Amerika između imperije i hegemonije, između
globalne dominacije i globalnog vođstva
Сједињене Америчке
Државе као светска
империја
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Empires, more than nation-states, are the
principal actors in the history of world events.
Much of what we call history consists of the
deeds of the 50 to 70 empires that once ruled
multiple peoples across large chunks of the
globe.
Officially, there are no empires now, only
190- plus nation-states. Yet the ghosts of
empires past continue to stalk the Earth.
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“Imperije su oblici političke kontrole nad efektivnim suverenitetom nekih
političkih društava koje im nameću druga politička društva” (Majkl Dojl)
Sve imperije koje su tokom vekova uspostavljene imale su tri zajednička obeležja:
jedno se očituje u podređivanju, svaka imperija je nejednak odnos, pri čemu je
jedna strana superiorna a druga inferiorna. Drugo se ogleda u prinudi. Iako veliki
broj imperija uključuje i saradnju, katkad ekstenzivnu saradnju između onih koji
vladaju i onih kojima se vlada, iza toga odnosa uvek stoji pretnja silom, koja se
katkad i realizuje, od strane imperije u cilju održavanja vlastite kontrole. Treće
određujuće obeležje sastoji se u etničkoj, religioznoj ili rasnoj razlici – ili u nekoj
njihovoj kombinaciji – izemđu imperijalne sile i društva koje ona kontroliše.
Imperija je oblik diktature, ali osobenog tipa: diktature koju sprovode stranci?
Pojam “vlada” koji potiče od grčke reči za krmaniti, stariji je nego termin imperija
koji se izvodi iz latinske reči “komandovati”… Vlada je opštiji pojam; imperija je
samo jedna od mnogih oblika vladavine. (Majkl Mandelbaum)
Naglasak na kvalitetu odnosa između političkih jedinica a ne samo na kvantitetu.
Imperija može biti i regionalna po svom obimu
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“Empire is the rule exercised by one nation
over others both to regulate their external
behavior and to ensure minimally acceptable
forms of internal behavior within the
subordinate states. Merely powerful states do
the former, but not the latter.” (Stephen Peter
Rosen)
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The central--one may say the necessary but not sufficient--imperial task is
the creation and management of a hierarchical interstate order.
From that key task of regulating the external behavior of other states
proceeds the imperial problems of maintaining a monopoly on the use of
organized military power, and of using its monopolistic but still finite
military power efficiently--a problem captured in the military concept of
"economy of force."
But an empire must also ensure the security and internal stability of its
constituent parts, extract revenue to pay the costs of empire, and
assimilate the elites of non-imperial societies to the metropolitan core,
tasks that presuppose influence over the internal affairs of other societies.
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Today, the picture for the United States is mixed. It exercises
effective, if less than formal, hierarchical authority in the
Western Hemisphere, in the Asian rimland, on the Arab side
of the Persian Gulf and in the NATO area. At the start of
2003, it was trying to extend its hierarchical interstate order
to the Balkans and Afghanistan, and was preparing to
intervene in the internal affairs of Iraq. China, Russia and
India cooperate opportunistically with the United States, but
have been willing to challenge American dominance when
possible. They certainly reject the right of the United States to
intervene in their internal affairs, and thus remain the major
countries outside the U.S. hierarchical order.
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The organizing principle of interstate relations, Kenneth Waltz famously
wrote, is anarchy: In the absence of an overarching power that creates and
enforces rules for interstate behavior, states help themselves by
"balancing" against other centers of power that could hurt them--either by
building up their own forces or by joining with other states. The
organizing principle of empire rests, in contrast, on the existence of an
overarching power that creates and enforces the principle of hierarchy, but
is not itself bound by such rules. In turn, subordinate states do not build up
their own capabilities or join with others when threatened; they call
instead on the imperial power for assistance. In so doing, they give up a
key component of state sovereignty, which is direct control of their own
security. This condition is the result of two sets of factors: the ability and
willingness of the imperial power to acquire and maintain something close
to a monopoly on the organized use of military power, and the abdication
of states within the empire of responsibility to build their own effective
military capabilities. How does such overarching power come to exist?
