the global consensus. However, the US retains its hegemony in many ways. The US is one of the only nations with veto power on the United Nations Security Council, along with world war victors Britain, France, Russia, and China. Still, the US is the most flagrant abuser of this privilege. The Security Council, unlike the more expansive General Assembly, is the arbiter of power within the UN. The US possesses the only veto power on both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, two incredibly powerful financial institutions created by the West to impose strict neoliberal policies on the Global South, regardless of the harm these policies do against the people. This special veto privilege routinely prevents positive legislation backed by the overwhelming majority of other nations from being enacted. On October 18, during a UN Security Council hearing, the United States used its veto to prevent "humanitarian pauses" to deliver much-needed supplies and save lives in Gaza, the only nation out of fifteen to do so. The United States voted against Jordan's proposal for a ceasefire between Gaza and Israel, defying overwhelming global consensus. Nations in the Global South, representing the vast majority of the global population, have increasingly demanded the "democratization" of the United Nations, which includes the removal of these veto powers and relocating UN headquarters away from the United States in favor of a more neutral host country. The US often uses this location advantage to deny entry to UN ambassadors who defy American interests and refuse to accept UN fees to participate. This behavior is unacceptable in an organization that purports to democratically represent all countries.
Naturally, the United States was chief among the dissent when it comes to the recent escalation of conflict in the Middle East. It has defended Israel in this manner at least 34 times on the Security Council. While these actions for the time being keep the American ruling class content (they profit from weapon sales to Israel and the maintenance of Western-friendly markets within the Middle Eastern region), they increase the widening gulf between Uncle Sam and almost every other nation on earth. Sooner or later, this arrogant attitude will inevitably produce more blowback.
What are the consequences of weakening American hegemony and the rise of multipolarity?
An increasing number of nations are taking advantage of the relative increase in freedom towards self-determination to break away from the capitalist international fold. One prime example is Niger, a nation in West Africa, that recently had a coup to overthrow the Western-friendly government. Shortly thereafter, the new government expelled all French troops and French ambassadors. Niger, like other African countries colonized by the French, has been trapped in an endless cycle of debt. It is not realistic to ever expect nations like Niger to ever be able to pay off their debt, which solidifies their dependence on foreign powers. France has continued their colonialism economically, using the Franc currency to wield power over these nations. Niger and other former French colonies cannot print money in Francs to pay off the debt held over them, unlike a Western state like France or the United States that uses its own currency. Although these proceedings certainly impact Western access to Niger's resources, so far France and the United States have not responded with force. During the so-called Cold War, this would likely not have been the case. Similar events have also unfolded in nearby Burkina Faso and Mali.
Countries like Mexico, who have for decades allied with the US, are turning towards new partners such as China. Russia, the DPRK, and China recently promised further economic cooperation, promising further interdependence, meaning less reliance on the American capitalist world order. Many other countries, mainly in the Global South, have continued in a similar trajectory.
Speaking of Burkina Faso, that country has experienced great success under staunch anti-imperialist leadership in the past. One of Marxist leader Thomas Sankara's foremost actions after taking power was to end the distribution of commodities (crops, minerals, and other natural resources) that were produced for export to Global North countries, and instead ensure that these vital resources were used first and foremost for the social good of the Burkinabé people. This movement towards self-sufficiency for the whole nation was truly revolutionary. As a result of this people-centric ethos, mass literacy, vaccination, healthcare, education and many other campaigns vastly improved the welfare of the nation's people from 1983 until Sankara's assassination in late 1987. Thomas Sankara's administration also outlawed ills such as female genital mutilation, forced marriages, and polygamy. The state even planted over ten million trees to combat the desertification of the Sahel, which was the most dangerous consequence of anthropogenic climate change threatening Burkina Faso at the time. This legacy demonstrates that countries in Africa, and the entire planet, will not have to reinvent the wheel to successfully combat Western hegemony and carve out room for themselves; past leaders and mass movements have accomplished this already.
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