Class 12 Political Science
Chapter 3 US Hegemony in World Politics
TEXTBOOK QUESTIONS
SOLVED
1. Which among the
following statements
about hegemony is incorrect?
(a) The word implies the leadership or predominance of one State.
(b) It was used to denote the predominance of Athens in ancient Greece.
(c) The country having hegemonic position will possess unchallenged
military power.
(d) Hegemonic position is fixed. Once a hegemon, always a hegemon.
Answer: (d) Hegemonic position is fixed. Once a hegemon,
always a hegemon.2. Which among the following statements is wrong about
the contemporary world order?
(a) There is an absence of world government, which could regulate the
State’s behaviour.
(b) The US is the predominant player in world affairs.
(c) States are using force against one another.
(d) States, which violate international law, are severely punished by
the UN.
Answer: (c) States are using force against one another.
3. Which among the
following statements is wrong with regard to Operation Iraqi Freedom?
(a) More than forty countries joined in the US led coalition of the
willing to invade Iraq.
(b) The reason given for invading Iraq was to prevent it from
developing weapons of mass destruction.
(c) The action was taken with the prior approval of the UN.
(d) The US-led coalition did not face major resistance from Iraqi
forces.
Answer: (c) The action was taken with the prior approval
of the UN.
4. Give an example
each of the three types of hegemony that are dealt within the chapter. Do not
cite examples that are in the chapter.
Answer: 1. Hegemony as Hard Power:
Tabasum was an artist living in Nigeria and was planning to join Art and Craft
Academy to give proficiency to her artistic aptitude. But she lost her leg in
2003 missile attack by the US. After she overcame it, she made efforts to
achieve and fulfill her dreams if the foreign armies leave her country.
2. Hegemony as Structural Power: Tabish is very good in his studies in the
countryside of Middle East Asia and is planning to study subjects from Arts
stream to accommodate himself in different aspects as per requirements. But
parents want him to be a master in computers to become Software Engineer due to
flair for job opportunities in the same.
3. Hegemony as Soft Power: Mayank is a young and energetic man of Melbourne,
immigrants from Russia. His father gets upset when he puts on black shirt with
white jeans while he goes to church. He justifies that black colour signifies
protest for freedom and white signifies freedom in a peaceful manner.
5. Mention three
ways in which US dominance since the Cold War is different from its position as
a superpower during the Cold War.
Answer: 1. During Cold War, the US found it difficult to
win over the Soviet Union as hard power due to retaliating capacity of the
Soviet Union and to protest world from large scale destruction. But in the
areas of structural and soft power, the US dominated.
2. During Cold War years, the Soviet Union provided an alternate model of
socialist economy to maximise welfare of states. Still the world economy
throughout the Cold War years adapted capitalist economy under the US.
3. In the area of soft power, the US became triumphant. As the example of blue
jeans shows that the US could engineer a generational gap even in Soviet
Society on culture basis.
6. Match the
following:
Answer:(i)-(c); (ti)-(a); (iii)—(d); (iv)-(b)
7. what are the
constraints on American hegemony today? Which one of these do you expect to get
more important in the future?
Answer. “We can identify three constraints on American
Power” which were actually not in operation in the years following 9/11. Hence
the US could establish its hegemony. Recently all these constraints are slowly
beginning to operate in the following ways:
1. The US bears institutional architecture in the American State itself. It
refers division of powers between the three branches of government where
American military’s executive branch can place significant brakes upon the
unrestrained and immoderate exercise.
2. The second constraint on American hegemony emerges from open nature of
American society. American society and suffering from a deep skepticism towards
purposes and methods of government in America despite an imposition of particular
perspectives on domestic opinion in the US. This is a huge constraint on US
military action overseas.
3. The third constraint on US hegemony is the possession of NATO to moderate
the exercise of the US hegemony today. The US has an enormous interest in
keeping the alliance of democracies to follow the market economies alive and it
may be possible to its allies in NATO to moderate the exercise of the US
hegemony through their own liberal policies to fulfill their own ends.
8. Read the three
extracts in the chapter from Lok Sabha debate on the Indo-US deal. Develop any
one of these into a full speech defending a certain position on Indo-US
relations.