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The formation of a monopoly on military power is greatly facilitated by
the decision of other potential powers not to compete. The Roman Empire
effectively had two components, one in the west and one in the east
(centered on Byzantium). As is well known, the eastern empire persisted
long after the sack of Rome in 476 CE. Less well known is the fact that
the internal factors associated with the fall of the Roman Empire--the rise
of Christianity, increasing social rigidity and the bureaucratization of
imperial governance--were just as powerful in the east as they were in the
west. The difference was that there were fewer organized military
challenges in the east, and the one potential challenger to Byzantium, the
Parthian Empire, chose to accept Rome's dominant role.(n3) Similarly, the
British monopoly on seapower began to emerge in the early 18th century,
when French Continental concerns led to the virtual disappearance of the
French battle fleet. The withdrawal of competitors was even more marked
following the wars of the French Revolution, at which time British naval
mastery rested, according to Paul M. Kennedy, on the "simple wish of
other nations not to spend the time or energy to challenge the British.“
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The same phenomenon is at work today. The
American empire did not emerge simply as the result
of the growth of American power, but as a result of
the collapse of Russian power, the decline of
European and Japanese military spending relative to
the United States, and the unwillingness of those
countries to take military action or make military
preparations in response to a host of security
problems. A surprising number of major states are
not now engaging in the self-help that Waltz says is
at the heart of interstate relations, but are relying
instead on the United States for their security.
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The ability of republican Rome to develop military power from a
population of free adult males from Rome and its Italian allies (totaling
approximately 2.75 million men) was the basis of Roman expansion.
From this base it built an army that controlled an imperial population of
approximately fifty million people. Rome's ability to develop more
military power than its rivals rested primarily on the organizational
practices of the Roman Legions, which created a unified and coordinated
fighting force that could routinely defeat opposing armies five times its
size. Drill and discipline produced formations that could withstand
uncoordinated infantry and cavalry attacks mounted by less wellorganized adversaries. The internal divisions and lack of social cohesion
among the rivals of Rome, with the exception of the armies of Hannibal,
created an enduring military advantage that cascaded overtime, for as
Rome's area of control expanded, the population base from which it could
draw military recruits expanded, too.
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The Roman Empire in the West can be dated from 27 B.C.,
when Octavian became Caesar Augustus and emperor in all
but name. It ended when Constantinople was established as a
rival capital with the death of the Emperor Theodosius in 395,
making a total of 422 years.
The Roman Empire in the East can be dated from then until,
at the latest, the sack of Byzantium by the Ottoman Turks in
1453, a total of 1,058 years.
The Holy Roman Empire—the successor to the Western
empire—lasted from 800, when Charlemagne was crowned
emperor of the Romans, until Napoleon ended it in 1806. The
“average” Roman empire therefore lasted 829 years.
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The three Roman empires were uncharacteristically long lived. By
comparison, the average Near Eastern empire (including the Assyrian,
Abassid, and Ottoman) lasted a little more than 400 years; the average
Egyptian and East European empires around 350 years; the average
Chinese empire (subdividing by the principal dynasties) ruled for more
than three centuries. The various Indian, Persian, and West European
empires generally survived for between 200 and 300 years.
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The empires created in the 20th century, by contrast, were comparatively
short. The Bolsheviks’ Soviet Un ion (1922–91) lasted less than 70 years,
a meager record indeed, though one not yet equaled by the People’s
Republic of China. Japan’s colonial empire, which can be dated from the
acquisition of Taiwan in 1895, lasted barely 50 years. Most fleeting of all
modern empires was Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich, which did not extend
beyond its predecessor’s borders before 1938 and had retreated
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Moreover, many of today’s most important states are
still recognizably the progeny of empires. Look at
the Russian Federation, where less than 80 percent
of the population is Russian, or Britain, which is, for
all intents and purposes, an English empire. Modernday Italy and Germany are the products not of
nationalism but of Piemontese and Prussian
expansion.
Today’s world, in short, is as much a world of exempires and ex-colonies as it is a world of nationstates.
