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Association canadienne de science politiqueProgramme du congrès annuel de l'ACSP 2025
Les politiques d’appartenance : conflit,
communauté, curriculum
Organisé au Collège George Brown, Toronto, CANADA
3 juin au 5 juin 20252025 Annual Conference Programme
The Politics of Belonging: Conflict,
Community, Curriculum
Hosted at George Brown College
June 3 to June 5, 2025
Économie politique
G21 - ROUNDTABLE What is the Future of the American Empire?
Date: Jun 5 | Heure: 03:30pm to 05:00pm | Salle:
Chair/Président/Présidente : Paramjit Singh (York University)
Paramjit Singh (York University, Toronto)Sam Gindin ()
Scott Aquanno (Ontraio Tech University)
Greg Albo (York University, Toronto)
Abstract: The trajectory of the American empire remains a pivotal question within the global political economy, as it faces both avenues for persistence and pathways toward decline. Unlike the former British Empire, the informal nature of the American Empire operates by integrating other economies into a system that prioritizes US interests through control over global production, financial institutions, regulatory frameworks, and international trade structures. After the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, the US dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency and globalization of American finance has emerged as an important linchpin to anchor its imperial reach. However, developments at the global scale in the last decade or so have given way to new contradictions and challenges that have important implications for the persistence of the American empire. The rise of emerging economies, particularly China and a coalition of Global South nations in the form of growing BRICS+, signals a push toward a more multipolar economic and political landscape. These actors are developing alternative economic alliances, regional trade agreements, regional development banking, and payment systems that aim to reduce dependence on the dollar, undermining the cornerstone of American power. Additionally, the US faces internal pressures, such as widening economic inequality, relative stagnation of real wages, and rising consumer debt, which strain its ability to respond cohesively to international shifts. This roundtable will argue that understanding both the forces sustaining and undermining American hegemony is essential for assessing potential shifts in global power balance. It calls for a nuanced analysis to illuminate the structural dynamics that maintain U.S. power and the pressures that may reconfigure it.