Answer: The following speech has been developed based on
the excerpts from Lok Sabha debate as presented by Major General (Retired) B.C.
Khanduri of BJP:
Sir, I would respectfully draw the attention of august house towards the US
hegemony in today’s scenario. But we should not ignore the fact that India
might be next waiting in the wings to perform as a superpower to maintain its
own identity. Moreover, hegemony can not stand forever due to its weaknesses.
Therefore, we are supposed to have a good and harmonious relations with that of
the US for mutual promotion of trade and technology. But India should not compromise
from the same on the cost of its own security and identity.
Hence, India should work in a diplomatic manner while it thinks to go
hand-in¬hand the US in such a manner that India could extract best benefits
from the US hegemony and find out mutual options for itself.
Thanks.
9. “If big and
resourceful states cannot resist the US hegemony, it is unrealistic to expect
much smaller and weaker non-state actors to offer any resistance”. Examine this
proposition and give your opinion.
Answer. This proposition focuses only on, the powers of
the state and believes that only big and resourceful states can challenge the
US hegemony which it approaches right in a practical manner, but if we think
deeply these are thoughts and pens of writers, expressions of artists, media
and intellectuals who have no boundaries including hegemony itself to be
criticised and resisted in the form of non-government organisations (NGOs),
social movements and public opinion. Hence, non-state actors may challenge the
US hegemony also in their own way and it can work out also.
MORE
QUESTIONS SOLVED
Very Short Answer
Type Questions [1 Mark]
l.What is meant by ‘Hegemon/?
Answer: The term ‘Hegemony’ stands for an international
system which is dominated by a sole superpower or hyper-power. The collapse of
the Soviet Union left the world with only one single power, the United States
of America.
2. What was first
Gulf War?
Answer: A massive coalition force of 660,000 troops from
34 countries faught against
Iraq and defeated it in what came to be known as the First Gulf War.
3. What was
‘Operation Iraqi’ Freedom?
Answer: On 19 March 2003, the US launched its invasion of
Iraqi under the codename ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’. More than 40 other
countries joined in the US coalition of the willing after the UN refused to
give its mandate to the invasion.
4. What is meant
by hegemony?
Answer: Hegemony is an international system to dominate
world by only one superpower.
5. First Gulf War
was fought against in which troops from countries fought.
Answer: Iraq, 34 countries.
6. What does the
term ‘hegemony’ imply?
Answer: The word ‘hegemony’ implies the dominance of one
state means world power in the form of military dominance, economic power,
political clout and cultural superiority.
7. What is meant
by 9/11 in the context of USA?
Answer: 9/11 denotes a series of attacks on the US by
hijackers from Arab countries on 11 Sep 2001. It was the most disastrous attack
on the US.
8. What is the New
World Order?
Answer: The sudden collapse of Soviet Union led to the
New World Order in the form of the US hegemony.
9. What is World
Politics?
Answer: World Politics refers to distribution of power
among the countries of the world. These countries are engaged to gain and
retain power by their capabilities.
10. Mention the
period of beginning of US hegemony.
Answer: 1991.
11. Name the
elected president of the USA in the year 1992 and 1996.
Answer: William Jefferson Bill Clinton.
12. What was the
focus of foreign policy of Bill Clinton?
Answer: The Clinton government tended to focus on ‘Soft
issues’ like democracy promotion, climate change and world trade rather than on
the hard politics of military power.
13. What was
Guantanamo Bay?
Answer: A naval base in Cuba set up by the US where
prisoners forbidden of the protection of international law or law of their own
country or that of the US.
14. Mention any
two constraints operated in the US hegemony.
Answer: Two constraints operated in the US hegemony are
institutional architecture of American state (division of power) and open
nature of American Society.
15. What are
Global Public Goods?
Answer: Goods that can be consumed by people without
reducing the amount of available goods for others are known as the global
public goods.
Examples: Fresh air, roads, sea-lanes of communications (SLoCs).
16. What is SLoCs?
Answer: SLoCs stands for Sea Lanes of Communications. It
is the naval power of hegemon that underwrites the law of the sea and ensures
freedom of navigation in international water.
17. What is the
full form of WMD?
Answer: WMD stands for Weapons of Mass Destruction.
