War 12
Over the course of the last half-century the U.S. has enjoyed unprecedented power in every aspect whether it be politically, economically, militarily, or by any other means. In its dominance of world politics since WWII, the U.S. has been able to cast its influence around the globe. However, the U.S. experienced a gradual decline in its sovereignty over the course of this era as well. A prime example was in 1973 when OPEC raised oil prices drastically over the course of the next two years. "OPEC's ability to increase at will the world price of its precious product highlighted the industrial world's dependence on foreign sources of energy." (Keylor, p.346) Being a sovereign nation requires not being subject to external forces, being able to conduct an independent foreign policy, and being able to control events within your own borders. Today, U.S. sovereignty continues to decline for a number of reasons. The only question is whether it is healthy or harmful for the U.S. to do so. The first reason why U.S. sovereignty is declining is due to what is known as interdependence. This phenomenon developed after WWII with the creation of the UN, GATT, the IMF and other such intergovernmental organizations. All of these served to
The information revolution also poses a serious threat to U.S. sovereignty. The increasing opportunities for interaction through technological advances in communications and transportation make information more readily accessible. The strong reliance on the behalf of the U.S. on information infrastructure makes it vulnerable to attack. (Wriston, p.179) "The smallest nation, terrorist group, or drug cartel could hire a computer programmer to plant a Trojan horse virus in software, take down a vital network, or cause a missile to misfire...The United States' increasing reliance on massive networks may make it more, not less vulnerable." (Wriston, p.180) As with the problem of an armed terrorist attack, it is extremely difficult to determine who is responsible for a break-in of a private, supposedly secure, U.S. government web page. Fortunately, we have not yet witnessed any such form of information warfare; however, imagining the form it might take and protecting against it has become the preoccupation of a presidential commission and numerous task forces. (Wriston, p.179) Aside from its place in the world market, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction also serves to limit the sovereignty of the U.S. First off, new nuclear powers, which would likely include a number of aggressive authoritarian states, will lack the resources to manage the elaborate command and control capabilities required. "Even if hostile countries somehow catch up in an arms race, their military organizations and cultures are unlikely to catch up in the competence race for management, technology assimilation,
Some common words found in the essay are:
GATT IMF, , United States', Cold War, Huntington Huntington, African Islamic, terrorist attack, biological weapons, wriston p179, impossible deter, world politics, economies world, erosion sovereignty, nuclear weapons, foreign policy,
Approximate Word count = 1083
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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