Dreams of global hegemony Dreams of global hegemony and the technology of war and the technology of warAfter the second world war, the US had unquestioned hegemony throughout the capitalist world. But in the early 1970s, US power began to ebb, particularly as the economies in Europe and Japan recovered. Nevertheless, the confrontation with the Soviet Union allowed the US to maintain leadership by providing military security for the West. However, the collapse of the USSR created a crisis. US military might was no longer needed and its economic hegemony had passed its peak.Alongside this strategic change came the emerging revolution in information technology. As information capitalism became ®rmly rooted in all the advanced countries, a system of economic and political globalisation rapidly developed. These changing world conditions presented two choices to the US ruling class: either the US had to integrate fully into a globalised system of world capitalism or reassert hegemony through military power and war.Globalisation was the choice of consensus; it was backed by the rapidly growing transnational corporations, the immense power of speculative ®nance, a surge in cross-cultural exchanges and a technological boom that pointed to a new economy. But beneath the new Jerry Harris is a professor of history at De Vry Institute of Technology, Chicago, and on the editorial board of Cy.Rev, a journal of cybernetic revolution, sustainable socialism and radical democracy .