The Rise of China

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world has been home to a single superpower - the United States. Over the course of the past 18 or so years since the Soviet Union dissolved, the United States has assumed great and greater authority in terms of geopolitical affairs and cultural dominance. This point was made by Mark Hertsgaard (783), who suggested that America's "habit of thinking it has all the answers" is one of the central explanations for its increasing vulnerability to terrorist attacks by state and non-state actors who see in the United States an ambitious, demanding and excessively authoritative global power with little real knowledge about the outside world. This essay will examine the related issues of terrorism targeting the United States, the status of the American empire, and the rise of China as another competitor for global influence.

The arguments advanced by Hertsgaard (784-785) is that the united States had become the target of terrorist attacks such as that taking place on September 11, 2001, because the country and its leaders (as well as its foreign policy) tends to exert undue influence over the affairs of other peoples and states. After September 11, President Bush and his administration made it clear that American was embarked on a "War on Terror" and that other right-thinking countries should join in gladly.

Hertsgaard (783) suggests that it is precisely because American foreign involvement is shaped to benefit American interest

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Category: History - T