World War II through the 1970s - Research Paper Example

?Many historians and scholars have indicated that the rise of the United s to the status of superpower was directly born out of the results of the Second World War. With whereas it is true that the United States had fact very exhibiting a greater and greater degree of industrial, economic, political, and military power since its inception as a nation, it was the Second World War that ultimately reduce any competition that it face to peripheral status. This is not to say that the bipolar nature of the world, exhibited during the Cold War years did not have an impact upon whether or not the United States continued to grow as a global superpower. Rather, the following analysis to discuss leverage a greater level of understanding with regards to how the United States ultimately came to be the superpower that it is today and continues to exhibit a high degree of leverage and strength with regards decisions that are made throughout. It is the hope of this author that such a level of understanding will useful with regards to allowing the reader to have a more firm grasp of how global dynamics of power are illustrated and the degree and extent to which the United States actively access to retain as global superpower. Firstly, in order to understand why the United States came to be a global superpower, one must realize that ever since 1948, the Bretton Woods Agreement had delineated the United States dollar as the international currency of global exchange. This, in tandem with the fact that the greatest economic competitors the United States had been reduced to smoldering ruins as a result of the Second World War, proved to be the fundamental boost that the United States required in order to dominate global politics. Whereas prior transactions had been based upon a litany of different currencies and exchange rates, with trade delineated in United States dollars, the degree and extent to which the United States could price set and gain a degree of advantage within trade interaction was maximize. As such, with the United States any unique position to benefit from global trade, regardless of where the origin or destination of that trade might be, the United States experienced a unique advantage over all other nations within the system (Gartner, 2013). However, as briefly discussed above, the results of the Second World War meant that the nations of Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, and a litany of others were ultimately in shambles. As such, the only real competition that existed for the United States within an economic realm was with respect to the Soviet Union. However, due to the fact that the Soviet Union was ultimately a communist nation, it was only a threat with regards to trade and international exchange between themselves and other socialist/communist sympathizing nations (Saull, 2013). As such, the United States ultimately found itself in a position in which it could not only dominate global trade but remain in a position of command and control over this trade with respect to the fact that all trade was carried out by the United States dollar. At face value, it may seem as if the Cold War was ultimately a period in time in which the United States was struggling, both militarily and economically, against another global superpower – the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. However, upon closer inspection, this struggle in and of itself did not necessarily weaken the extent to which the United States could experience a level of benefit and maximize its position as a global superpower. As a result of the nature of the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States, the entire world was ultimately forced into two distinct camps; those that supported the United States and its allies and those that support the Soviet Union and its allies. As such, the United States was presented with the situation which something of a captive market was for global dominance and. Within this captive market, the United States was able to dominate decision-making, military contracts, the right station troops in various corners of the world, and it even further control of global trade. Within such a situation, the United States was presented with the unique opportunity to maximize level of political, military, economic advantage that it with otherwise be able to leverage within this particular situation. More recently, the collapse of the Soviet Union allowed for an uncontested level of growth that the United States could exhibit. With its most prominent enemy now out of the way, the United States was able to proliferate into a host of “virgin” markets. As even a cursory level of economics illustrates, the opening of markets allows for a rapid level of economic growth, both on the part of the host nation, as well as on the part of the exploiting entity (Brown, 2003). Where is the bulk of this analysis has been concentric upon the degree to which economic strength has allowed the United States to exhibit such a high degree of superpower status, the underlying rationalization behind this is of course the fact that in order to exhibit military strength and power, a level of economic power must first be evident. Many scholars have argued that without the checks and balances that the Soviet Union was able to place upon the United States that it has begun to act in a unilateral and unsophisticated manner. Due to the fact that a uni-polar world is oftentimes believed to exist, one in which the United States dictates its demands to all of the other nations, the degree and extent to which alternatives and fairness is represented is severely constricted. One need look no further than the invasions of Iraq, the targeted destruction of the state of Libya, and the litany of “regime change” the United States believes it can affect in each and every corner of the world. As a result of this behavior, the United States is oftentimes been ridiculed and the rest of the world as a cowboy or a bully. However, the fact of the matter is that these pejorative phrases are not far from the truth. With the military power and the economic means to affect nearly each and every global political goal that it envisions, the United States is ultimately a superpower that believes it can dictate to any and all global issues; solving them to its ultimate satisfaction. Regardless of the means by which the United States has grown into the most powerful superpower to have ever existed, the means by which this power is utilized is perhaps the more important question. As is briefly been denoted above, the economic power of the United States is ultimately the driving force behind the way in which military and political decision-making structure is effective throughout the globe. Without the dollar as the currency of international trade, the United States would see a severe economic contraction and a loss of an unbelievable amount of global power. As such, without the dollar as a currency of international exchange, United States military would necessarily fall back from the vanguard of positions and chokepoints that it jealously protects throughout the world. Although this is not likely to occur anytime within the very near future, repeated and arrogant disregard for international law, unilateral actions, and the belief that it is ultimately responsible for the fate and future of democracy throughout the world creates a situation whereby it is unlikely the United States will be able to continue to exhibit such power well into the determinate future. References Brown, B. E. (2003). Europe Against America: A New Superpower Rivalry?. American Foreign Policy Interests, 25(4), 309. GARTNER, D. (2013). UNCOVERING BRETTON WOODS: CONDITIONAL TRANSPARENCY, THE WORLD BANK, AND THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND. George Washington International Law Review, 45(1), 121-148. SAULL, R. (2011). Social conflict and the global Cold War. International Affairs, 87(5), 1123-1140. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2346.2011.01024.x Read More