comments, criticism and suggestions are strongly encouraged. naveed sir can you make a critical analysis of this question. although i have tries, but it lacks something. will be grateful to you.

:7. will the 21st century as well be an American century or will the USA be obscured by new superpowers like China or the EU?

Introduction: history has witnessed the rise and fall of many civilizations, cultures, and empires. In the past military strength was the only “balancing factor” or the determinant of supremacy. no doubt, military strength is important today as well but other factors such as ideological stability, economic strength, political influence are also gaining significance.

Multipolar to unipolar:

World war 1: whenever a country tends to pursue its imperialist designs to expand its sphere, it faces opposite from force or allied forces. Same was the case in the past. 20th century was the excellent example of the time when many strong forces had clash of interest leading to world war 1. Till then, u.s had followed an isolationst policy. But in 1917, it attacked germany, defeating it and established its foothold in the international world.

World war 2: the deadly war ended up with the use of deadly weapons. Both u.s and u.s.s.r had fought as allies in the war and both had become strong. Each wanted to establish its supremacy and the clash of interest led to the cold war, an era marked by bipolar world order.the cold war dominated the end of the twentieth century. In 1991, disintegration of u.s.s.r with the fall of berlin, made u.s the unofficial leader of the world. The then president of u.s, George bush coined the term “new world order” which was essentially a unipolar world.

u.s hegemony
Richard Nixon, the former u.s president delineated in his book “in the arena”, factors that determine the clout of a country, namely military strength, economic power, commonality of interest, state craft, political stability, ideological appeal.
u.s has enjoyed an unchallenged status of a superpower in the last two decades due to its supremacy over all the nations in the abovementioned elements. berzenski, former NSA said

“u.s hegemony is great but its depth is shallow due to domestic and external factors”

a) Economic giant: u.s has a GDP of 15.1 trillion dollars. It has the largest economy of the world unsurpassed by any single country.

B) military strength: the military strength of u.s is unmatched. It has 1.4 million active army personnel. Its combat forces comprise of fighter planes, carrier ships. It has tests antiballistic missile shield capacity.

c) ideological leader: u.s has led all the countries of the world to follow democratic norms. It was with this objective that league of nations after world war 1 and u.n after world war 2 was established.

d) commonality of interest: u.s has commonality of interest with all the major countries of the world. The fact, however, is that it does not enjoy absolute influence in the matter as a result of emerging china, resurging Russia, and regional powers iran and Venezuela.

End to the u.s hegemony:

Although, it is a fact that u.s is the single most strong country of the time. But it is believed that other countries are determined to surpass it in the changing paradigms. The emergence of new powers is natural, u.s could have maintained an unchallenged status but its policies have greatly undermined it. U.s has adopted a unilateral approach instead of a multilateral approach which will ultimately challenge its status as the super power.

a) Energy crises: energy is the life blood of any economy. No country can develop and even sustain its industrial sector without energy. This has led to a competition amongst the countries for the availability of cheap energy resources. In the 21st century, foreign policy of a country is determined by its energy demands. However, in the pursuit of energy resources, u.s has adopted a confrontational strategy. The invasion of Iraq was an episode of the strategy.

b) U.s invasion of Iraq: the invasion of Iraq has dealt a severe blow to u.s in terms of all resources, human and financial. As of 2000, u.s had a surplus of 100 billion dollars, however after 2007, it had a financial deficit of 700 billion dollars and in 2011, it further increased to 800 billion dollars. These figures indicate that u.s is in no position to pursue further wars unilaterally. In addition, the inability of the u.s to get approval of unsc on invasion of Iraq has left a blemish on the u.s reputation. U.s and u.k have been alienated by their western allies, france and germany and super powers china and Russia.

c) Democratic hypocricy: u.s pledges to be a strong supporter of democracy and democratic norms. However, this is only in theory. It’s policy in foreign relations is determined by its imperialist and financial interests. particularly, u.s relationship with the arab countries of the middle east has exposed the hollowness of its ideology.

Emerging multipolar world:

u.s has dominated the world scenario in the aftermath of the cold war. Nevertheless, it is believed that its position is set to be toppled by emerging powers, Russia, china, japan. Eu etc.

a) economic factors: although u.s is the largest economy of the world, japan has greater per capita income than u.s . u.s has a financial deficit of 800 billion dollars whereas china has a surplus of 150 billion dollars annually. Recent economic shut down of October 2013 has also inflicted a loss of billions to the economy. At the same time, china has a pursued a consistent GDP growth rate of 9.5 % in the past decade. Russia’s economy has tripled following the increase in oil and natural gas prices. According to a financial analyst hass,

“ u.s economy accopunts to 25% of the world total, but it is set to decline as it does not reveal the real and projected differential of u.s economy and asian giants”

b) military strength: no doubt, u.s has a great military strength, but it is not assuradelly marked in contrast to other powers, e.u in one hand and communist countries on the other. All the major powers of the world are nuclear states. China has directly tested “anti satellite missile” and “cruise killer”. Likewise, Russia claims to have developed and tested its antiballistic missile shield capacity in the cold war.

c) Political influence: the political influence of u.s has been seriously challenged by iran and north korea. In addition, the latest Syrian crises, in which china and Russia have intervened and prevented a war also indicates the declining strength of the u.s.

Emerging world powers:

It is believed that world is heading towards a multipolar political system where, power will not be concentrated in the hands of a few but several countries. All the countries with any specific distinction will be involved in international affairs. Besides u.s,japan, china, e.u, india will have economic power. Nevertheless, Saudi arabia, iran middle eastern countries will enjoy appeal due to the richness of resources. Russia will enjoy strength for both the factors. A number of countries will become prominent due to their geostrategic location namely Pakistan, turkey, Ukraine, central asian countries as they are in the link routes of the energy passage. Organizations like u.n and even regional organizations saarc, asean eu, sco will also become energy centres.

Critical analysis: u.s has been the uncrowned king in the past few decades due to its military capability, economic strength, ideological appeal. But it is believed that its faulty policies and the natural process of emergence of new energy centres is set to topple the supremacy of u.s