IPS 1B: WORLD POLITICS (2019)

Week 2 Worksheet
Great Powers and World Order
Is US global hegemony coming to an end?

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Also, please make sure that you read and summarise your assigned article
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A. Article summary

 Author and title:

Author: Christopher Layne
Title: US Decline

 Thesis:1 (Summarise)
The article written by Layne argues that there are mainly two reasons (external and
internal) for US global hegemony coming to end.

 Main supporting arguments:2 (Summarise)

(1) The external factor that leads to US decline is the rise of new global superpowers
(especially China). A global economic superpower is measured by its growth rate and the
share of the world’s GDP which the country owns. In this sense, China is about to overtake
the US to become the world’s largest economy (Layne, 2012, 413).
(2) The internal factor that, also leads to US decline, is the amount of economic and fiscal
problems that constantly rise for the US. The main aspect that contribute to this economic
problem is the US debt spiralling out of control.(reference). As a result of this out of control
debt the US finds itself owing the world more money than the US makes through its
economic ventures (Layne, 2012, 416).

1
The article’s thesis is the central point the author seeks to make. This will normally be directly related to the
week’s tutorial question.
2
The article’s supporting arguments are the reasoning or evidence the author lays out to persuade the reader
that his or her thesis is valid. There are likely to be more than three, but your task is to identify the most
important ones.
(3) America’s geopolitical power is mainly founded upon the dollar’s reserve currency.
However, this power is weakening due to the many debts the US owes to the world. As a
result, the US global hegemony is coming to end due to the fact that it will become
unaffordable. As a result of this end in US hegemony, Pax Americana will in turn fall as well,
resulting in the weakening of US foreign policy (Layne, 2012, 419).

B. Critical reflection

 Counter-argument:3 (Research, argue, reference)

Whilst, China is becoming a global economic power, the focus of simple GDP growth
does not show the main factor which results in the end of a hegemony. The second
factor is that whilst China growth to become a global superpower is impressive, the
country is still a developing country in the sense that its GDP per capita is still only on
par with country’s like Ecuador. (Wohlforth and Brooks, 2012, 422). Hence, in this sense,
the idea of China rising to the same level of the US to challenge its global hegemony is
again, highly unlikely. Furthermore, there are numerous other factors that highlights US
dominance in the global economy such as the fact that the top 6 companies which
produces computers are still American based companies. As a result of this, the US can
be seen to be controlling the majority of production of products. As a result of this, it
can be said that since US companies control the production process, the places in which
the production of products occurs can easily be changed as well (from places like China
to other countries). (Hama, 2016, 113-115)

Bibliography
Layne, Christopher, William Wohlforth, and Stephen G. Brooks. "Chapter 23: US Decline
Or Primacy? A Debate". In US Foreign Policy, 409-429. Micheal Cox and Doug Stokes.
Reprint, Oxford University Press, 2012.
Hama, Hawre Hasan. "Is The United States Still A Global Hegemonic Power?".
International Journal Of Social Sciences & Educational Studies 3, no. 2 (2016): 113-115.

3
Counter-arguments are reasoning or evidence that, if valid, would weaken or invalidate the article’s thesis.