To Boldly Go Where No Hegemon has Gone Before: What Star Trek tells us about US Hegemonic Power

• In Event: Legitimacy, Soft Power, and Authority

Abstract

The changing world order will be post-American in nature. This also means that the liberal world order failed in its mission of universalism,as a truly world order would include the incorporation of other countries such as China and Russia. This article will use themes from the fictional universe Star Trek as a framework to analyze the role of US foreign policy in this failure. Star Trek is a utopian post-modern vision for a future American lead world order. This article will evaluate US foreign policy through the lenses of Star Trek highlighting how US foreign policy has too often reflected the villains of Star Trek rather than the United Federation of Planets. In short, US has created a power based system for US interest rather than a rules based system established by values. By highlighting the similarities of Star Trek villains to US foreign policy, it will also be able to suggest a path forward to the creation of a truly united global world order in line with that presented in Star Trek. While Star Trek is science fiction, if several lessons from it were applied a peaceful world order might be more fact than fiction.

Author

• Matthew Earl Crandall, Tallinn University