Religious Visions of and Oppositions to Global Hegemony.

In its recently published National Security Strategy report, the United States asserts not only its military supremacy, but also associates that military power with a new moral vision for the international system. A vision in which the United States has the authority to wage preventive war. The United States seeks what Antonio Gramsci refers to as hegemony, i.e., the weaker parties’ acceptance of domination as morally legitimate. Although the document itself uses strictly secular language, U. S. President George W. Bush frequently uses religious language to describe and justify the United States’ war on terrorism and its recent war in Iraq. Even as President Bush sought to legitimize U.S. policy with religious language, the Vatican and almost all U. S. Christian denominations were prominent critics of the United States’ war in Iraq. The Vatican has even described some of the points of the National Security Strategy as dangerous illusions, which will lead to wars without end. An examination of the debate between these religious actors critiquing international politics and an international political actor asserting moral authority provides an opportunity to examine the role of authority in international relations, the sources of authority in global politics, and the role of religion in the construction of global hegemony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]