Why is the USA losing its world hegemony in the world, despite having the most powerful military of any nation?  Can this be reversed?

虽然拥有世界上最强大的军事力量，为什么美国还是失去了世界霸权？这种情况可以逆转吗？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Mirna Clavell

Paul, if we were as confident of our military as we claim, we would not have spent the last century or so bamboozling europeans to become allies in our quest to bring de ocracy to the world and not least to make a hefty profit selling arms regardless of who’s toes happen to be in the way. Leadership is guiding with good will for common benefit and our fearless leaders have either conned or backstabbed (literally) almost every decent stateman that have risen for it's people. Leadership isn't “I'm bigger and you have to do what I say”, that is bullying.

Paul，如果我们对军队像我们嘴上说的那样有信心，我们就不会用上一个世纪的时间哄骗欧洲人，让他们成为我们在全世界宣扬皿煮的盟友，尤其是通过军火销售来赚取巨额利润。领导力是为了共同利益的善意引导，我们胆大包天的领导人们要么骗人，要么向几乎每一个为了人民努力的正直政治家背后捅刀子(字面意思)。领导力不是“我官衔比你大，你必须照我说的做”，那是恃强凌弱。

Dennis F

Contrary to internet economist & keyboard generals the US isn’t in decline. What you have over the last 40 years is global peace & stability due to the post WW2 world order. During this time countries got wealthier along the US; China technically replaces the USSR but the US had very little if any change economically. The US will never go back to the 1970 or 1950 when they basically runs the world but they are not in decline. They just split the world wealth between adversaries & allies.

跟互联网经济学家和键盘侠们说的正相反，美国并没有衰落。在过去40年里，你们因为二战后的世界秩序，拥有了世界范围内的和平与稳定。在此期间，很多国家和美国都越来越富裕；中国取代了苏联的地位，但美国在经济上几乎没有太大变化。美国永远不可能回到20世纪70年代或50年代统治全世界的时代了，但他们也并没有走向衰落。他们忙着瓜分对手和盟友的财富。

Militarily; the US army, navy & airforce remains formidable & the most technically advanced than their nearest competitors; in some sector the US military is 50 years ahead of China and Russia. Some argue that a more multilateral world order would be more stable and beneficial for global security and prosperity but personally I doubt it because that will take us back to the 1700s & early 1800s and we all know how volatile those decades were.

在军事上，美国陆军、海军和空军仍然非常强大，依然比最接近的竞争对手出色；在某些领域，美国军队领先中国和俄罗斯50年。有些人认为，一个更加多边的世界秩序会更加稳定，更有利于全球安全和繁荣，但我个人对此深表怀疑，因为这会把我们拉回到18世纪和19世纪初，我们都清楚那个时期的世界局势是多么的动荡。

Personally, I think the world is heading toward protectionism especially of high tech and A.I; China and Russia are regimes and if they can make it until the end of this century then there’s a real chance of them disposing the US but I doubt it.

Eventually, Putin will die and will leave a power vacuum in Russia.

就我个人而言，我认为世界正在逐步走向保护主义，尤其是因为高科技和人工智能的出现；中国和俄罗斯是一个类型的国家，如果他们能撑到本世纪末，那么他们就有可能把美国干掉，但我对此表示怀疑。

后普京时代，会给俄罗斯留下权力真空。

Kishor Shah

Lately, USA failed to lead the world with noble philosophy. They depended on their brute power to remain leader.

Brute Power is now manifesting it's limitations to remain hagemonic.

美国不是靠高尚的品德领导世界的，他们靠的是蛮力。

现在看来，想靠蛮力维持霸权十分艰难了。

John David Dennis

Have a look at what is happening in congress. This, combined with a tendency to think that if it doesn't hurt American interests, it doesn't matter.

看看国会都在干什么吧。还有那种觉得只要不损害美国利益，一切都无所谓的态度。

Bill Boyd

So you are a who thinks that power comes from the barrel of a gun

Power comes from diplomacy skills, honesty and integrity.

所以你觉得枪杆子里出政权。

权力源于外交手段、诚实和正直。

Gordon Clason

The US is becoming isolationist again. Since 1945 the US Navy protected the world's oceans so anybody could ship to anybody.

We are slowly pulling back from that. The rest of the world asked us to leave. Fine. You asked for it, you got it.

