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University of Nigeria Virtual Library Serial No. ISBN 978 – 2702 – 41 - 2 Author 1 ECHEZONA, Nduba C. Author 2 Author 3 Title Hegemonism or a New World Order Keywords Hegemonism or a New World Order Description Category Socil Sciences Publisher Mekslink Publishers (Nig) Publication 1993 Date Signature HEGEMONISM OR A NEW WORLD ORDER HEGEMONISM OR A NEW WORLD ORDER i NDUBA ECHEZONA NDUBA ECHEZONA All rights reserved: Except for the purposes of research, review or criticism, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any' form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photdcopying, recording or otherwise with- out thl pri6t written permission of the Publishers. ,>* First Published, 1993 MEKSLlNK PUBLISHERS (NIG.) P. M. B. 5039 Awka Anambra State, Nigeria. DEDICATION In memory of my late Palher, VICTOR NWOYE ECHEZONA PREFACE This book is a reflection of what I consider to be the nature of the world we have had to inherit since 1989 or probably a little . earlier. In making an exercise such as this, it bccame necessary to visit the intemational relations of earlicr centuries to find out what is uniquely different between those centuries and now and to start to tinker as early as possible about what the future would be like. As I had stated in an earlier book on Contemporary Issues ,In Wodd Order, because of our lcve! of development and the d~re economic straits which befell us in Africa and Nigeria in particular sincc thc 1980s, there is always the feeling around that we must depend on explanations of international political phenomena from the developed countries. You find that explanation in the way we write when we do - trying to copy the intellectual moorings of writers from those societies without advancing our own perspectives or even the most prevalent attitude, to resign ourselves in the expectation that interpretations of these problems would continue to come from there - a kind of intellectual neocolonialism. The latter attitude forecloses debates on international problems while we consume such debates which emanate from the advanced industrial countries. How do we move forward then? You would remember that in international economic transactions, we berate the fact that we consume what we do not produce and produce what we do not consume. In international intellectual transactions, we consume what we do not produce and produce little which might have no relevance to our society's meeting the rest of the world half way. This is not the first book in intemational affairs by Third World scholars or by African scholars or by Nigerian scholars. Howevcr, books on this score which are worth their salt are too few in spite of the abundance sf scholars in international relations especially in Nigeria. If this book remains in the mould of writing just for the sake of writing, I would plead that I be excused for that because of the problems I have enumerated above but if it succeeds in raising debate a little bit especially from a Third Worlder's perspective, I would decm my task to be an accomplished onc. I am vcry grateful to the Chairman and publisher of the Fourth Dimcnsion and the Frontlinc, Chicf Dr. Arthur Nwankwo, who had affordcd mc thc opportunity to cxpress my views on international affairs in his ncwspapcr, the Outlook, a good proportion of which is cmbodicd in this book. I musl confcss that I was astounded by the manncr in which Chicf Nwankwo proddcd on someone with my own typc of bclicfs into writing and pushing forward my ideas . An intcllectual who has writtcn immcnsely on national and intemational affairs. Dr. Nwankwo bclicvcs that idcas have thc capability of moving n;itio~i\and mount;ilns. Secondly, I do not know. how to makc public knowledge my deb1 to my wife, Il'coma and daughter, Adaczc who have had to cntiurc thc deprivations caused by my ubscncc to write this book or the frustratior~occasioned by the clultcr 01' books, journals, articles th;ct dol our household from bedroom to dining table. Whilc Ifcoma would bc busy trying to cnsurc that the whole mess was arranged and tidied up, Adaczc would wind up with one or the othcr hither and thilhcr and assisrcd in the furtiler litlcring of our rooms. Yct, thcy wcrc ;ill pan of the collcclivc contributions to the writing of this book. All said and done, 1 will bc;u the responsibility for all ihc shortcomings i~ndimpcrl'cc~ions thal have aitcndcd lhis work. , ". .-NDUBA CHUKWUMA ECHEZONA DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE SF'PTEMBER. 