Foreign Policy of the United States and US Rise to Hegemony

Abstract

In today’s competitive international arena, it is widely known that the United States (US) is at the top of the world’s hierarchy of power. The US emerged preeminent from the II World War and ever since, the country is predominant in world’s economic, political, technological and military sectors. Though the Soviet Union posed a substantial threat to the preponderance of the US during the Cold War, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the US rose to power as the undisputed hegemon in the international order. In its relations with other actors in the international system, the US utilizes its foreign policy to achieve its national interests as well as secure its hegemonic ambitions. The objective of the study is to analyze the US foreign policy and identify the causes and circumstances that led to the hegemony of the US. This study is mainly based on secondary data such as books, articles, newspapers, journals and the World Wide Web is also used as an important research tool. The analysis of the data and information collected is done in a theoretical perspective using hegemonic stability theory and cycles of hegemony and war theory. As per the study, the US foreign policy during the II World War, decline of Britain’s power, post-II World War and Cold War policies of the US and the disintegration of the Soviet Union paved the way for US hegemony in the world order.