The case of the United States
In recent decades, the behavior of the United States has stood out as a prime example of states’ arrogance, representing a radical shift from behavior within the traditional concept of international relations to a more problematic form of international relations, one from which the concept of states’ arrogance emerges.
Immediately after the end of World War II, the United States emerged as a superpower in a global system, rivaled only by the Soviet Union. It enjoyed military and economic power, as well as a political influence that played a pivotal role in the establishment of numerous international institutions such as the United Nations, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. Although the United States exploited its influence within these institutions to serve its own interests, these institutions undoubtedly contributed to enhancing a degree of stability and cooperation among member states.
The American role has been manifested in the exercise of its influence and dominance through intervention in the internal affairs of several countries, such as in Korea, Vietnam, Chile, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Such interventions were sometimes justified by the assumption that they were protecting the global order from the threat posed by weaker and relatively unstable states, and at other times under the pretext of protecting democracy and preventing the spread of other political systems such as communism, or because of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in those states, thus undermining the sovereignty of weaker countries and suppressing the desires of their people.
The United States invasion of Iraq is an example of states’ arrogance, supported by some of the United States’ allies such as the UK, where former US President George W. Bush presented the rest of the countries with two choices: “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” Following the claim that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, the international community viewed the United States through the lens of having acted unilaterally and without authorization from international organizations, thereby exploiting its influence and military power, resisting the international community, and showing distrust in the role of the international organizations. Such an act intensified criticism directed at Washington, and damaged the reputation of the United States, its foreign policy, and its international role, which had for long maintained global stability and established a remarkable period of relative calm.