如今，美国再一次走向孤立主义。自1945年以来，美国海军保护了世界各个大洋，所以各国之间可以通航。

我们正在慢慢放手。其他国家都要求我们离开。很好，既然你们想要，那就满足你们。

Let the Saudis and the Iranians start a war over the Persian Gulf. Let Iran-backed Yemeni pirates launch rockets at commercial ships in the Red Sea. Let the Panamanian government mismanage the canal.

The US can trade with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand without having to guard any choke points or act like the world's naval referee.

We're done.

让沙特和伊朗在波斯湾开战吧。让伊朗支持的也门海盗向红海的商船发射火箭吧。让巴拿马政府对运河为所欲为吧。

美国可以跟日本、韩国、菲律宾、中国台湾、印度尼西亚、澳大利亚和新西兰进行贸易，不必守卫什么咽喉要道，也不必扮演海军裁判的角色。

我们走了。

Mustafa Hakim1

The US is a bankrupt country. in 1971 the US came off the gold standard in order to be able to print as much money that it wanted. Now that gravy train has come to an end, and the US can no longer keep kicking the debt can down the road any longer because it causes inflation. With US debt to GDP over 100%. Its game over!

美国已经是一个破产国家了。1971年，美国放弃了金本位制，以便能够随心所欲地印钞。现在，这种躺着赚钱的方式已经行不通了，美国不能把债务问题继续往后拖了，否则会导致通货膨胀。美国债务总额和GDP的比例已经超过100%了。美国死到临头了！

Bruce Jurin

I think it is a variety of issues.

One clearly is the rise of China. China GNP will surpass the US in 10- 15 years, according to most forecasts. Second would be internal dissension within the US. Although this has always been present, there had usually been a nationalism that largely superseded political differences. Currently that appears to be breaking down. Third would be the fact that technologically, atomic weapons are available to any country effectively willing to spend the resources to create them - there really isn’t much anyone like the US can stop them. Last would be generally malaise in international issues from the main US allies.

我认为问题有很多。

一个明显的原因是中国的崛起。根据大多数预测，中国的GDP将在10- 15年内超过美国。其次是美国国内的分歧。尽管这种情况一直存在，但通常来说民族主义在很大程度上取代了政治分歧。目前，这种局面似乎正在瓦解。第三个事实是，对所有愿意花费资源来制造核武器的国家来说，核武器都是造得出来的—真的不是美国这样的国家可以阻止的。最后一点，美国的主要盟友在国际问题上普遍感到不安。

Can it be reversed? The future is hard to see. The main issue the US needs to work on is its internal political issues; united as it was in WWII it could still be a powerhouse, but disunited it in much weaker; but seeing how that can happen at least to me seems difficult. China appears unified but forecasting its future economically and politically is very difficult.

New powers may arise - India in particular has internal issues but there can be a path to India being a world power.

Unfortunately, I at least don’t see any way to stop nuclear proliferation.

这种趋势能被逆转吗？未来很难预测。美国需要解决的主要问题是国内政治问题；只要像在二战期间那样团结一致，美国仍然可以成为一个强国，但如果分裂，美国就会削弱很多；但至少对我来说，很难搞清这种情况会如何发生。中国看起来很团结，我们很难预测其经济和政治的前景。

可能还会出现新的势力—尤其是印度，印度也有国内问题，但印度有可能成为世界大国。

可惜的是，至少对于我自己而言，我不知道该如何防止核武器扩散。

Wes Frank

The United States is not “losing its world hegemony.”

Rome was a hegemonic power because of its military, but, in a world with an international legal system—such as it is—along with seven nuclear powers and an interlocked economic system, you don’t judge hegemony by who has the biggest army.

美国并没有“失去世界霸权”。

罗马因为强大的军事实力而成为霸权国家，但是在一个拥有国际法律体系的世界里—就像现在这样—还有七个核大国和一个交织互联的经济体系，你不能以谁拥有最强大的军队来判断谁是霸主。

If you are ranking the major world powers in terms of relative influence, combining all important factors, the only major change in the last thirty years has been the decay and collapse of the Russian Federation. The United States is by far the most important national government, with China trailing and the European Union and NATO becoming more important as international actors.

如果你根据相对影响力的大小对世界主要大国进行排名，综合所有重要因素，过去30年唯一的重大变化就是俄罗斯联邦的衰落和瓦解。到目前为止，美国是最重要的国家政府，中国紧随其后，欧盟和北约的国际角色也变得越来越重要。

All the more interesting since all of the major powers have gone through periods of bad governance. In the case of the United States the disastrous Bush/Cheney administration and the nearly as disastrous Trump administration, paired with the rise of the anti-government right essentially crippling the house and senate at intervals.

