Abstract
The dilemma is apparent: with the slow economic growth typical of mature economies and a politically constrained capacity to tax concentrated wealth, America cannot indefinitely maintain disproportionate hegemonic power without imposing additional burdens on its own people.1 This is not an American failing; hegemonic power is inherently impermanent and is increasingly outmoded as a way to organize global affairs. America and the world would be better off with another governance system, if the new system is widely accepted, stable, fair, and open to citizen input.
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Notes
The United States may remain the greatest single military power, but it cannot indefinitely outspend most other nations combined. Recently, a noted moderate American foreign policy analyst advocated ‘a breather’ on foreign interventions to concentrate on domestic needs including restoring economic growth. See Richard N. Haass, Foreign Policy Begins at Home: The Case for Putting America’s House in Order (New York: Basic Books, 2013). The conflicting needs here are not, in my view, temporary.
David Miller, National Responsibility and Global Justice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).
See also Bruce Cronin, Institutions for the Common Good: International Protection Regimes in International Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).
John S. Dryzek, Deliberative Global Politics (Cambridge UK: Polity Press, 2006).
Among the earliest to make this case were Frances Moore Lappé and Joseph Collins in Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity (New York: Ballantine Books, 1977).
More recently see Wayne Roberts, The No-Nonsense Guide to World Food (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2013).
See Robert Paehlke, Democracy’s Dilemma: Environment, Social Equity and the Global Economy (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004).
Unlike most nations, Chile, Mexico, Turkey, Hungary and, until recently, Greece have reduced income inequality. Clearly policy choices are relevant. See Joseph Stiglitz, “Inequality Is a Choice,” www.nytimes.com (October 13, 2006).
See Michael A. Fletcher, “Income Inequality Hurts Economic Growth, Researchers Say,” www.washingtonpost.com (January 26, 2014) and studies cited therein.
S. M. Lipset, Political Man (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1960).
William Ophuls, Ecology and the Politics of Scarcity (San Francisco: W.H. Freeman, 1977), p. 151 discussing how Rousseau distinguished his central concept, the “general will,” from the “will of all.”
Amory Lovins, Reinventing Fire (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2011).
Peter Bachrach and Morton S. Baratz, “Decisions and Nondecisions: An Analytic Framework,” American Political Science Review 57 (September 1963), pp. 632–642.
Joseph Stiglitz, “Developing Countries are Right to Resist Restrictive Trade Agreements,” www.theguardian.com (November 8, 2013).
See Scott Carlson, “Defense Insider: Sustainable Communities are Key to the Future,” www.grist.org (November 11, 2011).
Jim Dwyer, “A National Security Strategy That Doesn’t Focus on Threats,” www.nytimes.com (May 4, 2011).
Mr. Y, A National Strategic Narrative, available from www.wilsoncenter.org, published 2011, p. 5.
Paul Collier, The Plundered Planet: How to Reconcile Prosperity with Nature (New York: Penguin Books, 2011), p. x.
Tariq Banuri and Niclas Hällström, “A Global Programme to Tackle Energy Access and Climate Change,” Development Dialogue: What Next Volume III (September, 2012), pp. 265–279. See also Felipe Calderon, “The New Climate Economics,” www.project-syndicate.org (September 22, 2013).
For a partial explanation see, for example, Harold Meyerson, “The Lansing-Beijing Connection,” www.washingtonpost.com. Published December 12, 2012; accessed December 13, 2012. One possible response to restrictions on unionization in China is citizen pressure on retailers to adopt responsible contractor policies. Another, as noted, is to include the right to unionization in trade agreements.
The Chinese government has recently become more open about air quality problems. See Simon Denver, “In China’s War on Bad Air, Government Decision to Release Data gives Fresh Hope,” www.washingtonpost.com (February 3, 2014).
Susan Clark and Woden Teachout, Slow Democracy (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2012).
See Steve Killelea, “The Peace-Prosperity Cycle,” www.project-syndicate.org (October 22, 2013).
Jake Richardson, “94% Renewable Electricity by 2017 is Goal for Nicaragua,” www.cleantechnica.com. Published January 6, 2013; accessed July 27, 2013.
Sami Grover, “Kenya to get 50% of Electricity from Solar by 2016” www.treehugger.com (January 21, 2014), citing The Guardian.
Robert J. Allen, Steven C. Sherwood, Joel R. Norris, and Charles S. Zender, “Recent Northern Hemisphere Tropical Expansion Primarily Driven by Black Carbon and Tropospheric Ozone,” Nature 485 (May 16, 2012), pp. 350–354.
See, for example, Andrew Wong, “Is Bitumen Good for Canada?” www.alternativesjournal.ca/science-and-solutions/bitumen-good-canada. Accessed May 15, 2013.
Thomas Piketty, Capital in the 21st Century (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014).
See, for example, Jeff Faux, “Thomas Piketty Undermines the Hallowed Tenets of the Capitalist Catechism,” www.thenation.com (April 21, 2014).
See the discussion by Harold Meyerson, “Democracy Is on the Retreat in Europe,” www.washingtonpost.com (December 6, 2011).
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© 2014 Robert C. Paehlke
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Paehlke, R.C. (2014). Global Citizenship without Global Government. In: Hegemony and Global Citizenship. Philosophy, Public Policy, and Transnational Law. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137476029_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137476029_5
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