18. What is meant
by hegemony as hard power?
Answer. Hegemony as hard power implies dominance of
superpower on ground of military power.
19. What is meant
by hegemony as structural power?
Answer: Hegemony as structural power implies dominance of
superpower on grounds of economic structure. The superpower must possess both
the ability and the desire to establish norms for order and must sustain the
global structure.
Very Short Answer
Type Questions [2 Marks]
1. When and why did the New World Order begin?
Answer: The New World Order began in 1991 after the
collapse of Soviet Union. The world was left only with single superpower the US
and came to be known as the US Hegemony to show the superiority of its military
power. The US hegemony also shaped the world economy and emerged in the form of
military domination, economic order, political clout and cultural superiority.
2. Why did US
launch a war against Iraq?
Answer: On 19 March 2003, the US launched a war against Iraq
under the codename of ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’ to be joined by forty other
countries under the leadership of the US on the ground to prevent Iraq from
developing weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) without no evidence against Iraq.
Hence, the ostensible purposes were different as controlling Iraqi Oilfields
and installing a regime friendly to the US.
3. How was Kuwait
liberated from Iraq in 1990?
Answer: In August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait rapidly
occupying and subsequently annexing it. All diplomatic attempts were a failure
in convincing Iraq to quit its aggression. The United Nations took a dramatic
decision to mandate the liberation of Kuwait by force. A massive coalition
force of 66,000 troops from 34 countries fought against Iraq and defeated it, known
as the First Gulf War also.
4. What was
‘Operation Infinite Reach’ ordered by President Clinton?
Answer: Operation Infinite Reach was a series of cruise
missile strikes on Al-Qaeda terrorist targets in Sudan and Afghanistan. For
this, the US did not bother of any international law. This operation was
ordered by President Clinton in response to bombing of the US embassies in
Narobi, Kenya, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania in 1998.
5. What was
Operation Enduring Freedom?
Answer: Operation Enduring Freedom was the US response
against 9/11 attack to arrest all those who were suspected to be behind the
attack, mainly Al-Qaeda and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The US arrested
the persons all over the world often without the knowledge of government of the
person being arrested, transported them and detained in secret prisons.
6. How can
hegemony be overcome?
Answer: To overcome hegemony there are different
strategies developed by analysts. As the bandwagon strategy reveals to extract
benefits by operating within hegemonic system. ‘To hide’ strategy implies
staying as far from the dominant power as possible. And it may be possible that
various challenges to occur from non-state actors in the form of their
writings, expressions to mould the minds of people.
7. “The US did not
start behaving like a hegemonic power right from 1991, it became clear much
later that world was living in fact in a period of hegemony”. Examine the
statement.
Answer: The US hegemony was the beginning of New World
Order and process for its establishment had been started in August 1990 when
Iraq invaded Kuwait and occupied it to make a part of Iraq. Despite UN’s
diplomatic attempts to liberate Kuwait from Iraq, it was not liberated. Hence
UN mandated liberation of Kuwait by force, a dramatic decision. A massive
coalition force of 660,000 troops from 34 countries fought against Iraq and
defeated it under UN’s ‘Operation Desert Storm’. But it was led by the US
because 75 per cent of the coalition forces were from the US only. This war is
popularly known as the First Gulf War establishing the US hegemony.
8. With reference
to Iraq invasion, mention the American weaknesses.
Answer: Imperial powers have used military forces to
accomplish only four tasks to conquer, deter, punish and police in a historical
perspective. As the Iraq invasion shows American capacity to conquer is
formidable and capability to deter and to punish is self evident. American
weakness has been revealed in performing fourth task i.e. the policing in an
occupied territory.
9. What was 9/11
event? How did the US respond to it?
Answer: 9/11 event implies a series of attacks on the US
by hijackers from Arab countries on 11 September 2001. It was the most
disastrous attack on the US. The hijackers attacked on important US building as
World Trade Centre in New York, Pentagon building and Capital building of US
Congress in Pennsylvania.
The US responded to it by launching ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ to arrest all
those who were suspected to be behind this attack. The US forces made arrest
all over the world without the knowledge of the government of the persons being
arrested, transported and detained them in secret prisons mainly against
Al-Qaeda and Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
10. “The US
hegemony does not dominate the world only as hard and structural power but as a
soft power also.” Justify the statement.
