Time for USA to shed its super power tag

The US began to assume greater role in the polity of countries after its triumphant stride in the World War II and henceforth began to lay larger claims. Till the implosion of the erstwhile Soviet Union it was largely a bipolar World. By and large throughout the nemesis of the Cold War the US has tried to plug in the expansionist overtures of the Soviet Union. Since the collapse of the USSR, for decades many American strategists began envisioning that the World has sole superpower.

Subsequently, the US presidents started reinforcing the same doctrine which was directly reflected in their foreign policies and intended to maintain that status quo for times to come. Accordingly, aggressive plans were strategised to prevent the re-emergence of a nation or a territory that can pose threat on the order posed by the former Soviet Union. Grounded deeply in the Pax Americana President George H W Bush and his son exultantly promised to extend and spread the current realm of peace across nations for more years.

To prevail on the philosophy of extending peace, Bush junior intervened in the Middle East regional conflagration by invading Iraq. In a bid to perpetuate the US supremacy and over powered by an interventionist attitude President Bush has ignited the carnage which is engulfing the peace and tranquillity of the entire region.

In reality the World is no longer unipolar as the US wants it. Muscle flexing by various nations has become order of the day. Russia has now slowly recovered and putting every nerve at work to counter western insinuations. It strong posturing and resurgence is testified by its annexation of Crimea and in arming the rebellion in Ukraine.

China’s relentless land reclamation and eventual proclamation of islands in the South China Sea, Iran’s growing strength and authority in Iraq, Saudi Arabia’s refusal to endorse the US brokered nuclear deal with Iran. All these emerging power centres together defy the near invincibility capitulated by the US. Sadly the authorities in Washington are taking recluse in the decade old fiat of the planet’s hyper power; a status more aggrandised that super power.

More than a decade-long armed engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan exhausted the military and depleted the US treasury. Now the regional powers like China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey and Russia are trying to challenge the supremacy of the US through better reorganisation of resources and military capabilities. President Obama cognizant of ground realities and setbacks no longer willed to retreat from the envisioned role of the sole super power of the world.

In spite of the backlashes suffered in Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan and South China Sea the US hankered to prevail. The Republicans still begrudgingly believe in the indispensability of the US in the strife-struck nations. Because of the irreconcilable approach towards global supremacy, the US has largely mired itself in a conundrum. With limited resources at its disposal, the US without a long-term strategy and concrete plan is rushing its capabilities to regions where crises are unfolding.

In this vain attempt to reach out to regions in trouble it failed to finish its tasks to completion. This phenomenon has been highly characteristic of President Obama. In a hurry to evacuate its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan in 2011, the US helped China to advance its own strategic interests. Consequently to counter the influence of China, it has turned its interests towards Asia under the Pivot to Asia policy. Thus it shifted its focus to Asia-Pacific region.

Unfortunately as the World now silently mourns and dreads the meteoric rise of the Islamic State, the infamous role of the US cannot be undermined. President Bush by invading Iraq and President Obama for not fighting them hard enough are culpable. Of course, the inept leadership in Iraq that largely favoured Shia’s at behest of Sunni’s led to the gradual escalation of the rebellion that seized control of the four northern cities of Iraq.

By 2014, the US military analysts are shunted back to Iraq once again to strategise air strikes against IS. In this eternal ordeal of juggling commitments towards different regions to assert its supremacy, the US foreign policy has become less coherent, more nebulous, open-ended and lost its focus. As a result the mighty US failed to counter the insidious attacks of Houthi rebels in Yemen, Putin in Ukraine, Bashar al-Assad in Syria and militias in Libya.

It is high time that Washington accepts the fact that World is facing multiple threats and that the US is not indispensible anymore. Majority of Americans refuse to buy this fact. Several old generation politicians believe that to restore the credibility of US, it must become more aggressive and become the strongest military power of the world. Certainly in the run for the Presidential elections of 2016, foreign policy is going to be high on the agenda with prospective leaders pitching in for increased military strength, tough stance against Moscow and Beijing and stronger military presence in the Middle East.

Subsequently, the interventionist approach of the US will continue to dominate the foreign policy. Surely this is going to be disastrous as unlike the situation two decades back when the US alone dominated the world, there are multiple power houses now. China, Russia and Iran have now emerged as strong nations asserting their regional hegemonies. While singularly these countries may not be equal to the US but greater muscle flexing by the US can lead to a calamity or humiliation.

Under these circumstances, it will be prudent for the US to make a realistic assessment and accept that it is a declining superpower and must learn to cohabit with coteries of major power in the World. The US must manage its differences with China, Russia and Iran without igniting regional strife’s and brewing up more disasters. Of late, strategic analysts began postulating that US should start conceding the fact that it can no longer sustain the status of superpower and start investing more in building reliable alliances. While it may be a difficult proposition for the American psyche to accept the new reality living in the denial mode might push America towards uncertain military engagements and condescension.

Recently, Ian Bremmer, foreign affairs columnist in his book SuperPower, suggested three distinctly different interesting US foreign policy approaches. “The Indispensible America approach believes that no other nation can provide the leadership that the world needs other than the US, Money Ball America relies that America can’t do everything but it should defend its economic and political interests where they are most threatened and the third one is Independent America wherein the US must get rid of the international burdens and focus on building the country from within.

As America is gearing up the election season, Bremmer cautioned the citizens of US to carefully analyze and evaluate the promises of various leaders to assess the financial burden which is hardly talked about. When a survey was carried out to select the choices, it was found that oldies still backed the indispensible America approach while the younger generation preferred an independent approach. Now it is for the new leadership to make apt choices and set ahead on the path of hard priorities. For the world in the next 25 years is going to extremely volatile.

By Ramaharitha Pusarla