Why do most countries think United States of America is a powerful country - Essay Example

Contents Introduction United s of America is currently the most powerful country in the world with almost absolute superiority in almost everyarea of life. Its military strength, technological superiority and economic power are unmatched in the history of mankind. The superiority of United States of America effectively started after the end of the cold war when USSR was disintegrated and the concept of bipolar world failed as United States emerged as the sole super power of the world. However, the United States of America has a long history of its march towards achieving its status of the super power of the world. This essay will look into the historical account of the US’s journey towards the superiority besides discussing the factors behind the superiority of US. American – Spanish War The America-Spanish war is probably the moment which gave America an open ground to climb at the top of the world stage and the power it is enjoying now. This war gave America its first real exposure of being the future super power of the world. In the spring of 1898, the 10 week long war between America and Spain gave the America necessary victory it required to start its climb towards the super power game. The historical background of this war can be traced back to the Cuba’s civil war where Spanish excesses forced America to intervene in the War and establish its regional hegemony in the Caribbean. (Bethel, 1998). It was America’s first major war after the civil war and its first major foreign war in its brief history. With the death toll of 400 Americans, this war gave America an unqualified victory which opened the gates for this nation to the stage of being super power. This war was largely considered as a war which was started by the Media. American Media specially the newly formed William Randolph Hearest’s New Journal and Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World were the two major newspapers which were reporting the Spanish atrocities in the Cuba and arose the necessary national sentiment which ultimately forced Congress to declare the war against Spanish Empire. The Cuban Intervention became the significant presidential issue in the Presidential elections of 1896. The Maine incident was however the real cause behind the war as Congress hurriedly approved 50 millions USD to prepare the nation for its first major war. The civil war in the Cuba and Spain’s atrocities in the country led America to engage itself into the war through its naval fleets and soon with the popular support from the home front, America emerged as a victorious. However this war as described above provided America its first real taste of power therefore this war was termed as a splendid little war. A Splendid Little War There many reasons as to why John Hay described this war as a splendid little war. It was probably the first occasion where Americans emerged with a strong national sense besides showing their military muscles to the world. This war provided it the necessary beginning to start considering itself as one of the strongest and robust armies in the world capable of taking on the strongest empires of the world. It was probably the first moment when the US media got its first real exposure to the war and taste the power of war propaganda besides increasing the strong nationalistic sense within America by mentioning the defeats of enemy on the war front. The American Media started to gather its momentum from there with more and more professionalism being shown in discharging the nation’s duty. There were many important and critical reasons as to why John Hay cited the same war as a splendid little war. Firstly for rising American nation, it was necessary to find the new markets in its vicinity first and Caribbean region was the region which could have provided US the necessary economic stronghold in the region. It is believed that by the end of the war American citizens owned more than $50 million worth property in Cuba only in shape of Sugar, tobacco and other industries. (Cushing, 1997). US was thus forced by the Media pressures to safeguard the interests of the America in the region despite the fact that Spain wanted peace with US and was ready to provide concessions to avoid the war and which it eventually did to pay the price for fighting against US in the war. It was because of this war that under Paris Treaty America was given the ownership of the former Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico, Guam and Philippine. (Wikipedia, 2008). World War II World War II was probably the second most important event in the history of US which provided it a solid ground to be a world super power. It was in this war that United States was able to prove its military power and whim and started dominating the world political stage. The earliest reasons for the superiority of US were its military power. It was the brutal military power display during the Second World War II that saw US emerging as strongest nations in the world. However that superiority was challenged by many countries at that time mostly Russia which emerged as the parallel super power of the world effectively balancing the power equation in the world. The world political scenario which emerged after the Second World War saw the bi-polar world with power being slightly titled towards USSR. However it did not remained the case and soon after the end of the World War II, a new cold war era begun and resulted into the disintegration of the USSR and stamped the authority of US as the sole super power of the world. The following section will discuss as to why and how US has maintained its superiority as the sole super power of the world. US as the sole super power There are many factors which have helped US to maintain its position as the super power of the world despite its grave and difficult military as well as diplomatic problems. Probably the single most important factor which historically has remained in the favor of US is its military power. US have the strongest military in the world enjoying the most sophisticated arms and ammunition technology. US has the virtual monopoly as a world’s only army capable of striking anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice. This flexibility and strength give US an entirely different face of a country that can, if irked, can virtually erode you out of the world map through its sheer military power. We know many examples in which US has exercised its military muscle in the recent as well as distant past. The era after 9/11 saw a very generous use of US military power in Afghanistan and subsequently in Iraq where despite witnessing causalities, US has proved it stronger and capable of showing its strength. The second most important capability of US is its technological superiority. US have the most sophisticated technological base with large scale industries providing the necessary technological input to other countries. US is also the largest exporter of arms in the world and almost all the transactions in the arms dealings have to be approved by US government to get its clearance. Thus the external world, due to their low technological base, rely on the US arms and ammunition and other technological equipments in order to create a sustainable defense as well as industrial structure and mechanism in their country. Apart from showing the strong military and technological superiority, US also have one of the highly sophisticated intelligence networks in the world. Through its Central Intelligence Agency and various other agencies, the country maintains its grip on the events and happenings in the world. CIA has the track record of assassinating world leaders who were potential threats to the US interests besides toppling many governments in the world which were not serving the interests of the US. (Brookes, et.al, 2003). US businesses have grown outside their traditional borders to the most of the world and their size and magnitude is to such large extent they exercise a substantial degree of influence over the governments of other countries specially developing nations to take benefits. The so called McDonald’s theory suggests that no two countries having McDonald in them fought war with each other clearly suggest the level of engagement and extent of interests of these organizations in the various countries. Through transnational organizations as well as supernatural institutions like World Bank and IMF, US exercise significant control over the economic policies of the countries thus providing it virtually unmatched position to dominate almost all walks of life in other countries. Conclusion The above discussion suggest that US historically has dominated the world political stage mainly due to its military power and that the gradual increase in its economic and technological powers also provided it the necessary support to remain the only super power in the world and continue to prove its strength on the world political stage. References 1) Brookes, Peter, Campbell. Kurt, Donnelly, Thomas (2003)’The United States as the World’s only Super power’ last accessed April 04,2008 from http://www.gaikoforum.com/P03_19_122.pdf 2) Bethel, J. T. (1998). "A Splendid Little War" Harvard and the commencement of a new world order. last accessed April 04, 2008, from Harvard Magazin: http://harvardmagazine.com/1998/11/war.html 3) Cushing, L. (1997). Cetennial of the Spanish-American War. last accessed April 04, 2008, from http://www.zpub.com/cpp/saw.html 4) Wikipedia. (2008). Spanish-American War. last accessed April 04, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish-American_War Read More