Twilight's Last Gleaming

The larger issue of defining hegemony and dominance has gained a greater importance over the last dozen years. Whether addressed explicitly or implicitly, it is the issue that lies behind the many recent books on international relations. The ongoing "financial crisis" has given these issues new urgency. This book provides new and startling evidence drawn from foreign exchange markets and capital flow statistics. They demonstrate that the problem dates back to the end of 2000 and has been driven by political events as much as structural economic issues. Combined with the development of a structural energy problem, the financial problem generated a global economic crisis that has not ended.
In Twilight's Last Gleaming, Edmund Clingan uses economic measurements to establish measures of political and military power. Clingan examines the changes in these measurements over the last two hundred years to establish how international power relations have been affected by changes in economic power. He considers the factors that contribute to and detract from economic power. Using these quantitative measures, he provides consistent definitions of "dominance" and "hegemony" that should become commonly used and contribute to more precise discourse in history and political science. These tools uncover the deeper issues behind the current problems of the United States.

Edmund Clingan is associate professor of history at Queensborough Community College, CUNY.

Tables
Figures
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
2. Dominance and Hegemony in Modern Times
3. The Rise and Fall of American Hegemony 1820-1973
4. After U.S. Hegemony
5. The End of U.S. Dominance?
Conclusion: After U.S. Dominance
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the Author