Perspectives of hegemony in the eastern asia in light of the world-system approach

Abstract

The world-system approach, which nowadays is seen as a wide range of interdisciplinary researches, studies the human world as a primarily interconnected and hierarchically organized system, where there is always a Center eligible for hegemony, a subordinate periphery and a half-periphery that possesses its own reproduction resources. In terms of evaluating the perspectives and creating scenarios of to-be balance of power in the Eastern Asia, this approach allows considering that the world system has reached the new phase envelope, to which the previous criteria cannot be fully applicable. Economic power of modern humanity reached the volume that allows to overpass the very market dependence of periphery from the Center, which is generally typical for the world economy. The cultural determinants of generation and diffusion of innovations assume greater importance as part of the process forming a new relational system, which can be called “world culture”. Such a principle of system integration means the irrelevance of that form of hegemony, typical for the previous world economy. Against the background of universal mobility and extraordinary significance of human capital, the states as centers of power (power politics) are involved into a special type of business struggle as Attractive Centers for the capital of this kind, where “creative community” is a key element. Considering these factors, one can predict the end of hegemony as a notion and the beginning of the genuine multipolar world. The USA would secure the leadership as a top creative economy, but cannot be characterized as a hegemon anymore because of the absence of leverage on decision-making process in “sequacious” countries and regions. China as a leader in Eastern Asia would not count on being a hegemon in old terms, and even in new ones, due to ethnic and political factors inherent to Chinese people that preclude it from taking the lead of the global “creative community”.