America and the World

The American power has been well-recognized in all parts of the world. The series of war that are participated by America –namely: World War II and the Cold War – have given the image of a country which has power over other countries. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the United States has been the sole superpower in the world. Since then, America has been part of almost all international gatherings and endeavors to promote the concept of globalization – making the world a single place for all the citizens of the world.

During these times, America has been able to prove that their superpower is not only premised on their political capabilities but also on supreme economic status. Being one of the First World Countries, America is really an economically well-off country. And it has proven its economic supremacy in the global economy. In effect, most countries, especially those that are developing and underdeveloped countries, are seeking support from the American government to pursue their own economic progress. In addition, the rise of the American culture has also become one of the most controversial international issues in the current global scenario.

People from around the world are trying to be like their Hollywood idols. The McDonalds and the Coca-Cola “syndrome” are also affecting the people from all over the world. In fact, the two are always present in almost all nation-states in the world (Sloan). These are just few of the things that promote the American culture. The popularity that America has since then and up to the present is undeniably a sign of how great its power is. However, other countries perceive this thing as a tactic or strategy of America to dominate the world.

There are countries that do not patronize America. Therefore not all countries or people have faith in American influence or power. They view the acts of America as ways to Americanize the world. They claim that America only wanted to expand and amplify its power all over the world such that it has been very active in particular international issues (Sloan). Nevertheless, as Alkman Granitsas said in his column in YaleGlobal Online, America has been, in fact, tuning out the world. This implies that America has been trying to move away from the global village.

Instead America has just wanted to focus its dwellings on its domestic affairs. The first reason that is raised by Granitsas is that America has become conceited by the fact that almost one-third of the world’s population wants to get in their country. Secondly, America has realized that if almost all people in the world want to be in America, and more countries look upon America for economic assistance and other political purposes, then what is there in the outside of America that the Americans should pursue? If all wants to be in America then why should they leave and go to other places in the world?

As presented in the column of Granitsas, American schools, colleges, and university have a high rate of decline in terms of students who take up foreign languages courses. The record shows that Americans have started to become disinterested in going outside America. The perceived attitude of the Americans are indeed logical in the sense that why should they aspire to make themselves proficient in foreign languages when in fact most of the people in the world want to be expert in speaking English? In addition, significant changes have been reported which demonstrate how America has started to decrease their interest in global issues.

Their newspapers have minimized the inclusion of international or global news. Before, the front page of the American newspapers had 27 percent of international news. But as shown in the report, there is only 21 percent of international news that are being included in the front page of the American newspaper (Granitsas). It was only when the September 11 bombing that the American had faced once again the global village (Granitsas). Since then, the American government has been trying to fight against terrorism that tends to inflict disturbance in America and its people.

It is now acting for the sake of its government and people and not for the whole world. It is doing its job for the sake of its government subsistence and for the safety of its people and not really to dominate the world. America, labeled as the New World, does not really want the world to kneel down before it. It does not really want to conquer the whole of the world. Its recent actions and policies are not really to gain more power and to rule the world but only to protect the interest of the state and its people.

The dilemma in this topic is directed towards the perceived dominance of the America over the last centuries in the international scene and the more current attitude of America of closing its idea on global participation. Either the latter is true or the former is true is not confirmed yet. But it is true that both could make the global order complicated. Works Cited: Granitsas, Alkman. “Americans are Tuning Out the World. ” 24 November 2005. YaleGlobal Online. 10 October 2007 <http://yaleglobal. yale. edu/display. article? id=6553>. Sloan, Kim. A New World: England’s First View of America. The University of North Carolina Press , 2007.