The United Stes of America as
country in position of primacy
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The U. S. Position in the current World order is best
understood as one of primacy. The United Stets is
not a global hegemon, because it cannot physically
control the entire globe and thus cannot compel other
states to do whatever it wants… Nonetheless, the
United States is also something more than “first
among equals” …If primacy is defined as being
“first in order, importance or authority” or holding
“first or chief place”, then it is an apt description of
America’s current position.” (Stephen M. Walt)
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Kao posledica rata u Iraku 2003.godine, drugi analitičari opisuju
međunarodni poredak kao Američku svetsku imperiju. Na mnogo načina
metafora o imperiji je privlačna. Američka vojska ima globalni domašaj,
sa bazama širom sveta i njihovim regionalnim komandantima koji
ponekad deluju kao prokonzuli. Engleski je lingua franca kao što je to
svojevremeno bio Latinski jezik. Američka ekonomija je najveća na svetu,
a američka kultura je magnet drugim kulturama. Ipak, pogrešno je
pomešati politiku prvenstva sa politikom imperije. Sjedinjene Američke
Države zasigurno nisu imperija na način na koji mi mislimo o evropskim
prekomorskim imperijama iz devetnaestog i dvadesetog veka, jer je
suštinska osobina takvog imperijalizma bila politička kontrola nad ostalim
delovima planete. Iako odnosi u kojima postoji nejednakost zasigurno
postoje između Sjedinjenih Država i slabijih sila i lako mogu dovesti do
jednog eksploatatorskog odnosa sa američke strane, odsustvo formalne
političke kontrole nad tim državama, čini termin "imperijalna" ne samo
nedovoljno tačnim, nego i potpuno pogrešnim...
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Sjedinjene Američke Države imaju više izvora moći nego što ih je imala
Velika Britanija na vrhuncu svoje imperijalne moći, ali Sjedinjene Države
imaju manje moći u smislu kontrole nad ponašanjem i unutrašnjom
politikom drugih zemalja, nego što je to imala Britanija u doba kada je
vladala četvrtinom Planete. Na primer, škole u Keniji, izbori, proces
donošenja zakona i ubiranje poreza - da ne pominjemo spoljnu politiku
zemlje - bili su pod kontrolom britanskih zvaničnika. U poređenju sa tim,
Sjedinjene Države imaju malo takve kontrole u današnje vreme. Tokom
2003. godine Sjedinjene Države nisu čak uspele da zadobiju glasove
Meksika i Kine za drugu rezoluciju o Iraku u Savetu bezbednosti
Ujedinjenih Nacija. Analitičari imperije odgovaraju da je termin
"imperija" samo metafora. Ipak, problem sa tom metaforom jeste da ona
podrazumeva kontrolu iz Vašingtona koja se teško uklapa sa složenim
načinom na koji je moć u svetu danas raspodeljena...
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U globalnom informatičkom dobu, moć je među državama raspodeljena po
obrascu koji podseća na složenu trodimenzionalnu šahovsku tablu, na kojoj se igra
odvija i horizontalno i vertikalno. Na vrhu šahovske table gde su političko-vojna
pitanja, vojna moć je uglavnom unipolarna sa Sjedinjenim Državama kao jedinom
supersilom, ali u sredini table gde su ekonomska pitanja, Sjedinjene Države nisu
hegemon ili imperija, i moraju da se cenjkaju sa Evropom sa jednakih pozicija
kada Evropa deluje kao ujedinjena celina. Na primer, povodom antimonopolskih
ili pitanja koja se odnose na privredu, one moraju naći kompromis, da bi postigle
sporazum. I na dnu table transnacionalnih odnosa koji prelaze granice van
kontrole vlada država i tako uključuju raznovrsne aktere kao što su bankari i
teroristi, moć se haotično raspršava. Uzmimo kao dodatak pitanjima terorizma
samo nekoliko primera; privatni akteri na globalnom tržištu kapitala ograničavaju
način na koji se kamatne stope mogu koristiti za upravljanje američkom
ekonomijom, a trgovina droge, AIDS, migracija stanovništva, i globalno
zagrevanje koji imaju duboke društvene korene u više od jedne zemlje, izvan su
kontrole američkih vlasti. U takvoj jednoj situaciji čini se da nema baš puno
smisla koristiti tradicionalne termine poput unipolarnost, hegemonija ili imperija s
ciljem da se opišu takvi problemi. (Džozef Naj)
Сједињене Америчке
Државе као светски хегемон
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Americans, in short, don't "do" empire; they do "leadership" instead, or, in
more academic parlance, "hegemony."
According to S. Ryan Johansson, the word "hegemony" was used
originally to describe the relationship of Athens to the other Greek citystates that joined it in an alliance against the Persian Empire. "Hegemony"
in this case "mean[t] that [Athens] organized and directed their combined
efforts without securing permanent political power over the other[s].“
By contrast, according to the "world-system theory" of Immanuel
Wallerstein, "hegemony" means more than mere leadership but less than
outright empire. A hegemonic power is "a state ... able to impose its set of
rules on the interstate system, and thereby create temporarily a new
political order." The hegemon also offers "certain extra advantages for
enterprises located within it or protected by it, advantages not accorded by
the 'market' but obtained through political pressure."
