It is safe to assume that many are concerned with the diminishing power of the United States of America (US) to keep things together on the international landscape beyond the blustering from President Donald Trump which would be more about pretending that things have not significantly changed.

The truth however is that the structures holding the international system together since the end of the Second World War under the supervision and direction of the US are not only becoming less effective, the strains on them over time and the ponderous nature they are made to work now rather than seamlessly are perhaps signs that they have to be transcended for more meaningful and effective practice going forward. Gone were the day when the US would lay out a plan as solution to any international problem, and all would fall in line as a matter of course and without much ado.

Not any more.

It would seem as if we are coming to the era where some countries do not just shun plans and proposals at the international level by the US, but are openly and actively opposing such without bothering about how the US would react. The US has seen its proposals and plans at the international level being increasingly defeated and left for other plans by lesser powers. Imagine for instance that the proposal by the US on the Russian invasion of Ukraine which did not want to specifically mention and condemn the invasion was roundly defeated at the United Nations General Assembly at the expense of the proposal by other nations explicitly calling out the invasion.

Furthermore, all the sanctions imposed on Russia by the US for its invasion of Ukraine were not only shunned by China and India and Brazil, they all argued that the demands of their national interest would not allow them to go along with the sanctions with the US unable to do anything about their refusal to implement the sanctions. And when the US boisterously announced that it had the magic wand for the problem of Gaza, asking Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians while it would take over Gaza and rebuild it, it soon found out that it did not have the power or influence to make Egypt and Jordan take in Palestinians as the two countries flatly and categorically rejected the idea, even as there was no greenlight about its taking over for rebuilding, such that it had to finally concede that it would have to wait for the Arabs to come up with an agreed plan as basis for further talks and discussion. The same way that Russia, perhaps thinking that the US would want to summarily impose the agreement between the two of them as solution to the Russian-Ukrainian war, could rather flippantly dismiss the idea of inviting Europeans into the talks or countenancing the participation of Ukraine, arguing that they could not be trusted as they had been unreliable partners in their earlier intervention and contribution, until reason prevailed for the realization that the peace process would need the consent of the Europeans and the participation of Ukraine to have a viable and workable solution.

Yet, in spite of its diminishing streak, the US still remains the biggest sheriff in town. While some scholars are busy speculating about a nascent multipolarity at the international level, the truth is that no country as yet could compete with the US as the biggest power on the landscape, and no country has the valid wherewithal with which to compete or aspire. Whereas we could indeed be witnessing a gradual transition from American worldpowership and dominance, it is also the case that supplanting and replacing a world power is and does not happen in a hurry nor is it a tea party.

America continues to maintain a hegemony that is difficult to rival on the international landscape. Which would explain why it should be understandable when we see Trump blustering and pretending that he could do anything and everything, it is because he is still the in most powerful person in the world today, on account of American hegemonic power backing him and which he represents, and from where he stands, it would not change anything nor would it matter much for the person representing such hegemonic power to be susceptible sometimes to bouts of exaggeration.

The situation tells us about the complexity of human history, sensitizing us to the fact that changes are often complicated and not straightforward. Going forward, with a declining America still as the hegemonic power in the world, it would mean that really transiting away from and supplanting its worldpowership would still be decades away, if it ever would come!

** Olaitan, Professor of Political Science, was Vice-Chancellor, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State.

For feedback, kindly send SMS/Whatsapp messages to:

+234 807 083 7212