[Pen-l] rallying behind the hegemon

[Gernot Koehler <gko15@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Rallying behind the president is an effect that is familiar in US politics. It happens now and then. What I find interesting about the current world situation is a comparable effect, namely, rallying behind the hegemon.

According to world systems theory (a la Wallerstein et al.), a transnational crisis like the present one should result in a complete unraveling and falliing-apart of the global political economy. However, the opposite appears to be happening. The G20 governments (in other words, the executive committees of the global elite / bourgeoisie) are rallying behind their hegemon.

A report about the preparations for the next G20 summit in April (see,   http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/g20/
) suggests that
(1) the G20 are supportive of the hegemon's (USA) efforts to fight national/global recession/depression ;
(2) the G20 preparations for their next summit focus on stablizing the global financial system, while the real economy appears to be a lesser priority. The four major working groups of the G20 address mostly finance, namely:
Working Group 1, Enhancing Sound Regulation and Strengthening Transparency
Working Group 2, Reinforcing International Cooperation and Promoting Integrity in Financial Markets
Working Group 3, Reforming the International Monetary Fund

Working Group 4, The World Bank and Other Multilateral Development Banks

While mass unrest / class struggle may be feared by the G20, it has not materialised yet in any major way. Reminiscent of Churchill - at the time of greatest danger everybody was rallying behind him. How this rallying behind the hegemon fits into socialist theory, I don't know.

GK

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