Introduction:
The world hegemon must support an open order, and the openness of the order gives the challenger room to grow. The challenger must first become a leading and constitutive force in the world economy, and have a cosmopolitan character at the economic level.
Economic growth is usually accompanied by the rise of nationalist sentiment, which is a critical time, if the country at this stage can complete its spiritual cosmopolitan turn, complete the transcendence of its own country, we can call it spiritual liberation, it is possible to truly assume its responsibilities in the world.
If it fails to achieve self-transcendence at the spiritual level, it may eventually move towards a state of enemies on all sides, or even to destruction, in the excitement of nationalism.
Excerpt from the eighth chapter of "Pivot" "Spiritual Consciousness of The Nation in World History" And the second section of "The Self-Transcendence of Great Powers".
There are only a few peoples in human history who can be called world historical peoples, or have the potential of world historical peoples, including the Anglo-Saxon nation, the German nation, the French nation, the Russian nation, and the Chinese nation.
The so-called world historical nation does not lie in the fact that it can rule over other nations, but that as an independent variable of the world order, it has the ability to understand its own internal consistency with the world, and can grasp the fate of world history in the development of self-consciousness, thus leading the universal consciousness of mankind. This fate and self-realization is the universal realization and unfolding of freedom.
Opening of new routes:
The world began to become a whole, to begin the history of the world in the true sense of the word
Since the great discovery of geography, human history has truly unfolded into a universally connected world history; the leading nations of each subsequent era can be called the peoples of world history. Consulting history, we can see the changes in the world order, accompanied by the changes in its leading countries; the process of change implicitly reveals some basic logic of world history.
Kissinger once commented: "Almost some kind of natural law, every century seems to emerge a powerful, willful, intellectual and morally motivated state that seeks to shape the entire international system according to its own values." ”
The so-called strength refers to the material level of national power, including economic strength and military strength.
The so-called intellectual and moral dynamics (which can be collectively referred to as ideals) refer to the spiritual dimension of the power of the state, including the concept of world order that the country possesses and the values it pursues.
Strength and ideals are two elements that rely on each other. Without strength as a support, ideals can only be utopian; without ideals as a guide, strength will degenerate into violence. Ideals give strength a direction, which is an element of initiative; strength makes the ideal develop into reality, which is the binding element of the ideal.
British Parliament
In addition, the system is needed as an intermediary element between strength and ideals. Institutions can transform ideals into concrete policies and rely on strength to implement them; at the same time, appropriate systems can also make the material constraints faced by ideals reflected in policy formulation, and bridge the gap between the strength needed by reasonable imagination and the strength supported by reality.
For example, Louis XIV and Napoleon in France, because the power is in the hands of the monarch alone, the ambition of the monarch has kidnapped the ideals of the country, so that its boundless ambitions cannot be restrained in the process of policy formulation, exceeding the boundaries allowed by strength, and finally leading to the defeat of the country.
The British parliamentary system has a more complex policy formation mechanism, the voices of various interests have the opportunity to be expressed, the boundaries of strength are reflected in this process, and it can also constrain the ambitions of leaders, so that Britain can become a restrained hegemon for a long time.
The leading state of an era will have a cosmopolitan character that transcends nationalism in the three elements of strength, ideals, and institutions.
In terms of strength elements
The leading state should be the leading force in the world economically and the world power militarily in order to provide a universal peace and order.
As far as the institutional elements are concerned
Its military power should underpin an open, universalist order of rules that applies universally to all nations; if it supports not an open order but a closed order, it will be defeated by other competitors who support an open order, because the open order will gain allies in the world, and the closed order will treat most of the world as opponents.
At the same time, the internal political order of the leading state should maintain a coherent internal and external relationship with this world order, and the world order becomes a certain externalization of its internal political order, so as not to be at odds with domestic and foreign affairs and unable to implement consistent policies. Further, in terms of internal affairs, it is also necessary to be able to form an effective mobilization mechanism, integrate the public opinion base into policy expression, and form a joint force within the country.
In terms of spiritual elements
Leading states should be able to uphold a universal value pursuit that transcends its own country and expresses the spirit of the times, so as to ethically justify the world order it supports, make it desirable, and thus form some international consensus in maintaining it. In concrete international political practice, the national interests of the leading state must be realized through this universalist order, and only through this universalist order can its national interests be maximized.
Because of the openness of the order espoused by the leading state, the challenger can grow up in its given order, and the leading state may change. The challenger country must first become the leading and constitutive force in the world economy, and have a cosmopolitan character at the economic level.
Economic growth is usually accompanied by the rise of nationalist sentiment, which is a critical time, if the country can complete its spiritual cosmopolitan turn at this stage, we can call it spiritual liberation, that is, the completion of the transcendence of the country on the spiritual level, it is possible to become a comprehensive leadership state.
American Dream
The cosmopolitan transformation of the two levels of strength and ideals, accompanied by the gradual adjustment of the country's system, from the establishment of the public opinion integration mechanism at the internal affairs level to the formation of the coherence of the internal political order and the international order, has finally become a truly new leading country.
※ This article is reproduced from the Shih Tzu World Public Name