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The Oxford English Dictionary defines hegemony as “leadership or dominance, especially by one country or social group over others.” There is little question that Western hegemony in most areas—including military, culture, international organizations, technology, education, ethical values, political thought and economics—has characterized the last two centuries. Countries typically included as part of the West are Western Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The West’s main rival from 1950-1990 was the USSR and its Eastern European allies. Some people viewed the Cold War as a clash between Western capitalism and Soviet socialism. While China supported the wars in Korea and Vietnam, its economic sway was limited. China and the newly liberated Indian subcontinent chose to have limited economic interaction with the rest of the world. In other words, they chose to be autarkic.
In the early 1990s, the Cold War ended. Many declared it the end-point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government. This end-of-history narrative was a declaration of the ultimate, inevitable hegemony of the West. Bohanon asked a European economist at the 1992 Mont Pelerin Society meeting what he thought of that assessment. His answer was one word: bunk.
Thirty years later, bunk seems about right. It appears that the age of Western hegemony is coming to an end. Neither China nor Russia are liberal democracies, and India is backtracking on its democratic leanings. Many in the West intelligentsia welcome this; some chanted, “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Western civ has got to go!” Other people find it disturbing.
Whatever a person’s perspective, the West’s hegemony is likely to decline because of demographics. A quick spreadsheet analysis from U.S. Census Bureau and World Bank data indicates that India and China occupy 9.5% of the world’s land and have 35.1% of its population. The United States, United Kingdom and France occupy 7.8% of the world’s land but have only 5.8% of its population. Yet the three Western countries hold 60% of the permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council.
Over 50% of the world’s population lives in China, India or their neighbors. The West accounts for just 10% of the world’s population. Although the World Order crafted nearly 80 years ago will change, will it be better or worse? As Betty Davis said in “All About Eve”: “Fasten your seat belts; it’s going to be a bumpy night.”•
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Bohanon and Horowitz are professors of economics at Ball State University. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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