From Unipolarity to Managed Chaos: America’s Global Strategy

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States has found itself as the sole superpower in the international system. However, it has paid a heavy price for this singular dominance. Its adoption of a unipolar model and its unilateral management of global crises led to cumulative economic and financial exhaustion, accelerating the pace of crises and structural breakdowns within the capitalist system itself.

In an attempt to contain this trajectory, the administration of President Barack Obama—supported by think tanks and political elites—sought to reshape partnerships with European allies and reduce international tensions. Yet this approach failed to lessen the financial and political burdens borne by Washington, leaving the United States as the largest spender and principal underwriter of the global order.

With the arrival of President Trump’s first administration, the method changed—but not the objective. Washington adopted a more confrontational policy based on direct pressure, demanding that Europe—its historically—shoulders a greater share of NATO’s costs. It also required countries under the American security umbrella to contribute more to their own defense and protection. At the same time, the U.S. administration opened an economic and political confrontation with China, accusing it of financial and trade manipulation. To reinforce this confrontation, Washington attempted to draw closer to Russia in order to neutralize it, but failed to push Europe into full alignment with its vision. China, for its part, acted with high pragmatism, openly declaring that it did not seek a cold economic war with the United States, while continuing to strengthen its productive and technological capacity.

Following the failure of Trump’s first administration to achieve its major objectives, President Joe Biden’s administration introduced a more complex approach. Washington succeeded in drawing Russia into an open war with Ukraine, plunging Europe into a series of severe economic and security crises that drained its capabilities and weakened its strategic autonomy. At the same time, Russia itself was exhausted and its accelerating growth was curtailed. Concurrently, Washington revived the Taiwan issue and escalated political and military pressure against Beijing.

Domestically, and in response to the risk of economic collapse, the United States resorted to injecting unprecedented amounts of dollars into the markets—a historic step that led to widespread inflation with long-term repercussions for the global economy.

Subsequently, President Biden’s health developments at a critical political moment opened the door for President Trump’s return to the political scene, granting him a renewed opportunity to complete his project. With this return, tensions with China and Europe intensified, alongside efforts to court Russia in order to neutralize it from the central conflict. Russia was even proposed as a nominal partner—or a “peace guarantor”—in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Europe today is attempting to find a way out of its state of exhaustion and to reclaim an international standing independent of political subordination to the United States. At the same time, China is emerging from its silence, signaling its readiness to defend itself militarily if necessary.
While Europe and Russia were preoccupied with the war in Ukraine, the United States moved swiftly to redraw the contours of what it calls the “New Middle East,” according to an American vision that excludes European and Russian influence from its formulation. At its core, this strategy aims to contain China’s economic rise—and beyond that, to push away the specter of Islam’s return as a global guiding principle. In this context, Washington supported the secularization of Saudi and Gulf societies, marginalizing Islam and Islamic movements. It also reactivated the Iranian file, restructuring the clerical system—rooted in Islamic identity—into a secular model, while excluding any Islamic or Islam-oriented forces across the region as a whole.

The fundamental question remains: Will Washington succeed in achieving its objectives? And what is the path out of these international crises?

The answer does not depend solely on American will, but on the responses of global powers, and on what political parties and movements worldwide will do to obstruct these policies of a colonial nature. More importantly, it depends on the ability of the Muslim Ummah to regain its awareness, build its strength, confront global injustice, dismantle the dominance of colonial capitalist principles, and replace them with the justice and mercy of Islam.

The Muslim Ummah possesses the power of principle and faith—when activated, it becomes an unconquerable Ummah and a bearer of justice, mercy, and goodness for all humanity. What has occurred in Gaza stands as a living testament to this reality, reminding us that responsibility is collective, and that victory depends on unity and the integration of efforts, not fragmentation. At that point, Allah (swt) looks into the hearts and prepares the conditions for victory, honor, and empowerment—and that is not far away.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Samer Dahsha “Abu Omar”