The Fall of the US Empire Global Fault-Lines and the Shifting Imperial Order

by Fouskas, Vassilis K.; Gokay, Bulent

• ISBN13: 9780745326443
• ISBN10: 0745326447
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-06-15
• Publisher: UCP

Summary

Whither the US empire? Despite Washington's military supremacy, its economic foundations have been weakening since the Vietnam war accelerated by the great recession and credit-rating downgrade and its global authority dented by the quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan.*BR**BR*In this accessible, punchy text, Vassilis K. Fouskas and Bülent Gökay intervene in the debates that surround the US's status as an Empire. They survey the arguments amongst Marxist and critical scholars, from Immanuel Wallerstein and others who argue that the US is in decline, to those who maintain that it remains a robust superpower. By explaining how America's neo-imperial system of governance has been working since WWII, Fouskas and Gökay link the US's domestic and foreign vulnerabilities. *BR**BR*The Fall of the US Empire argues that the time has come to understand the US empire not by its power but by its systemic vulnerabilities of financialisation, resource depletion and environmental degradation. Its informed and accessible style will have wide appeal to students looking for an introduction to these issues.

Author Biography

Vassilis K. Fouskas is Professor of International Relations at Richmond University, London and Editor of the Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies. Blent Gkay is Professor of International Relations and Head of the School of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy at Keele University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. ix
List of abbreviations	p. xii
Introduction	p. xv
Box: a definition of global fault-lines	p. xviii
Global fault-lines	p. 1
Preliminary observations	p. 1
Beyond conventional wisdom	p. 9
Marxisant discourses on the financial crisis	p. 14
The tragedy of globalization: the end of the 'long twentieth century'?	p. 25
From Bretton Woods to the abyss of globalization, 1944-71	p. 33
Background to Bretton Woods	p. 33
The US empire-state responds to the great slump	p. 38
Determinants of the rise and fall of the 'Golden Age'	p. 43
The failure of financial statecraft (1), 1971-91	p. 57
A note on Ernest Mandel	p. 57
Business strategies dealing with stagflation	p. 61
An unstable 'petrodollar'/'weapon-dollar' regime	p. 65
The failure of financial statecraft (2), 1991-2011	p. 77
Towards a periodization of imperial orders	p. 77
The explosion of financialization and how it undermined growth	p. 83
The internationalization of the US treasury	p. 87
The implosion of financialization and the case of the United Kingdom	p. 96
The power shift to the global East	p. 111
Issues between the United States and China	p. 113
The growth of emerging economies	p. 114
Control over resources	p. 117
The growing consumer classes	p. 119
Brazil's experience	p. 121
Projected results of the shift in economic power	p. 125
Analysis and interpretation	p. 129
Resource depletion and environmental degradation	p. 133
Oil	p. 134
Oil scarcity and its impact	p. 137
The environment in crisis	p. 138
Responses to environmental challenges	p. 140
Conclusion	p. 142
Summing up the argument	p. 142
Prospects for the future	p. 145
Notes	p. 153
References	p. 176
Websites	p. 188
Index	p. 189
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