Stagger On, Weary Titan

There was a fascinating piece in the Guardian earlier this week, which was brought to my attention by one of my Evil Genius pals. (I’m linking the title below to Common Dreams, since they sometimes keep things accessible in the long term better than the source papers):

Stagger On, Weary Titan
The US is reeling, like imperial Britain after the Boer war – but don’t gloat
by Timothy Garton Ash

If you want to know what London was like in 1905, come to Washington in 2005. Imperial gravitas and massive self-importance. That sense of being the center of the world, and of needing to know what happens in every corner of the world because you might be called on – or at least feel called upon – to intervene there. Hyperpower. Top dog. And yet, gnawing away beneath the surface, the nagging fear that your global supremacy is not half so secure as you would wish. As Joseph Chamberlain, the British colonial secretary, put it in 1902: “The weary Titan staggers under the too vast orb of his fate.”

The United States is now that weary Titan. In the British case, the angst was a result of the unexpectedly protracted, bloody and costly Boer war, in which a small group of foreign insurgents defied the mightiest military the world had seen; concern about the rising economic power of Germany and the United States; and a combination of imperial overstretch with socio-economic problems at home. In the American case, it’s a result of the unexpectedly protracted, bloody and costly Iraq war, in which a small group of foreign insurgents defies the mightiest military the world has seen; concern about the rising economic power of China and India; and a combination of imperial overstretch with socio-economic problems at home.

The piece goes on to outline some parallels and omens that suggest that a corner has been turned on the American path, and we’re now in the downward slide. (Apparently The Cycle keeps turning, or something.)

I find the end of the piece interesting for two particular reasons:

1) The notion that what could follow the American dominance might well be worse. Alex suggests that it might be the end of the nation state and the rise of the multinational corporation–something that is already happening to a great extent with the transfer of national sovereignty to business interests through the various international trade agreements and organizations. That’s certainly a scary thought, since democratic, liberal government at least theoretically has the public good in front, where a corporate state would have shareholder good in front–a much scarier concept .

2) The optimistic suggestion of America taking on an elder statesman role and attempting to shape the following powers (Ash suggests nation states, but Asian ones) into something that “protects the interests of liberal democracies”, starts my mind running down a lot of interesting paths.

I’d frankly have been happier with a suggestion of shaping them into something that protects the interests of all people, since a lot of my problems with the American empire stem from value calculations that grossly overvalue American interests relative to the rest of the world.

Putting that aside though, I wonder if it’s even possible at this point for any nation in the world to take American seriously in a statesman role–my impression is that absent “Big Guns”-style negotiating, which Ash posits will be something American can’t sustain, the rest of the world will not be interested in listening to America. I wish I could see this statesman transformation happening, but it’s kind of like imagining the rich bully suddenly come upon hard times–the people he used to push around are probably not going to be interested in taking suggestions from him.

If it could be pulled off, though, it would certainly need a very different kind of leader & administrative structure. I suspect there’s a problem there too–the electorate will probably not ‘change their ways’ with respect to their leadership selection criteria until long after the point where a new kind of leader would be needed to painlessly deal with the changing realities.

Hm…