Answer: The US hegemony does not dominate the world only
as militarily and economically but it has the capacity to create ‘manufacturing
consent’ from the rest of the world in the cultural dimensions also. The
cultural dimension implies class ascendancy in the social, political and
ideological spheres where the ideas of ‘good life’ are flourished. Its most
appealing example is of‘blue jeans’ from the US, which had the capacity to
engineer even as generational divide.
Short Answer Type
Questions [4 Marks]
1. How far is it correctly say that the 9/11 attack on the World Trade
Centre was the attack on the US hegemony? Explain.
Answer: The US had established its hegemony through the
launch of two operations namely ‘Operation Desert Storm’ where 75 per cent of
the coalition forces were from the US and ‘Operation Infinite Reach’, a series
of Cruise missile strikes on Al-Qaeda. These operations made the US more
confident of the establishment of the US hegemony that no one could dare to
challenge the US. But, suddenly hijackers from Arab countries attacked on the
World Trade Centre on 11 September 2001 alongwith the other important buildings
also as Pentagon building (the US defence department) and the capital building
of US the Congress. It was the most severe attack on the US soil since the
founding of the country in 1776.
Thus, it can be concluded that the 9/11 attack was the attack on US hegemony
which challenged the US in its own way.
2. Describe any
two constraints of American hegemony.
Answer: The US domination in military, economic, cultural
aspects over other nations to show her supremacy is known as US hegemony.
Its constraints are as follows-
1. The institutional architecture of American State itself i.e. they follow the
system of division of powers between three organs of government.
2. The open nature of American Society and Political Culture i.e. the American
mass media may promote a particular issue on domestic public opinion but never
opposed the purposes and methods of government in American Political Culture.
3. What military
actions were taken by Clinton government despite their lack of interest were
different from military power?
Answer: The US President William Jefferson Bill Clinton
believed in the policy of soft issues like democracy promotion, climate change
and the world trade in place of military dominance. But the US revealed its
military dominance even during the Clinton era wherever it was required by the
US in the following manner:
1. In 1999, the US responded.to Yugoslavian action against the predominant
Albanian population in the province of Kosovo. The NATO air force countries
under the US leadership bombarded targets around Yugoslavia for two months
forcing the downfall of the government of Slobodan Milosevic and the stationary
of NATO force in Kosovo.
2. In 1998, the US launched an ‘Operation Infinite Reach’ a series of cruise
missile strikes on Al-Qaeda terrorist targets in Sudan and Afghanistan in
response to the bombings of US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, Dar-es- Salaam and
Tanzania.
4, Explain the
hegemony of the United States of America as a structural power.
Answer: Hegemony as a structural power implies economic
perspective of world economy. It can be summed up in the following ways:
1. An open world economy requires a dominant power to support its creation and
existence.
2. The hegemon must possess both the ability and the desire to establish
certain norms for order and must sustain global structure i.e. Bretton Woods
system set up by the US after Second World Wan
3. The US reflects this hegemony by providing the global public goods, those
can be consumed by one person without reducing the amount of goods available
for someone else.
4. A classical example of structural power of the US is the academic degree
Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) to sharpen business skills in a
University.
5. “Economic
preponderance of the US is inseparable from its structural power”. Discuss.
Answer: Economic preponderance of the US is inseparable
from its structural power, it can be justified in the following manner:
1. The hegemon shapes the basic global economy in a particular manner aS
the US provided the Bretton Woods system after Second World War.
2. We can regard the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the
World Trade Organisation (WTO) as the products of American hegemony.
6. In reference of
structural power mention the global public goods by which the US established
its hegemony?
Answer: The global public goods can be consumed by one
person without reducing the amount of the goods available for someone else:
1. Sea lanes of communications (SLoCs) is the naval power of the hegemon to
underwrite the law of the sea and to ensure freedom of navigational international
waters. These sea routes are commonly used by merchant ships.
2. Internet is the direct outcome of a US military research project that began
in 1950. Even today, internet relies on a global network of satellites.
7. How does India
maintain its relations with the US during post Cold War?
