An American Crisis; A Global Recession

Abstract

The purpose of this book will be twofold: first, to explain the historical development of the financial system as a political project that conditions the response of political leaders. This chapter places significant analytical important on the financial crisis and the Great Recession that began in 2008. Second, this book will intervene in a debate on American hegemony. In the wake of crisis there have been two major schools of thought on the future of the USA as the dominant country in the global capitalist system: one that argues America is in decline, the other that it has retained its primacy. The argument of the book is that although America remains the dominant global, the greatest threat to American hegemony and the stability of global capitalism in the twenty-first century is America. I will examine the recent polarization of the American political system and its broader consequences on American global hegemony in the wake of the Great Recession, culminating in the presidency of Donald Trump.