FOR QUITE some time, the United States has been called the World Police, a moniker that’s meant to mock America’s role in the world. I would contend, however, that the US is not so much a police or swat officer, but rather, a bureaucrat with access to high tech weaponry. For all its military might, the United States throughout most of the 20th and early 21st century functioned as the chief bureaucrat and insurer of last resort for the global system.
Unlike real empires, which eagerly and unabashedly pursue their geopolitical goals, the American global system functions to protect global trade, global markets, global finance/investment, global knowledge transfers, international law (for the most part), global security, etc… These functions are not driven by some kind of idealistic or even ideological motive but rather the cold logical interests of many of the world’s elites, whose fortunes are based around the free flow of goods and a carefully managed global trade network. For these elites, America is the central machine at the core of this system, but it’s still just a machine whose purpose is dictated by its function within the global order.
And this is no accident. The US has become a ‘managerial state’ (to borrow from James Burnham), a society that’s ruled by technocratic bureaucrats who operate according to administrative decree, and who justify their authority by way of credentialism. These elites then project their own values to America’s role throughout the world, which are then copied and internalized by other elites in other countries by way of incentives.
This mindset is what drives Washington’s inhabitants to view the world in a certain way, as a system that needs to be managed and controlled, as opposed to a series of distinct nations and civilizations that have different pasts and destinies. The Grand Chessboard of yesteryears has become a spreadsheet/dashboard where managerial technocrats try to keep the world stable in a way that makes sense to themselves. It’s also what drives the neo-liberal ideology that’s so popular among many Western elites today.
In any case, America’s role as global manager can only continue as long as the global order exists. Once that goes, large segments of the American political elite will lose their raison d’etre. Trump and his supporters are a symptom of these coming changes, as they represent a rejection of America’s place in the global order. Naturally, as manager-bureaucrats, the American political establishment (and many Western Nations) opposes them but they cannot oppose time nor can they manage the geopolitical forces which are slowly eroding their world. (jdr456@gmail.com/PN)
