ABSTRACT
With most of the world in tatters, the United States emerged from World War II as the overwhelming global economic power. It remained the hegemonic economy for the next twenty-five years, but world-systems theorists argue that U.S. hegemony has been in decline since the 1970s. Since the late 1990s there have been massive street protests against transnational corporate capitalism. There has also been violent action against U.S.-led globalization by militant Islamists operating on a global scale. This wave of globalization backlash from below may be the beginning of another world revolution. The chapter also presents data on the percentage of the world gross domestic product (GDP) held by each of the major powers of the world along with different world regions in 1990 and 1999. All economic hegemons tend to become military leaders, but not all military leaders can also achieve economic hegemony.
