Essay about Rise of China and India

In the 21st century, America faces various threats and challenges to its authority as a growing world power. These threats and challenges help define America’s role as a growing world power in the 21st century. As a large nation, America faces a plethora of issues and continues to compete against other world powers. America today is plagued with various economic, social, political, and military problems, with little or no simple or practical solutions available.

The current overwhelming dominance of the unprecedented modern American empire in the realm of world politics generally agreed upon by experts and scholars around the world. There is little to refute the argument that there is any state that comes close to the strength of the Americans in a vast number of areas, most notably economically and militarily. Present debate among experts in the field of international relations revolves around whether the Americans can maintain their primacy for upcoming generations. Robert Dujarric and William Odom, both experienced and respected scholars of international relations, declare in their 2004 work, “America’s Inadvertent Empire,” that America is in a solid position to keep a tight hold on its place at the top. Vividly explaining America’s path to dominance while emphasizing the current state of domination, the authors effectively present the abilities of the empire while also illustrating the potential threats that could bring it down.

In the chapter “Foreign Policy” in the book, “The Politics of Power” by Ira Katznelson, Mark Kesselman, and Alan Draper, describes in detail of the events leading to America’s great level of dominance. Throughout the chapter, a few key points were made. The main three points that were observed in this chapter consisted of America’s influence and global expansion, the transition into the globalization era, and environmental problems. From the beginning of the exploration era, to the globalization ear, foreign policy never escaped existence. The use of foreign policy continued into the beginning of World War II, after the war, and through present day. Between each date in history, foreign policy increasingly has played a major role in the turning tides within each event. The importance of foreign policy instructed the world into what it is today and has continued to do so. The relationship pertaining to the United States and its foreign policies have aimlessly been altered through good and bad times. At its birth, America’s international involvement began. Through time, its foreign policy has gained great interest and provided immense dominant reputation. Within the ordinance of America’s global dominance, speculation estimates that no nation truly is dominant as other problems counter true dominance. These problems consist of global warming, human rights, and ecological crisis. These problems will challenge nations in the future to answer the question: “What nation is truly

At the turn of the 19th century, the US was in a position to become the superpower it is today, after winning the Spanish American War, a new US viewpoint came to mind, the one of an imperialist. The driving forces of US imperialism in the late 1800s to early 1900s were to have new markets for goods to be sold, military expansion through new bases around the globe, and a need to uplift foreign cultures to American “standards”.

The debate on American power is a complex, yet interesting argument. This essay will discuss and define power through American military and economic aspects. These are key elements that define how much power a nation holds, as military and economic superiority allows a state to intimidate, persuade, and facilitate its own agenda. Both Cox and Williams have argued the debate on US power, and therefore their work features in this essay. I will discuss both articles in depth before coming to the conclusion that American power is in decline, and has been since 1991 at the end of the Cold War.

Throughout American history, America has wielded its power worldwide through the use of different means, changing foreign and world affairs, and the course of history. From the late 19th century, America rose as a world power through the addition of new colonies like Puerto Rico, and its actions and influence in the world wars that allowed America and its allies to win both wars, and America to emerge as a superpower. America justified its rise as a world power from the Spanish-American War through World War II as necessary to oversee the world and transmit their ideas of democracy, and to defend and protect America’s interests.

The rise of the Untied States in the 20th century as the world’s leading superpower is because they followed a foreign policy of imperialism, which furthered their economic expansion throughout the world. When studying imperialism, many people think of imperialism as the well-known traditional British imperialism in Africa. However, William Appleman Williams argues in his book, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy, that the U.S. formed a new type of imperialism in the 20th century, which was unique to that of traditional British imperialism because the U.S. used economic, diplomatic, and military means to further their expansion throughout the world. Brian Crozier defines this new type of imperialism that the U.S. created in the 20th century as

