Can we? Obama e a hegemonia norte-americana

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the evolution of the American hegemony during the two terms of Obama’s office and comprehend if his administration was able to sustain the central place of the United States in the three spheres of the hegemonic tripod (economic, political-military, and institutional). To analyze the period, this study begins by looking at the contributions of Immanuel Wallerstein to the World-System theory and the contributions of Giovanni Arrighi to the Systemic Cycles of Accumulation theory, to understand how the dynamics between States in the same system are given and the different phases of a hegemonic cycle, briefly characterizing the observed hegemonies in the modern world system history. In the second chapter, the bases of the American hegemony are explored, from its rise in parallel to the fall of the British hegemony, till its fall’s beginning, which is pointed as the 1970 decade. In the third chapter, we analyze the indicators regarding the three spheres of the hegemonic tripod of the United States under Obama’s administration, to comprehend whether the declining trend has been reversed or sustained. Therefore, we understand that, as much as there is a strong tendency for the financialization of the American economy, and a parallel decrease in the disparity between the United States capabilities in relation to its potential systemic rival, China, the Obama administration was able to preserve the centrality of the United States in the capitalist world-system, in the three spheres of power analyzed.