American Hegemony and the Prospects for Peace

Reinhold Niebuhr
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Reinhold Niebuhr: New York City, New York

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1962, vol. 342, issue 1, 154-160

Abstract: The problems of a tolerable and enduring peace under the circumstances of tentative peace through balance of terror are political. The contest of power is between two blocs, each built around a hegemonic nation of imperial tech nological, economic, and military strength. Democracy may be a necessity of justice, but the authoritarian oligarchy of the Soviet Union changed a backward and feudal Russia into a technically competent modern state, a material revolution which the poorer nations of the world desire for themselves. Democracy is not uniformly relevant everywhere; depending upon cultural and economic variables, compounds of democracy and dictatorship are inevitable. The United States must learn the difference between reversible nondemocratic regimes and regimes irreversible because theirs is a fanatic communism. Although of imperial size and strength, the United States has a strong tradition of anti-imperialism, attributing imperialism to monarchy. The Soviet Union uses the charge of imperialism as a weapon against the West, attributing imperialism to capitalism. The creative aspects of imperialism are not ap preciated by either side. In terms of peace, some decisions are not for either the United States or the Soviet Union, the heg emonic nations, to make. Unpredicted and unpredictable emergencies arise in the course of history. One can only affirm that the defense of an open society is not futile and that the burden of the defense will ennoble rather than corrupt the culture that bears it.—Ed.

Date: 1962
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:342:y:1962:i:1:p:154-160

DOI: 10.1177/000271626234200118

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