The US is the most powerful country in the world. Its immense
economic and military resources have elevated the US to a regional hegemon
during the Cold War and a world leader in the post-Cold War period. The
main place of hegemonic exercise has been the Middle East, which at the
same time has very important repercussions for the current and future
hegemonic world orders.
The main argument of the paper was hegemony should be defined in
more social terms than in material terms. A social hegemony can be defined
as the ability of the most powerful state to create a social structure that
fosters consent from the international community. In other words, a social
hegemon creates a “dominant culture of commonsense”78 in such a way that
other states’ role in support of US hegemony is accepted as natural. This
analysis puts more emphasis on the ‘consent’ part of hegemony, which did
not get the attention it deserves in the literature.
The US’s quick and frequent use of hard power resources in the Middle
East carries the dangers of undermining the credibility of the United States
it has been gathering since the beginning of the 20th century in several ways.
First, the use of force and the neoconservative imperial project brings with it
the danger to overstretch beyond its control. Second, and more important,
the US military practices creates both in the Middle East and the world a
social structure that breeds a ‘Hobbesian culture’ where distrust and
disorder prevail. The initial reaction to the invasion of Iraq and a possible
attack on Iran spread the fear of being the next victim in regional countries.
Even though the reaction to US hegemony is limited to terrorist
organizations, which grows in numbers, there is no way of knowing what the
future will bring. Whether or not it will continue to exercise as a malevolent
hegemon and thus promote instability and disorder or benevolent one that
can create a world order that benefits all will be determined by newly elected
President, Barack Obama.