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The evolution, theory and practice of hegemony
Issue 279
Front Page
Index
Headlines

President Rayale Blocks Release Of 70-Year Old Woman From Prison

Somaliland National Security Committee Violate The Freedom And Human Rights Of Individual Citizens

Economic Success In Somaliland

Somali Dissidents Oppose Talks

1,325 Delegates To Attend Somalia Conference Of Clans

Egyptian Envoy Freed From Somalia

European Union Role On Kosovo Vs African Union Role On Somaliland

Amnesty International Annual Report 2007‎

Democracy challenged in Somaliland

Regional Affairs

Indian Dhow Hijacked In Somalia

Ethiopia FM Meets Somali Government In Mogadishu

Editorial
Special Report

International News

U.S. Ambassador Sees Real Hope For Somalia’s Future

Somali Pop Stars Take On Tradition

Dozens Of Muslim Meatpackers Return To Production Lines After Prayer Walk-Out

Smokin' On Somalia

FEATURES & COMMENTARY

Dynamics Of Post-Intervention Political Failure''

Reflections on Africa

Ethiopia Reaps U.S. Aid By Enlisting In War On Terror And Hiring Influential Lobbyists

East Africa Attracts Hunters For Oil And Gas

Food for thought

Opinions

Is May 18 The Somaliland Day Or The Cleaning Day?

The 16th Anniversary Of Somaliland Independence In Toronto

Our National Day: Much Ado About Nothing

An Open Letter to Ruth Kelly

The evolution, theory and practice of hegemony

Somaliland’s pursuit of recognition, maybe it is time to look East!

Somaliland Constitution: A Tool Being Used To Achieve Personal Interests

 

By Ivan Simic, Belgrade, Serbia

Hegemony is the dominance of one group over other groups, with or without the threat of force, to the extent that, for instance, the dominant party can dictate the terms of trade to its advantage; more broadly, cultural perspectives become skewed to favor the dominant group. The cultural control that hegemony asserts affects commonplace patterns of thought: hegemony controls the way new ideas are rejected or become naturalized in a process that subtly alters notions of common sense in a given society.¹

Hegemony results in the empowerment of certain cultural beliefs, values, and practices to the submersion and partial exclusion of others. Hegemony influences the perspective of mainstream history, as history is written by the victors for a congruent readership.²

(1, 2: internet)

History has it that hegemony has been played since time immemorial; we may recall the dominance of Persian, Roman, Mongol, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, German, Chinese, Russian, French, British Empire, amongst others.

These days hegemony is played through the International System by supreme powers such as the United States of America, China, Russia, India and European Union. As we all know the USA is the youngest among them, but how did she become rival for hegemonic battle in this world? The USA does not have history of a concordances, ruling like others, consequently where is the interest of the USA in this competition? The answer is in United Kingdom and more or less the State of Israel.

The British Empire was one of the most successful Empires in modern era; however as she get weaken she needed to find a strategic partner for further domination, and she found one in the USA. Let us not forget that the UK is also a member of the EU, so we can easily say that she is one of the most influential countries in the World and it can be put next to above supreme powers, but without the USA or EU it is as fragile as any other small country. Accordingly, we can say that the UK is being a very wise country who gets its will throughout in many ways.

The State of Israel is, on the other hand, a small and weak State that is capable to do anything to protect itself and create confusion in the world especially in the Middle East. By this, we can see that Israel is using the USA to conduct some sort of control among others while being well protected.

Therefore, we can say that the USA is being naive and inexperienced in that it allows itself to be used by smaller countries to create order among nations, or maybe she is deceiving us and learning to become an independent hegemon.

China , Russia and India are old and astute Countries, true World super powers, Countries that have history in a concordances, ruling, wars... So we can say that it is in their nature to be dominant one. These three Countries individually are strong enough for any challenge in this hegemonic game of dominance.

The interest of European Union to dominate others is reflected in countries well known as warriors and concordances like France, Germany, Spain, UK, and Austria. Separately they don't stand any chance of supremacy over others, but together and with help of others members of the Union they are one major player in the hegemonic game. From this we can easily say that these countries are using other members of the Union to gain more power in battle for the world's first true superpower.

This modern race for world true hegemon brought us numerous good and bad things; one of the good things was the rapid development of technology, science, medicine, among other things. Conversely, the increased competition succeeded in the manufacture and development of lethal weapons, bombs and machines. As a result if we take a look down history, society has not been able to develop so fast as it has been in the last 60 years. Therefore we can say that from period of World War II, the world has developed extremely fast and it continues to develop. For this reason, one could not be more thankful to the extraordinary dominance competition.

What can we then expect in the future when we talk about domination among countries?

In the very near future, it is more likely that more unions and alliances would be formed; bigger European Union led by already mentioned countries, Union of Asian countries led by Russia, China and India, Alliance of Arab countries led by Iran and Saudi Arabia, Union of South America, stronger unity of African Union and eventually North American Union led by USA. After these Unions, we can expect even bigger ones, but how they are going to transform themselves and stand the test of time, is only a matter of time to decide. When these new Unions form, we can foresee a new World order, and that will most likely lead us to increased conflicts. Conflicts that will leave us in devastation and sadness that cannot be described. The winners in that conflict will be left with nothing to dominate.

Which side will the UK take in these adventures? Well, it is up to her to start thinking about that.

When we take a look at the history of mankind we can see that there has never been peace among nations, and it is becoming increasingly elusive.

 


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