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Yet another, narrower definition is offered by Geoffrey Pigman. Pigman
describes a hegemon's principal function as underwriting a liberal
international trading system that is beneficial to the hegemon but,
paradoxically, even more beneficial to its potential rivals. Pigman traces
this now widely used definition of the word back to the economic
historian Charles Kindleberger's seminal work on the interwar economy,
which describes a kind of "hegemonic interregnum." After 1918,
Kindleberger suggested, the United Kingdom was too weakened by war to
remain an effective hegemon, but the United States was still too inhibited
by protectionism and isolationism to take over the role. This idea, which
became known, somewhat inelegantly, as "hegemonic stability theory,"
was later applied to the post-1945 period by authors such as Arthur Stein,
Susan Strange, Henry Nau, and Joseph Nye.
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The very concept of "hegemony" is really just a way to avoid
talking about empire, "empire" being a word to which most
Americans remain averse. But "empire" has never exclusively
meant direct rule over foreign territories without any political
representation of their inhabitants.
There is an important and now widely accepted distinction
between "formal" and "informal" empire. The British did not
formally govern Argentina, for example, but the merchant
banks of the City of London exerted such a powerful
influence on that country's fiscal and monetary policy that its
independence was heavily qualified.
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“Broadly speaking, two kinds of change can be conceived in
relation to the exercise of power by states in the global
system. The first involves shifts along a dimension from the
highly centralized to the highly diffuse: that is, from a
situation in which the actual and threatened use of force is
carried by out by one political actor to a situation in which
more states participate actively in deterrence and are prepared
to intervene militarily abroad. Of course, it is also
conceivable that the international system will maintain the
current level of centralization for a long time. The second
type of change involves movement along a dimension in
which the exercise of power may become more discretional,
or more constitutionalized. (David Held)
Great Britain and United States: Anglophone
Empires? Comparative analysis
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A century ago, the United Kingdom's formal empire was very large
indeed, covering nearly a quarter of the world's surface and ruling roughly
the same proportion of its population. Today, on the other hand, the United
States' formal empire includes just 14 dependencies (of which the largest
is Puerto Rico) and covers less than 11,0000 square kilometers. A century
ago, the United Kingdom could draw wealth and personnel from the 15
million of its subjects who had settled in the temperate zones of the
empire. Today, by contrast, fewer than four million Americans reside
abroad, and nearly all of them live in Canada, Mexico, or Western Europe.
A century ago, the United Kingdom was a net exporter of capital, on such
a scale that it truly deserved to be called "the world's banker." Today, the
United States is a net importer of capital on almost as large a scale. A
century ago, British leaders could devote the lion's share of their attention
and taxpayers' money to imperial defense and grand strategy, since before
1910, government provided only minimal care for the sick and elderly,
and most of that was local. Today, Washington spends its money on social
security, defense, welfare, and Medicare - in that order.
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Imperial denial in United States
The distinction between hegemony and
Empire would be legitimate if the term
Empire did simply mean, as so many
American commentators seem to assume,
direct rule over foreign territories without any
political representation of their inhabitants.
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With a broader and more sophisticated definition of
empire, it seems possible to dispense altogether with
the term hegemony. Instead, it can be argued with
some plausibility that the American Empire has up
until now, with a few exceptions, preferred indirect
rule to direct rule and informal empire to formal
empire.
Cold War – USA as an “Empire by Invitation”
Да ли Америка може и хоће да буде
светска империја?
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„Tри дефицита“ са којима се Сједињене Америчке Државе данас
суочавају, а све у вези са евентуалним покушајем ове земље да
постану светска империја. Он сматра да Америка „пати“ од
дефицита војних трупа, буџетског дефицита и дефицита пажње
(мисли се на слабу заинтересованост самих Американаца за тако
нешто и за светске послове уопште).
На пример Велика Британија је 1920. године (у време гушења
тадашње побуне у Ираку) имала једног војника на 23 становника
Ирака, данас један војник америчке војске долази на 210 Ирачана.
