Negative Side: Superpowers

Superpower. It is small word with a definitely big impact on the world. A “superpower” is a
country that has the capacity to project dominating power and influence anywhere in the world, and
sometimes, in more than one region of the globe at a time, and so may plausibly attain the status of global
hegemony. There are four axes for measurement of power: military, economic, political, and cultural.

In the current world today, US is the remaining superpower since the happening of the Cold War
(and thus become known as the hyperpower). Before that though, there was another superpower: USSR.
And although they were allies back then during the World War II, the two states contrast sharply on many
aspects, including the type of government they wanted and the shape of the post war world. And due to
the pressure given by the US to the USSR, the USSR collapsed, leaving the US as the sole superpower.

Being the sole superpower there is, they have big influence in our live and indirectly controls us
one way or another. One big and current example of this is the so-called credit crunch. Since technically
all of the banks somehow get their money for loaning indirectly from the banks of US, interest rates
began to shoot up; triggering a domino effect of high prices and unaffordable basic needs (like housing)
in the economy of practically the whole world. Investments were the major loss of many banks, and thus
the banks had to either close down or find another way to get money and maintain their business. Unpaid
debts to banks became rampant; and banks have virtually no money.

However, if there is no superpower today, one country’s losses can’t affect as much as the US did.
If superpowers did not exist, there will be no domino effects. Although superpowers are an essential ally
during crisis, they in turn have [mostly] no allies if they are in crisis. In fact, not only would they have to
worry about their own problems; they have to deal with the problems of the countries under them and
solve it immediately, or else they will have to face the possible revolution which can strip them of their
power.

US, on issue after issue, has found itself increasingly alone, with one or a few partners, opposing
most of the rest of the world's states and peoples. These issues include U.N. dues; sanctions against
Cuba, Iran, Iraq, and Libya; the land mines treaty; global warming; an international war crimes tribunal;
the Middle East; the use of force against Iraq and Yugoslavia; and the targeting of 35 countries with new
economic sanctions between 1993 and 1996. On these and other issues, much of the international
community is on one side and the United States is on the other. The circle of governments who see their
international interests coinciding with American interests is shrinking.

Moreover, in the multipolar world of the 21st century, the major powers will inevitably compete,
clash, and coalesce with each other in various permutations and combinations. Such a world, however,
will lack the tension and conflict between the superpower and the major regional powers that are defining
characteristics of a unipolar world. For that reason, the United States (or any other superpower) could
find life as a major power in a multipolar world less demanding, less contentious, and more rewarding
than it was as the world's [only] superpower.

Also, being a superpower requires the country to have allies because of the great danger imposed
by enemies of the country. This will most likely lead to war, which could not only devastate the country’s
http://www.stanford.edu/group/sjir/6.1.03_miller.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superpower

www.debatelab.2itb.com/disad.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_power_in_international_relations

http://www.britannica.com/ebi/article-230262 www.marxists.org/archive/hekmat-mansoor/2001/09/14.htm
status and dignity, but also that of its allies and countries indirectly controlled by them. Usually it is very
humiliating enough to lose to another superpower; but much more if to a lesser power (e.g. major
powers). This can be incremented more if they are supported by the justice and, just like our People
Power revolution, can have the power to put a superpower into a lowly country.

Another is that in the presence of superpowers, there is an unfair division of power between the
superpower/s and the rest of the world. Equilibrium between the various powers which form the family of
nations is, in fact, essential to the very existence of any international law (term commonly used for
referring to the system of implicit and explicit agreements that bind together nation-states in adherence to
recognized values and standards.). In the absence of any central authority, the only sanction behind the
code of rules established by custom or defined in treaties, known as 'international law', is the capacity of
the powers to hold each other in check. If this system fails, nothing prevents any state sufficiently
powerful from ignoring the law and acting solely according to its convenience and its interests. And in
fact, these “acts” are wars and “traitor”; annulment of agreements between or among the state/s. These
will create chaos and thus produce a negative output.

A quote: “Question: In initial reactions to this incident within America, there has been talk of
intelligence and security weaknesses. In fact, the Pentagon, the centre of the defense establishment and
the most important centre of finance have been attacked and many people have perished. What is the
effect of this incident regarding the status of America as a superpower in the world; what measures might
America take to prevent a diminished position?

Mansoor Hekmat: In my opinion, this terrorism in fact helps secure America’s image as a superpower.
USA’s superpower status is defined in relation to other economic, political and military powers in the
capitalist world and not in relation to Afghanistan, Iraq or Islamic Jihad and Hamas. USA’s status as a
superpower is in domineering the world, not in its secure airports and fireproof buildings. And today’s
climate in the world after this incident, just as the period after Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait, is exactly a
climate of renewed declarations of allegiance to America by other Western powers and their yielding to
the political and military tendencies of the American administration. This terrorist crime gives a blank
cheque to America for military intervention in any part of the world and to re-assert its world dominance,
while a day before, the American government was under pressure by the ruling circles and the media in
the West for its obstinate and zealous defence of Israel and its disregard for the Kyoto agreement. USA
will exploit this incident as a springboard, and excuse for a show of military power. In the short term, all
Western governments will fall in line and stand to attention. In the medium term, however, more lasting
economic and political equations will again change the equilibrium to America’s disadvantage.”

This states that in fact, being a superpower meant showing off your power and doing anything to
stay in place. And in doing so, it will either make your country’s economic and political status unstable or
stable. With a 50:50 of doom and victory, it is much safer to just not be a superpower for your country and
people’s sake.

http://www.stanford.edu/group/sjir/6.1.03_miller.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superpower

www.debatelab.2itb.com/disad.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_power_in_international_relations

http://www.britannica.com/ebi/article-230262 www.marxists.org/archive/hekmat-mansoor/2001/09/14.htm