Mearsheimer - Liberal Hegemony (2)

Liberal Hegemony aimed to remake the world in America’s image by doing three things.

1. Spreading democracy over the planet. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was believed that democracy was the only game in town. Fascism and Communism had been defeated, so there was no viable alternative to democracy. The world will eventually be populated by liberal democracies (Francis Fukayama – The End of History).

2. Integrating nations in the international economy and spreading capitalism.

3. Getting the nations into international institutions like the WTO and the UN, so they will become responsible stakeholders.

Liberal hegemony had three main benefits for the world.

1. Humans rights violations would be reduced as nations become liberal democracies. This gave the US a strong impulse to interfere in other nations.

2. Democratic Peace Theory suggested that wars would disappear if liberal democracy spread across the world.

3. Spreading free enterprise capitalism would allow the nations of the world to share in the prosperity that America had experienced.

Madeline Albright announced that America is the “indispensable nation”. This justified pollical involvement and military interventions in other nations.

The policy of Liberal Hegemony explains many events.

• The Bush Doctrine aimed to turn the Middle East into a sea of democracy. Once other nations saw the benefits of democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq, they would choose to go down the same path without needing military pressure.

• The reasons for expanding NATO and the EU eastward was to spread liberal democracy. (Mearsheimer says that the purpose was not to contain Russia). Since the purpose was to spread democracy, it was not a threat to Russia (Unfortunately, Russia did not see it that way). the Liberal Hegemonists believed that Russia would welcome the advance of democracy. This is why they were so shocked by the Ukraine crisis.

• The Liberal Hegemonists believed that if China is engaged in trade and embedded in international institutions, it would eventually become a liberal democracy.

Mearsheimer says that the policy of Liberal Hegemony prevailed through the Clinton, Bush and Obama presidencies, strongly supported by the UK, France and Germany, but has failed abysmally. The number of liberal democracies in the world has declined significantly, and America has got stuck fighting unwinnable wars. It is only the amazing strength of the American economy that has prevented these endless wars becoming an impossible burden.