Snyder claims that realism failed to predict the Cold War. Given this, Mearsheimer states “China cannot rise peacefully.” Since realists describe the world as a self-help system, according to Posen, every country “must look to its own interests relative to those of others” and because “security is the preeminent issue in an anarchic world, the distribution of capabilities to attack and defend should matter.” Thus, because China’s strive for regional hegemony inevitably threatens the power dynamic of the global system, the U.S. will, according to Mearsheimer, take an offensive realist approach that will eventually lead to war. In addition, as seen in post-Cold War, economic stability greatly determines the distribution of power. Friedberg notes, that the projected “speed and magnitude of China’s growth in recent decades appears to be unprecedented” and as early as 2015, “China’s economy could overtake that of the United States.” Although the U.S. faces an unprecedented challenge to economic power, according to Ikenberry, China has signaled cooperation by “redoubling its participation in existing institutions, such as the ASEAN Regional Forum and the East Asia Summit or working with the other great powers in the region to build new ones.” Nevertheless, following the actions of the U.S. post WWII, China strategically makes “itself more predictable and approachable” to reduce “the incentives for other

The events that have taken place over the past couple of centuries, and more so the past decade, have monumentally impacted the relationship between the United States and China for better and for worse. Today, China and the U.S. have evolved into two of the most elite superpowers in the world, and they classify as some of the most prominent leaders in economics, military, technology, and universal innovation. Currently, the United States is just weeks away from electing their next president, cyber-attacks are being investigated exponentially, and the South China Sea Debate continues to be disputed. The outcomes of all these events will undoubtedly affect the relationship between China and the United States for the next 10 years.

Issue 3: There is potential for another “Superpower Nation” to emerge from Europe or Asia.

The cold war was a large period of political tension between the two great powers of the time and its allies (United States of America and NATO, USSR and the communist states). It was a clash of ideologies as well as of Nations, with both countries trying to expand and consolidate their way of governing and living. The end of the cold war in 1991 signaled a victory for the USA and its allies, the Soviet Union fell and therefore so did communism. At the time the victory seemed final: The West was left unrivaled economically, politically and militarily. It seemed as if the new millennium was going to be an era of expansion and consolidation of western influence and values. The events of the last 25 years have, however, suggested otherwise. In particular, it’s the rise of China and India that has raised eyebrows. In 1991 their respective GDP’s were $415,603 million and $274,842 million, putting them 10th and 16th in the world at that time, since then their exponential growth has made them the world’s second and seventh largest economies (www.imf.org, 2016). This has led some to proclaim that we are now in the Asian Century.

The current international system is fragmenting rapidly since the end of the Cold War. A lot of regions in the world are still trying to find the balance of power in the international system, which the U.S. often intervenes to provide its brand of “global leadership”. Some countries like China are emerging as a global power since a few years ago. Subsequently, this will lead to a major threat to the U.S. status as a global major power. The rise of power by China in the international scene signifies the unpredictable nature of the international system. I would argue that the three most critical challenges for the U.S. arising out of this environment are the future world globalization that will cause a conflict between its domestic and foreign policy, the rise of China as a global power, and the ever globalization of terrorism. I believe that the U.S. should be pragmatic in handling its foreign policy and handle each situation independently without a fix doctrine in order to minimize the unintended consequences produced by the globalization of the world.

Realism assumes that under a balance of power, the overriding aim of all states is to maximize power and become the only hegemony in the system. States only help themselves in the anarchic international system. Therefore, China’s rise is regarded as a disconcerting threat to the U.S.’s primacy of power in the present international stage. The power shift in East Asia is creating security dilemmas; the U.S. thus demands more security to its Asian allies including Philippines, Japan and South Korea. The rapidly-rising Chinese power would inevitably challenge the current international balance of power and appear aggressively in the eyes of weaker power such as the Philippines. Therefore it seeks help to its ally, the U.S., to counterbalance the power of China. China intends to gain more resources and to transform current international order to its favor according to its national interests. The 2010 Chinese White Paper on National Defence states that: “Contradictions continue to surface between developed and developing countries and between traditional

India is seen as a strong-weak state based on their foreign affairs with superpowers yet their inability to secure themselves in South Asia. According to T.V. Paul, a strong-weak state is characterized as a state with “...legitimacy and control over most parts of

The United States has proved to be a prominent influence around the world whether or not it may have positively affected other countries. In some cases, the dependency of one allows for the growth of the other such as the instance of China. Although China stands as one of the biggest communist countries, statistics have shown that “China is 175.6% dependent on the U.S.” (Chang). Although both divergent from the other, the United States’ bilateral relationship with China is essential and necessary for their success and diplomacy.