Military Power Does Not Denote Capacity

Abstract

The following study analyzes the exercise of power by both the United States and China in their confrontation for hegemonic dominance. Through observational and qualitative methods, an examination of the mechanisms underlying China's strategic statecraft and how it implements its exercise of power reveals its genesis and how it contested and controlled the order in Southeast Asia. Navigating through economic indicators, the research determines that the decline of American power is a myth, but it establishes a decline in its influence and prestige arising from its strategic and tactical choices. The study identified multiple systemic contingencies and political irrationalities for the non-realization of systemic unipolarity, resulting in a nonpolar world. It concludes that neither the incomparable military power of the United States nor the greater economic power of China has, in the contemporary world, fundamental comparative advantages for achieving systemic hegemony.

Note From the Editor:

“…Finally, Hüsna Taş Yetim (2021) gives a timely review of Daniel McCormack's 2019 book, Great Powers and International Hierarchy. The review intersects extremely well with Teixeira's (2021) study of the hegemonic contest between the United States and China in this issue of WAJ, as well as the first article in this issue concerning framing the COVID-19 crisis and the ensuing domestic policy decisions of Presidents Trump and Bolsonaro (Béland et al 2021) and their effects on perceptions abroad. McCormack's solid theoretical discussions, highlighted by Yetim, will be of interest to scholars and practitioners seeking to deepen their understanding of the influence of hierarchical rivalry on international actors-both in terms of their foreign policy and, importantly, their domestic decisions, policies, and political strategies.…”

“…In "Military Power does not Denote Capacity: The Contest for World Domination," Teixeira (2021) argues that the purported U.S. decline is indeed a myth when it comes to economic growth (which he argues is in slowdown but not decline) and military supremacy. However, delving deeply into the causes and consequences from the perspective of both China and the United States, the author does not shy away from underlining the U.S. loss of global influence and its decline in "axiomatic hegemony."…”