Проблем није у томе да Американци немају довољан број младих
људи (САД имају већи број становника између 15 и 24. године него
Ирак или Авганистан), већ је проблем у томе, тврди он, да САД
преферирају да ниво својих војних снага држе на нивоу релативно
малог процента становништва.“
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Најал Фергусон, тврди да се због недостатка
воље и капацитета, али и огромних унутрашњих
проблема изазваних пре свега енормним
трошковима око пензионог и социјалног
осигурања (рачуна се да ће у годинама које
долазе), Америка бити „кратка“ за неких 45 000
милијарди долара, колико износи разлика између
оног што треба исплатити у корисницима тих
осигурања и оног што ће бити државни приходи
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Према најновијем истраживању јавног мњења спроведеног од стране
Асошиејтед преса (Associated Press-Ipsos poll), „иако 6 од 10
Американаца подржава Бушове поступке у вези са самим нападом
(мисли се на терористичке нападе од 11. септембра 2001 – прим. Д.
Ж.), половина од њих сматра да су трошкови бробе против тероризма
превисоки, док 6 од 10 испитаника верује да ће рат у Ираку
призвести само још више антиамеричког тероризма... Такође, и Пју
(Pew) истраживање проналази да „већина Американаца верује да
набољи начин да се умањи опасност од терористичких напада на
Сједињене Америчке Државе није да се повећа већ да се смањи
америчко војно присуство у иностранству, што представља оштар
заокрет у односу на слично истраживање из 2002. године.“
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“Немогућ је покушај да се далеке провинције
држе у пoкорности” (Едвард Гибон)
Myth of Empire (Myths of Security Through
Expansion) – OFFENSIVE ADVANTAGE, POWER
SHIFTS, PAPER TIGER ENEMIES,
BANDWAGONS , BIG STICK DIPLOMACY,
FALLING DOMINOES, EL DORADO AND
MANIFEST DESTINY, NO TRADEOFFS, - Jack L.
Snyder
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Nacionalizam kao “rak rana imperija”
Imperije su iščezle zato što su postale preskupe – (Majkl
Mandelbaum)
Hierarchy is usually costly. Dominant states can offer
concessions to induce subordinates to give up their valued
freedom. The Soviet Union rejected this course, at first,
electing to extract resources from Eastern Europe rather than
share its benefits from cooperation. Indeed, by one estimate,
Moscow withdrew nearly $1 billion per year from the region
until 1956. By the late 1950s, however, the flow of resources
reversed, and by the 1980s the Soviet Union was subsidizing
Eastern Europe to a total of about $17 billion per year. (David
Lake)
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“ДЕМОКРАТИЗАЦИЈА НАСИЉА” (Fareed Zakaria)
“Једанаести септембар 2001. био је значајан догађај у
историји политике моћи (Power Politics). Деветнаест
фанатика, од којих нико није имао западно образовање, са
оскудним финансијским средствима, гурнули су
најмоћнију и технолошки најнапреднију светску силу у
панику и довели Планету у стање политичке кризе.
Никада раније толико много бола није било нането тако
моћном мноштву од тако немоћне неколицине. Ту лежи
дилема за једину светску суперсилу: Како се борити са
непријатељем који је физички слаб али који поседује
фанатичну мотивацију.” (Zbigniew Brzezinski)
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Aмерика јесте данас можда неупоредиво најснажнија
сила по својим глобалним досезима, но њена је
територија исто тако много више изложена различитим
изазовима, него што је то био случај са прошлим
империјалним сила,а. А сасвим је вероватно да живот у
несигурности за Американце од сада представља
трајно стање.
Могу ли Американци научити да живе у једном
несигурном свету? (Збигњев Бжежински)
Парадокс америчке моћи – зашто једина светска
суперсила не може сама? (Џозеф Нај)
Може ли се достићи апсолутна безбедност?
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“As we work our way through this seemingly
intractable problem in Iraq, we must constantly
remember that this is not just a troublesome issue
form which we can walk away if it seems too costly
to continue. What is at stake is not only Iraq and the
stability of the Middle East, but the global
perception of the reliability of the United States as a
partner in a deeply troubled world. We cannot afford
to fail this test… And this is why America can’t just
walk away. (Brent Scowcroft, The International
herald Tribune, Thursday, January 4, 2007, p. 6)
However, if the United States was
not an Empire, then what was it?
(Niall Ferguson)
ЛИТЕРАТУРА:
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