Devoir de Philosophie

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE US WORLD-SYSTEM

Publié le 22/01/2012

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After the two world wars, which cause the decline of Europe, the US world-system starts, thanks to winning of the war. It substitute to UK world economy, so we can see that Europe isn't controlling the world any longer. 

What are the characteristics of the US world-system ?

We'll study first the big power of US, then the expansion of this power and finally we'll see the limits of this world-power.

In order to answer this question we've got three documents representing the characteristics of US world-system that are firstly a map of the the US world-system during the second half of the 20th century, a graph of the share of world GDP (gross domestic product) from 1850 to 2010 for China, India, USA, European Union and other countries coming from Angus Maddison, standard Chartered Research, and finally the Time Magazine cover of May 15 1950 representing the emblem of the brand Coca cola feeding the world. 

« can see on the map, the Communist states don't follow any financial or military influence of US, and their big territory is even a big opposition and threat for US hegemony.

And later, the emerging markets such as Asia would establish a “world economy” as says the French Fernand Braudel “économie monde”, mostly controlled by Europe, USA and Asia.

The table (source 2) shows that the world GDP, from 1850 to 2010 is more and more split between all the countries, as in 2010 the c ategory “other countries” is around 40% in the share of the world GDP.

As a result we can say that here are the limits to US hegemony.

As a result we can say that although USA are a great world system based on its advantages (territory and populati on), on its financial power (the “world Bank”) and its influence on all the other countries in the world, there is still limits caused by its opponents and rivals (Communist sates or Asia), which would, in the 70's, cause the decline of US world -system.. »

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