The USA
After the fall of communism, the USA has become the sole superpower in the world. Hence, Presidents George Bush Sr. (1989-1993), Bill Clinton (1993-2001), George W. Bush (2001-2009), and Barack Obama (2009-2017) have governed the USA from their position of global dominance.
The USA has declared its intention to defend peace, democracy, and freedom worldwide. It has reduced its military presence in Europe but it has increased it in the Caribbean, Asia, and the Pacific area. The Middle East has become a priority objective in order to protect its access to the oil reserves in the area.
There have been some wars where the USA has been involved since the 1990s:
- Gulf War (1990-1991). Iraq’s ruler, Saddam Hussein, ordered the invasion of Kuwait on 2nd August 1990. The USA convinced the UN to protect the sovereignty of Kuwait.Iraq was defeated after a one-month attack and Kuwait re-gained its independence.
- Invasion of Afghanistan (2001). It was the reaction of the USA after the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York City on 11th September 2001; War on Terror began. The internal situation of Afghanistan is still unresolved due to the presence of many members of Al Qaeda and Talibans.
- Invasion of Iraq (2003). The president of the USA, George W. Bush sustained that the Iraqi regime was producing weapons of mass destruction. Hence, he wanted to destroy them. The USA did not get the support of the UN. The invasion of Iraq was done by the American and the British armies. Saddam Hussein was eventually overthrown and executed after a trial.The international forces stayed in Iraq for ten years to pacify the situation, which is not safe enough yet.
A major economic crisis has affected the USA since 2008 and has spread all over the western world. It has been caused by overproduction, speculation, and the housing bubble. Banks could not get back their loans and they cut credits to other entities or people. In addition they did not trust each other and they lost big amounts of money. That credit crunch has affected the general economy and unemployment has grown. Taxes revenue decreased as unemployment benefits grew. Hence, state deficit has grown a lot.