Institute for Research on World-SystemsDepartment of SociologyUniversity of California, Riverside

IROWS

Alexis Álvarez

Global Governance and US Hegemony:

A Historical Trajectory

History & ConceptualizationWhat constitutes global governance?

Institutional Precursors: Monotheism, trans-continental empires, Magna Carta, capitalism, secularism, socialism, decolonization, modernity, universal suffrage, globalization.

Globalization in its economic, material, linguistic, and other social dimensions is not global governance per se, though its fruition foreshadows its inevitable, cybernetic/legislative consequences.

Integral Components: An interstate system (established during the Treaty of Westphalia), international organizations, and a geopolitical climate mediated by a hegemonic cycle.

law

politicseducation

religion economy

kinship

Functionalist Institutional Lens

The Formalization of Institutions

Religion

Polity

Law

Education

Kinship

Economy

Institutions in Agrarian Societies

Religion

Polity

Law

Education

Kinship

Economy

Institutions during Early Capitalism

Religion

Polity

Law

Education Kinship

Economy

Institutions under Transnational Capitalism

Institutions under Transnational Capitalism

Population

Symbolic

Bases of Power

Coercive

Administrative

Material

Empire Size

Systemic Primacy

Tributary model of systemic

power

Prev

alen

ce o

f G

loba

l Gov

erna

nce

in I

nter

nati

onal

Aff

airs

Tributary Empires

Scope of transportation and communication technology

Core Institutional Differentiation

Early Capitalism

Treaty of Westphalia1648

SecularizationTransnational

CapitalismDecolonization

Concert of Europe1815

Maritime Colonialism

Abolition

United Nations1945 –

League of Nations1919 – 1946

World War I1914 – 1918

World War II1939 – 1945

Proliferation of Transnational

Social Movements and Global Governance Institutions

A historical trajectory of the developing institutional structure of global governance, not scaled

CIA1947 –

American & French Revolutions

1776 & 1789Continent-wide

Colonialism

Hegemony and Global Governancegeopolitical goals

HierarchySovereignty Hegemony Legitimacy

InternalExternal

1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946fr. 0

fr. 10,000,000

fr. 20,000,000

fr. 30,000,000

fr. 40,000,000

fr. 50,000,000

fr. 60,000,000

Total Expenditures (Swiss franks) ILO League Expenditures (Swiss franks)Perm. Court of International Justice (Swiss Franks)

League of Nations Expenditures, Swiss Francs

World War II1939 – 1945

1946

1948

1950

1952

1954

1956

1958

1960

1962

1964

1966

1968

1970

1972

1974

1976

1978

1980

1982

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

$0

$200

$400

$600

$800

$1,000

$1,200

$1,400

$1,600

$1,800

$2,000

25%

27%

29%

31%

33%

35%

UN Budget (Inflation Adjusted US$, 2005) US GDP / Global GDP

Mil

lion

s, U

SD

US GDP as % of Global GDP and Total UN Expenditures

Fall of USSR

Israel Fall of ApartheidKorean War

Viet Nam War

Iraq War I Iraq War II

$0

$200

,000

,000

$400

,000

,000

$600

,000

,000

$800

,000

,000

$1,0

00,0

00,0

00

$1,2

00,0

00,0

00

$1,4

00,0

00,0

00

$1,6

00,0

00,0

00

$1,8

00,0

00,0

00

$2,0

00,0

00,0

00

25%

27%

29%

31%

33%

35%US GDP as % of Global GDP vs. Total UN Expenditures

Pearson’s r = -0.859

$0

$200

,000

,000

$400

,000

,000

$600

,000

,000

$800

,000

,000

$1,0

00,0

00,0

00

$1,2

00,0

00,0

00

$1,4

00,0

00,0

00

$1,6

00,0

00,0

00

$1,8

00,0

00,0

00

$2,0

00,0

00,0

00

25%

27%

29%

31%

33%

35%US GDP as % of Global GDP vs. Total UN Expenditures

Pearson’s r = -0.859

Confidence Core-Periphery Hierarchy

in the UN Core Semiperiphery Periphery

None at all 1650 5570 2628Column % 11.4% 19.3% 17.3%

Not very much 4962 9800 4561Column % 34.2% 33.9% 30.1%Quite a lot 6554 10609 4790Column % 45.2% 36.7% 31.6%

A great deal 1337 2947 3173Column % 9.2% 10.2% 20.9%

Column Total 14503 28926 15152

World Values Survey 2005: World Citizenship and Confidence in the United Nations

Core-Periphery Hierarchy

World Citizen Core Semiperiphery Periphery

Strongly Disagree 783 2105 672Column % 5.4% 6.9% 4.7%

Disagree 2809 5392 1936Column % 19.2% 17.6% 13.5%

Agree 7603 14546 6039Column % 52.0% 47.4% 42.1%

Strongly Agree 3433 8644 5685Column % 23.5% 28.2% 39.7%

Column Total 14628 30687 14332