East Asia continues to dominate in electrics/electronics.
Ulhas responded:
US enjoys 'full spectrum' dominance: economic, technological, military and cultural
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One of the reliable leitmotifs of lbo-talk, certainly not as popular as the always-simmering-beneath-the-surface Stalin chats , but high ranking nonetheless is the debate between those who believe the US is in ascendancy (or, at least, a hegemonic stasis) and those who see inevitable, perhaps even swift, decline.
I think it's possible to create a somewhat more subtle critique of the US' present situation and future prospects by wedding together elements of arguments Ulhas and Dennis have presented at various times on this subject.
Clearly, the United States continues to enjoy the prime position among nation states -- in wealth, market attractiveness and military capability. And, it uses it's power to obtain uniquely favorable access to markets around the globe, dominate international discourse and excuse itself from adhering to rules of behavior less powerful states are compelled to obey.
Without the USSR as a counter-weight, it can move more or less at will (within practical limits).
So Ulhas, when you argue that some members of the American Left are indulging in a "fairytale" of US retreat, I have no reason to doubt the evidence you see in your part of the world of a gathering strength instead of steady decline.
But, on the other hand, the information Dennis provides about the growing economic and technological strength of Asia and Europe cannot be dismissed.
For example, you assert that the US' "full spectrum" dominance is composed of economic, technological, military and cultural components. The military and cultural parts of this are beyond dispute but I think Dennis' counter-argument has the most merit when he says the US' technological and economic advantages, relative to the Eurozone and Asia, are nowhere near as great as they were even 20 years ago and are, in fact, trending down.
Regarding the technological...
There are two major areas of technological prowess: 'high technology' exotica such as space probes and quantum computing research and, on the other side of the fence, everyday items such as autos, washing machines, bridges, roads, telecommunication systems, home computers and reliable electric power grids. While the US continues to enjoy a clear advantage in the high technology areas, most of which is focused on or a result of military research, it no longer monopolizes the stuff of our daily tech infrastructure. You don't have to go to American firms to build a modern society. You can just as easily do all of your shopping in Japan, S. Korea, Germany and so on.
This seems very mundane but really is a sign of the relative (the emphasis here is on "relative") decline of the US which, as you know, enjoyed artificial technical preeminence after World War 2 destroyed the industrial and technological capacity of the developed world. Because we're so distracted by American high tech prowess, it's easy to conclude the US is the world's most 'technological' country. This is true, but only in a very narrow way that has little to do with people's real needs. American washing machines for example, are not more 'advanced' than Japanese or German ones. American cars are surely not more 'advanced. This is a more significant data-point to watch, in my opinion, than whether Germany can successfully field a photon powered spacecraft or orbital laser canon -- the sorts of big projects Americans hold up as proof of tech dominance.
And regarding the economic...
List economists can address this subject with greater precision than I can but I'll have a go and say it's clear the United States is in a dependent relationship with foreign capital (mostly Japanese, yes?) to finance its over-spending habits. Of course, the US' unparalled market attractiveness and military/political dominance makes this situation -- which, we can be sure, would bring a "lessor" nation to its knees -- oddly sustainable despite common sense understanding of how trade deficits and related economic machinery operate for 'normal' nations.
Considering this dependency, we can say the US' economic dominance, speaking strictly of the "developed" world, is built, in a big way, on the degree to which it has woven itself into the fortunes of its creditors (for a detailed examination of this, listen to Doug's interview with Leo Panitch at the link below). "They" need "our" market and the universal acceptability of our currency and we need their capital to maintain the idea of our centrality to the world's economic flows -- to keep spending big to live large.
But how long can this be sustained?
...
I think that over time we'll see certain elements of American dominance continuing in various places -- pop culture and the large influence of American multinationals for example -- while other pieces weaken. Some people, in some parts of the world will probably always associate the United States with the best of this or that -- the best technology, the best movies, the most modern firms to work for and so on -- but as time passes this will take on the characteristics of being a matter of taste rather than a reflection of genuine American supremacy in technical or economic areas.
Indeed, we've already reached the point where, for example, choosing American products over Japanese ones is mostly a matter of taste. But many folks aren't aware of this yet since the US is still perceived by many people as being the 'most technological'.
.d.
Leo Panitch interview on the American empire (low fidelity streaming audio) --
<http://shout.lbo-talk.org:8000/content/lbo/RadioArchive/2004/04_03_25_16.pls>