Immanuel Wallerstein Predicted the Fall of the US Empire
Soon after 9/11, world-systems analyst Immanuel Wallerstein warned that US imperial decline was inevitable. But US leaders didn’t want to hear that their glory days were in the past, and they’ve managed that decline in the worst possible way.
Immanuel Wallerstein believed that the US could respond to imperial decline in two ways: by becoming a more progressive, egalitarian society, or by lurching toward neofascism. It’s unfortunately clear which of these tendencies is more powerful today. (Semaanurbulbul / CC BY-SA 4.0 [cropped])
In July 2002, Immanuel Wallerstein appeared on C-SPAN’s morning call-in program. He had just written an essay for Foreign Policy magazine with a provocative title: “The Eagle Has Crash Landed.” Wallerstein argued that the US position of dominance on the world stage was in decline.
As he was speaking, less than a year had passed since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the subsequent US invasion of Afghanistan. The Bush administration was preparing its military and the American public for the invasion of Iraq that would begin in March 2003.
George W. Bush, it should be remembered, was a popular figure at the time. The president’s approval rating hit a record 90 percent the previous September, and remained over 70 percent when Wallerstein went public with his message of decline.
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