Americans have been concerned about the declining US hegemony and its consequences. In essence, the Trump administration has deepened the dominant tendencies and radicalized US policy, making it more unilateral and coercive. I consider to what extent the attack only deepens the ongoing retrogression towards traditional imperialism, and to what extent it is more a matter of the old dying as the new cannot yet be born. Many pathological symptoms are evident in such an in-between state. The current US practice creates feedback loops, bringing the world closer to a Hobbesian war of all against all. However, this period can also be seen as a Gramscian interregnum in global political economy, opening space for new forms and lines of reasoning. This suggests the task of creating a new ‘common sense’ of functionality, justice, democracy and law that works in a world where there are no longer hegemons, empires, or spheres of interests.
Heikki Patomäki (Thu,) studied this question.