Answer: After the collapse of Soviet Union India decided
to liberalise its economy and integrate it with global economy. India’s
impressive economic growth rate made India an attractive economic partner for
the US due to its technological dimensions and the role of Indian- American
diaspora. These two factors are interrelated in the following ways:
1. The US absorbs about 65 per cent of India’s total exports in the software
sector.
2. 35 per cent of the technical staff of Boeing is estimated to be of Indian
origin.
3. 300,000 Indians work in Silicon Valley.
4. 15 per cent of all high-tech start ups are by Indian-Americans.
8. Explain the
strategies which, may be performed by India to maintain Indo-US relations.
Answer: In today’s scenario India is supposed to decide
what type of relations to have with the US. Moreover, the three strategies have
been debated by Indian analysts:
1. Indian analysts observed military nature of US hegemony and suggested that
India should maintain its aloofness from Washington and focus upon increasing
its own comprehensive national power.
2. The analysts secondly suggest that India should take advantage of the US
hegemony and the mutual convergences to establish the best possible options for
itself in future perspective.
3. The third strategy is suggested that India should lead in establishing a
coalition from the developing countries to become powerful and work out in
weaning the hegemon away from its dominating ways. Moreover, it cannot be
concluded that India may opt for one strategy to maintain Indo-US relations,
but it needs a mix of strategies to maintain its own identity.
Passage Based
Questions [5 Marks]
1. Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions:
During the Cold War years, India found itself on the opposite side of
the divide from the US. India’s closest friendship during those years was with
the Soviet Union. After the collapse of Soviet Union, India suddenly found
itself friendless in an increasingly hostile international environment.
However, these were also the years when India decided to liberalise its economy
and integrate it with the global economy. This policy and India’s impressive
economic growth rate made the country an attractive economic partner for a
number of countries including the US.
Questions
1. Name the country which was India’s closest friend during Cold War
years.
2. What was India’s policy during post Cold War years?
3. What made India an attractive economic partner for the countries
like the US?
Answer:
1. Soviet Union.
2. India decided to liberalise its economy and integrate it with global
economy.
3. India’s policy of liberalisation and its impressive economic growth rate.
2. Read the following passage (NCERT Textbook, page 47) carefully and answer
the questions:
Some people argue that it is strategically more prudent to take advantage of
the opportunities that hegemony creates. For instance, raising economic growth
rates requires increased trade, technology transfers and investment, which are
best acquired by working with rather than against the hegemon. Thus, it is
suggested that instead of engaging in activities opposed to hegemonic power, it
may be advisable to extract benefits by operating within the hegemonic system.
This is called the bandwagon strategy.
Questions
1. What is prudent during a period of hegemony?
2. What benefits can be acquired within the hegemonic system?
3. What is the bandwagon strategy?
Answer:
1. To take advantage of opportunities that a hegemon creates.
2. Increased trade, technology transfers and investment.
3. To extract benefits by operating within hegemonic system in place of being
engaged in the opposed activities.
Long Answer Type
Questions [6 Marks]
1. Examine any three factors responsible for the US hegemony in the
world politics.
Answer: Three factors responsible for the US hegemony in
the world politics are
(i) The US power lies in the overwhelming superiority of its military power.
American military dominance today is both absolute and relative. In absolute
terms, the US today has military capabilities that can reach any point on the
planet accurately, lethally and in real time, thereby crippling the adversary
while its own forces are sheltered to the maximum extent possible from the
dangers of war.
(ii) No other power today can remotely match them. The US today spends
more on its military capability than the next 12 powers combined. Further more,
a large chunk of the Pentagon’s budget goes into military research and
development, or, in other words, technology. Thus, the military dominance of
the US is not just based on higher military spending, but on a qualitative gap,
a technological chasm that no other power can at present conceivably span.
(iii) The US invasion of Iraq shows that the American capacity to conquer is
formidable. Similarly the US capability to deter and to punish is self-evident.
More than forty countries joined in the US-led ‘coalition of the willing’ after
the UN refused to give its mandate to theinvasion. Thus, no country can deny
the US superiority in the world politics.
2. Explain the
three types of US hegemony and give examples for each.
Answer: GO Hegemony as Hard Power:
(a) This hegemony signifies military status of America to be both absolute and
relative. In absolute terms, it has military capabilities to reach any point on
the Planet accurately and no other power today can remotely match them.
