STRUCTURES OF MODERN HEGEMONY: THE USA CASESTUDY

Abstract

The present paper is devoted to the study of hegemony as a process of power distribution, which is based on the constant interaction of modes – dynamic characteristics of hegemony. Hegemony was often viewed as a phenomenon or state of political and ethical reality though macrohistorical, world-system and socio-economic studies during the twentieth century showed that hegemony should be considered as a process, i.e. as a whole directed and stable set of relationships (economic, social, political, military, cultural, etc.), which form the normative-value space of both society and forms of political organization, such as empires or modern states.

The article analyzes the hegemony of the United States of America as a modern empire, which is characterized by transnationality, the use of «reasonable power» and the creation of an extensive infrastructure of control and discipline in various spheres of life of both societies and states. The use of structural-functional and world-system approaches has shown that US hegemony consists of four main modes (as further research may reveal other modes): capital, power, power relations, and ideology, which have a specific set of structures with their own content that provide reproduction of hegemony and its further expansion.

It is proved that dollarization of the world, control over the banking system and stock exchanges, constant use of its own military forces and their mobility, control over international associations (both global and local levels), transnationalization of culture, technology and information, production of global trends, transformation of hierarchies of values and globalization processes are components of modern hegemony, its dynamic characteristics and structures that ensure its functionality. The existing structures create a dominant position of the United States in the world, which is reflected in the transformation of normative value systems of different societies, and also serve as a basis for structural and functional metamorphoses in political systems of different countries in the orbit of hegemonic influence.