Understanding the U.S. state behavior

Understanding the U.S. state behavior Wen Yang As the two parties in the U.S. Congress finally reached an agreement on raising the debt ceiling and reducing the deficit, the U.S. debt crisis that has affected the world is temporarily over...

Understanding the State Behavior of the United States Wen Yang As the two parties in the U.S. Congress finally reached an agreement on raising the debt ceiling and reducing the deficit, the U.S. debt crisis that affected the global nerves has come to an end for the time being. However, questions about how the U.S. government will act under a tight budget and how the U.S. will repay its mounting debt will continue to exist and develop in the form of crises. Today, when American problems are increasingly equated with global problems, how to understand the national behavior of the United States has also become a major global issue. I published last week in both Chinese and English "Where does America's arrogance come from?" "The article aroused some reactions from both Chinese and English reader groups. Although there are both supporters and opponents, with different positions and angles, they all involve the issue of how to understand the national behavior of the United States. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a special discussion on this topic. In general, the current international system is a so-called "post-Westphalian system." This means that the "Westphalian System" that has been gradually formed since the mid-17th century, in which countries enjoy supreme sovereignty within their own national borders, other countries have no right to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, international law is limited by national boundaries, and the use of force across national boundaries is considered illegal, is gradually declining. Some new norms that transcend this system, such as "human rights are higher than sovereignty" and "pre-emptive" invasion in the name of defending freedom, are being formed. The reason for this situation, according to some scholars, is that the two important conditions supporting the "Westphalian System" are no longer met. First, the balance of power between major powers, that is, the "balance of power strategy" that can curb the abuse of force, has become difficult to maintain. Superpowers with global dominance and frequent use of force have emerged. Secondly, the common basis for the peaceful resolution of conflicts between countries, that is, the basic consensus among countries around the world on what is justice, is also difficult to maintain, and violence has once again become the main means of settling disputes. Obviously, these two big changes are related to the United States, the only superpower in the world today. Although the United States is burdened with astronomically huge debts, it still maintains an annual military expenditure of more than 400 billion US dollars, which is more than the military expenditure of all other countries in the world combined. It has built military bases in 63 countries around the world and stationed military personnel in more than 120 countries. In the past three decades, the United States has conducted more than 50 overseas military interventions? It is the United States’ pursuit of a “new world order” led by it and based on globalization that has brought the world into the “post-Westphalia” era. The old system that lasted for more than three hundred years has been destroyed, and the basic international norms that maintained the system's operation have been negated. However, the leader, the United States, has not brought the world into a new system, nor has it established new international norms. In my opinion, this is a key to understanding the behavior of the American state today. I will not judge which system is better or worse here for the time being, so I will not criticize the United States' behavior of "can please the gods but not calm the nerves" for the time being. Establishing such a factual judgment is just for better understanding. In my opinion, because we are in such an era of great change where "there is no village before or there is no shop behind", and the future direction will directly affect the formation of the new pattern in the future, the unique leadership, guidance, and shaping capabilities of the United States have become the target of various interest groups competing to exert influence or even hijack it. This situation is like a bus driving in the wilderness, with the United States as the driver and other countries as passengers. Since the driver's driving directly determines the direction of the car and the fate of the passengers, the group of people who happen to be sitting next to the driver and can control the steering wheel have full power to influence the driver or even hijack the driver to make the car move in the direction they want. Globalization is the busification of the world. The hegemony of the United States is the power of the driver, and the huge interest groups with the ability to interfere in the American political process are the influencers or hijackers around the driver. This picture did not exist in the old system. It is only gradually taking shape today as globalization becomes deeper and deeper. "Where does American arrogance come from?" "This article is not to say whether the United States is a good or bad country, nor is it to say whether life in the United States is good or bad. It just hopes to explore who is influencing the "barbaric" behavior of the United States. The conclusion of the article is that I agree with former President Carter’s analysis: The influence of the “Christian fundamentalists” around the driver of the United States is too great, and the entire car has almost been hijacked by them. By understanding the United States in this way, we can more fully estimate future crises and risks. No harm done.