(b) The US military dominance is based on both the higher military expenditure
and on a qualitative gap i.e. technological know-how.
(ii) Hegemony as Structural Power:
(a) It signifies ‘Economic Prospects’ of hegemon power to possess both the
ability and the desire to establish certain norms for order and sustain global
structure even including goods to be consumed by one person without reducing
the amount of goods available for someone else.
(b) A classical example is academic
degree MBA (Masters in Business Administration) to presume business as a
profession to be dependent upon skills that can be taught in a University which
is uniquely American.
(iii) Hegemony as Soft Power:
(a) US Hegemony has its cultural dimensions also which implies class ascendancy
in social, political and particularly ideological spheres to shape the
behaviour of competing and lesser powers.Here, the consent goes hand in and
more effective than coercion.
(b) For example, most of the dreams of individuals and societies across the
globe, are dreams churned out by practices prevailing in twentieth—century
America. All these are about the capacity to manufacture consent.
3. What are
different natures of hegemony? Explain.
Answer: Hegemony is an international system to dominate
world by only one superpower. The natures of hegemony can be found out as
follows:
(i) Hegemony as Hard Power:
(a) It is based on the military capability between the states.
(b) The US military dominance is based on their higher expenditures on military
as well as the technological know-how.
(c) The US bears military dominance in both the terms i.e. absolute and
relative. In absolute terms the US military capabilities can reach any point on
the planet and no other power can be a match to them.
(ii) Hegemony as Structural Power:
(a) It is based on economic factors of the world dominated by the hegemonic
power.
(b) Hegemony must sustain global structure to establish certain norms for order
and the US has set up Bretton Woods System.
(c) The US hegemony has provided the global public goods to be consumed by one
person without reducing the amount available for someone else as SLoCs and the
Internet, MBA degree.
(iii) Hegemony as Soft Power:
(a) To dominate world even in reference of cultural dimensions i.e. class
ascendancy in social, political and ideological spheres.
(b) The US hegemony has the capacity to create ‘manufacturing consent’ by the
class to be dominated by the hegemon.
(c) The ‘blue jeans’ from the US is capable to engineer even a generational
divide.
4. How can the US
hegemony be checked?
Or
How long will hegemony last? How do we get beyond hegemony?
Answer: (i) The US hegemony has been symbolised as the
global village and other countries as its neighbours.
(ii) If the headman of global village becomes intolerable, neighbours do not
have any choice of leaving it, but develop a resistant.
(iii) Though there are some rules and norms called laws of war that restrict
but do not prohibit war.
(iv) No single power can challenge the US militarily.
Still, to overcome the US hegemony, the following strategies have been found
out: (a) Bandwagon strategy emphasises not to oppose hegemonic power, instead
take advantage of opportunities that hegemon creates i.e. increased trade and
technology transfer and investments to extract benefits by operating within
hegemonic system. (.b) To hide strategy implies to stay as far removed from the
dominant power as possible as China, Russia and the European Union. This
strategy is applicable to small states but states may not be able to hide for
substantial length of time.
(c) Non-state actors as writers, artists and intellectuals have no boundaries
to work with. They can reach beyond the limits of the states to mould the minds
of people through their expressions.
5. What is meant
by Operation Iraqi Freedom? Mention its main and hidden objectives. Give any
two consequences of this operation.
Answer: Operation Iraqi Freedom was the code name given
by the US to launch invasion on 19 March 2003. More than 40 countries joined in
the US led coalition of the willing after the UN refused to give its mandate to
the invasion.
Main Objective: To prevent Iraq from developing Weapons of Mass Destructions
(WMD). Since no evidence of WMD has been unearthed in Iraq. Hidden Objective:
It was motivated by controlling Iraqi Oilfields and installing a regime
friendly to the US. Consequences of this Operation
1. Although the government of Saddam Hussein fell swiftly but US has not been
able to pacify Iraq.
2. A fully fledged insurgency against US occupation was ignited in. Iraq.
3. Conservatively estimated that 50,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since
the US-led invasion.
4. It is widely recognised that the US invasion of Iraq was, in some crucial
respects, both a military and political failure.
