U.S.Hegemonic Legitimacy After The Cold War

The legitimacy of the United States,the only hegemon in contemporary world,is worth studying.This thesis defines hegemonic legitimacy as other nations' approval of the hegemon's leadership in the international community and constructs the theoretical framework for hegemonic legitimacy based on three elements including procedure,value and function to analyze U.S.hegemony after the Cold War.The element of procedure refers to whether the hegemon abides by the international regulations.The element of value refers to whether the hegemon respects the diversified values of different states.The element of function refers to whether the hegemon is able to provide efficient public goods.Based on the theoretical framework,this thesis studies the case of Bush administration and Obama administration to analyze U.S.foreign policy from three elements.The results show that Obama administration's foreign behaviors demonstrate more hegemonic legitimacy than Bush administration's.First,Obama administration's multilateralism demonstrates more hegemonic legitimacy than Bush administration's unilateralism.Second,Obama administration's moderate promotion of democracy demonstrates slightly more hegemonic legitimacy than Bush administration's hardline export.Third,Obama administration's positive attitude towards providing international public goods demonstrates more hegemonic legitimacy than Bush administration's negative attitude.This thesis also analyzes and predicts U.S hegemonic legitimacy during Donald Trump's presidency.First,in terms of procedure,Trump administration inclines towards isolationism rather than multilateralism.Second,in terms of value,Trump administration shows disrespect for Islamic values.Third,in terms of function,Trump administration is unwilling to provide sufficient public goods.Therefore,the U.S.will suffer from the loss of hegemonic legitimacy to some extent during Trump's presidency.