更有趣的是，所有的大国都经历过治理不善的时期。以美国为例，布什、切尼政府和特朗普政府就是非常失败的政府，再加上反政府右翼的崛起，基本上每隔一段时间参众两院就会乱套。

Richard Kenneth Eng

First of all, the US military isn’t as powerful as people think. It has been declining for decades. The USA hasn’t fought a war with a military peer since WWII. Nearly all of its wars have been wars of insurgency. The USA hasn’t faced a genuine military peer since the Soviet Union.

Thus, the US military transitioned into a different kind of military suited to fighting insurgents.

首先，美国军队并不像人们想象的那么强大，几十年来美军实力一直在下降。自二战以来，美国还没有与势均力敌的军事对手打过仗，参加的几乎都是平叛战争。自苏联以来，美国还没有遇到过真正的军事对手。

因此，美国军队已经变成打击叛乱分子的军队了。

Second, the US military hasn’t had a significant military victory since WWII, unless you consider the First Gulf War (I don’t).

Third, the US military is having significant difficulties recruiting. It has a massive shortfall of recruits. American young men don’t care to fight America’s wars around the globe.

其次，除了第一次海湾战争(我不这么认为)，美国军队自二战以来没有取得过重大的军事胜利。

第三，美军在招募新兵方面存在极大困难，新兵严重短缺。美国年轻人不愿意参加美国在全球各地的战争。

Fourth, the US Navy, arguably the core of America’s military might, has a huge maintenance backlog. At any given time, many of its vessels (including aircraft carriers) are waiting to be serviced.

Fifth, the USA lacked the confidence to directly engage Russia over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, even though the US military is supposedly so much more powerful.

Can this be reversed? Possibly, but I rather doubt it. The USA has many other problems that demand greater attention.

第四，美国海军可以说是美国军事力量的核心，养护压力巨大，许多船只(包括航空母舰)都在排队等待维修。

第五，在俄乌冲突问题上，虽然美军似乎要强大得多，但美国没有信心和俄罗斯直接交战。

这种情况有可以逆转吗？有可能，但我严重怀疑。美国还有许多其他问题需要更多关注。

William Hobba

Other countries are catching up. There is also the rise of WOKE rubbish that some (but far from all) countries have avoided. WOKE is anti-enlightenment, which is what led to the USA’s dominance.

其他国家正在迎头赶上。有些国家避免了“觉醒”垃圾的冒头。觉醒是反启蒙的，当初正是启蒙运动奠定了美国的统治地位。

Jonathan Buttall

Is the United States’s hegemony declining, or is the rest of the world simply catching up? BOTH. The US has been in gradual decline since the murder of JFK. I’m old enough to remember what the US was like before and after. The loss of the Vietnam war immensely increased that decline. Under Trump, that decline has skyrocketed like an ICBM.

是美国的霸权正在衰落，还是世界其他国家正在迎头赶上？

两者兼具。自从肯尼迪遇刺以来，美国就开始逐渐衰落了。我不是年轻人了，我记得美国建国前后的样子。越南战争的失败极大地加剧了这种衰落。在特朗普的领导下，美国的衰落势头更是开始像洲际弹道导弹一样高速。

China has greatly increased it’s military might since a poor showing against Vietnam in a brief war in 1979. They are far, far stronger than when they drove the US out of North Korea during the Korean War.

Russia is much weaker than they were under the USSR, especially economically. But militarily, they’re still at the superpower level. And Russians have this odd quirk; they actually fight! Remember them in World War II? I sure wouldn’t to fight the people who survived Stalin and Hitler and beat Germany even after losing 20 million people!

自1979年中国在和越南的短暂交战中表现不佳以来，中国的军事实力大大增强。他们已经比在朝鲜战争期间把美国赶出朝鲜时更加强大了。

俄罗斯比苏联时期弱多了，尤其是在经济上。但在军事方面，俄罗斯仍然是一个超级大国。俄罗斯人很神奇，他们真的是战斗民族！还记得二战中的俄罗斯吗？我肯定不愿意和那些没被斯大林和希特勒打败的人作战，他们在失去2000万人后依然打败了德国！