1992. UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA INTRODUCTION It is difficult addressing world order issues from a part of the planet earth where as we had pointed out earlier it is not easy to link how such issues impinge on problems of day to day existence such as food and water which are the world order preoccupations of people in the Third World. However, it is also difficult for a scholar with a geopolitical perspective who is living on this planet in the late twentieth century not to be bothered by events of monumental proportions as reforms in the former Soviet Union, the break up of the former Soviet Union and the Gulf War, issues that would influence the course of international relations well into the twrnty first century. When scholars like Geoffrey Barclough refer to transformations in international relations and date their findings into between 1890 and 1960, we consume their findings and we become armed with their thinking processes and we wait to use the system of their findings to make new discoveries for the future. But who would believe that in our very eyes in the late twentieth century, transformations would occur and we would not need to use fish nets to find out when they did occur. Rather, their occurence unmasked a mystic that might have been prevalent earlier about international relations - how it began and what direction it would take. O The first and second chapters of this book deal with earlier patterns of international relations in the pre-1648 era into the post 1648 era all the way to the Cold War, Detente and the references to a New World Order. It became necessary to deal with earlier relations in order to ascertain how international relations began and to show that the later patterns of relations between states such as the use of power and the search for hegemonism has been the earmark of international relations. Cold War and Detente put into full focus the bipolarised character of international relations from 1945 to 1989, what has been referred to as the Yalta World Order. Every issue of global concern was seen from the bipolarity of world politics in which the Soviet Unim and the United States were the hegemonic players. Chapter three is weighted on strengthening the path to a new world order. This chapter is significant in that it marks the earlier outlines of a new world order on the international plane but it was not significantly discernible. In the Iradlraq war, in the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan and in the settlement of the conflict in Angola, either the position of the United States was served or the IJnited States became a broker of the peace processes which meant the enhancement of its hegemonic status. These were complemented by the events within China - the demands for a plural political system . They were happening at a time when a plural political system was already in place within the Soviet Union. Although a plural political .:AIL nn ~iadnot emerged in China, however the fact that it ignited mass nls in such a country with more than one billion population ~rieantLhat western nay American perspectives on the nature of the dljmcstii political system of states is predictable in China in the incd~uril10 long term future. In chapters four and five, we find a gargantuan change in world politrcs, the nature of hegemony and thus 01 world order. The United States mobilised the world including the Soviet Union and fought the chlf War. Suddenly, the world was awash with colleclive security which it had yearned for since the post Second World War years. This thus armed the United States President into proclaiming a new world order, a proof that world orders are often proclaimed by the lriumphant in a war of global proportions. Complementary to American hegemonic reach was the break up of its major adversary, the Sov~etUnion. Chapters six, seven and eight are an expose on the effects of the New World Order, its impact on Africa, on regional integration and on tile tuturc World Order. The earlier outlines of hegemony and world order scem to depend on the primacy of the United States. How do they Impact on Afric,~,on regional integration and on the future? In jfrica, we find the quest for pluralism; on regional integration, we r~ndU') seemingly benign altitude especially on Europe where ~ritegrationhad advanced more than anywhere else. On the future of vorld politics, it would seem that its earliest manifestations would be Imcricim hegemony. However, the medium to long term might be rrrarked by a multipolarity in economic terms - United States, Japan, Westerr Europe and perhaps, Russia or [he Asian tigers - South Korca (Korca), Taiwan or China. CQNTE.NTS P .* Chapter 1 EVOLUTION OF THE SYSTEM OF STATES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 1 Multi-State Systems in History 1 The Impact of Rome on the Modem State System 4 The Modem State System 5 Transformations in the International System 8 Balance of Power Mechanism 11 Chapter 2 THE SUPER POWERS: COLD WAR, DETENTE AND A NEW WORLD ORDER THE COLD WAR The Orthodox School The Revisionist School Practical