Analyzing the Decline of Western Dominance in International Relations

This essay delves into the evolving dynamics of international relations, specifically examining the weakening of Western dominance and the rise of Asian economies, particularly China and India. It explores various factors contributing to this shift, including social factors like population size, economic development with rapidly growing economies, technological advancements where Asian countries are becoming global powerhouses, and military might as developing nations increase their defense capabilities. The essay highlights the increasing importance of Asian countries in global affairs and concludes that the narrowing differences between Western and other nations will lead to greater representation of developing countries in international bodies, further diminishing Western dominance. The essay provides an in-depth analysis of the changing global power structure and its implications.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL RELATION
International relation
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1INTERNATIONAL RELATION
Introduction
Traditionally, western economies especially the United States of America are having
higher level of importance in the international political and economical systems. This is due to
the reason that western economies are the frontrunners in terms of development and access to
different resources coupled with military and economical might. This led to the increase in
importance of these countries in different international bodies such as World Economic Forum
and the United Nations1. Another reason of this strength of the western economies is the
dependency of other countries on them. Western countries are one, which can influence the
world politics and even influence the economy of other countries. However, in the recent time,
this dominance of the western countries is weakening and countries mainly from the Asian
regions are coming up as the new determining force in the world2.
There are obviously different reasons behind the reduction of the dominance of the
western countries and in this essay; these reasons will be discussed in details.
Social factors
Social factors are one of the major determining factors for the country development and
in this area; western countries are trailing behind the Asian counterparts. Gaughan et al. (2013)
reported that Asian countries constitute of approximately 60 percent of the total population of the
world3. Thus, the advantages that maybe gained from having higher population are being with
1 Desai, Radhika. "The Brics are building a challenge to western economic supremacy." The Guardian 2 (2013).
2 Alejandro, Audrey. Western Dominance in International Relations?: The Internationalisation of IR in Brazil and
India. Routledge, 2018.
3 Gaughan, Andrea E., Forrest R. Stevens, Catherine Linard, Peng Jia, and Andrew J. Tatem. "High resolution
population distribution maps for Southeast Asia in 2010 and 2015." PloS one 8, no. 2 (2013): e55882.

2INTERNATIONAL RELATION
the Asian countries. These advantages are higher gross domestic income, higher foreign
investments due to larger market size and more potentiality of economic growth. In this case,
Asian countries mainly India and China are the top two countries in the world in terms of
population. Thus, these countries are having the advantages over the western economies. On the
other hand, it should also be noted that dependency of the western economies on these Asian
countries are increasing due to the fact that investors from the western countries are more
investing in the Asian countries to tap the growing market while the market in the western
countries already got saturated. This is causing reduction in the dominance of the western
economies in against the Asian developing countries4.
Economic development
One of the major reasons of the weakening of the western dominance is the rise of Asian
giants such as India and China. Gay (2016) reported that the economy growth of the United
States is 2.8 percent as of 2017, while the economy growth rate of India and China is 6.3 percent
and 6.8 percent respectively. This shows that these developing countries are growing at the more
than double rate of that of the United States5. Thus, the more rapidly these developing countries
will grow, the less they will be depending on the traditional superpowers6. On the other hand, the
more will be the economy development of India and China, the more will be their market
opportunities over their developed counterparts. This is also shifting the determining powerhouse
from the western region to the eastern region. The shift of the powerhouse is well evident by the
4 Hopewell, Kristen. "Different paths to power: The rise of Brazil, India and China at the World Trade
Organization." Review of International Political Economy 22, no. 2 (2015): 311-338.
5 Gay, Robert D. "Effect of macroeconomic variables on stock market returns for four emerging economies: Brazil,
Russia, India, and China." The International Business & Economics Research Journal (Online) 15, no. 3 (2016):
119.
6 Hoge Jr, James F. "A global power shift in the making." In Paradoxes of Power, pp. 62-68. Routledge, 2015.

3INTERNATIONAL RELATION
selection of China as the Veto power in the United Nations Security Council and increase in the
voice of the developing countries in different international bodies.
Technological factors
Technology is another area where the developed western countries were ahead than
others. They were more updated over other countries and thus their bargaining power was also
more. However, in the recent time, China is becoming the global powerhouse of technological
advancements in most cost effective manner. Chinese technologies are well known around the
world and they are first capturing the world market due to their cost effectiveness. According to
Ghani et al. (2014), India is also quickly becoming the global hub for the Information
Technology services and Indian IT companies are fast capturing the global market7. Therefore,
the developing countries or the third world Asian countries are fast coming forward in terms of
the technological development and going ahead of the western economies. Thus, another
competitive advantage of the western countries is also reducing and dependency of the countries
on the western economies for getting the access to the newer technologies is reducing. For
instance, Apple being an American electronic brand is having the manufacturing facility in China
and is considering opening another factory in India8. On the other hand, IBM is the one of the
largest American IT companies and they are outsourcing their major jobs from India. This shows
the importance of the developing countries for the economy of the western counterparts.
7 Ghani, Ejaz, William R. Kerr, and Christopher Stanton. "Diasporas and outsourcing: evidence from oDesk and
India." Management Science 60, no. 7 (2014): 1677-1697.
8 G. Javalgi, Rajshekhar, W. Benoy Joseph, Elad Granot, and Andrew C. Gross. "Strategies for sustaining the edge
in offshore outsourcing of services: the case of India." Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing 28, no. 6 (2013):
475-486.

4INTERNATIONAL RELATION
Military might
Military and hard diplomacy is also another factor on which the western economies were
ahead of other countries with the United States being the largest producer of defense equipments
and most powerful country in the world. However, it is reported that India is the largest arms
importer in the world as of 2016 followed by the Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and China.
This data denotes that developing countries are fast matching up with the military might of the
western countries9. On the other hand, developing countries especially India and China are
rapidly developing their defense industry with China already introduced their fifth generation
fighter aircrafts to the world and India is developing their own aircrafts10. Thus, again the
military might of the western economies is getting equalized with other countries.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that differences between the western and other countries are
getting reduced and this pace is further getting amplified in the recent time. Mainly China and
India are competing effectively with the western countries in terms of different parameters. In
this essay, there are different factors identified and discussed on which the developing countries
are going ahead of the western countries. It is concluded that population growth of the
developing countries is one of the major reasons for rapid growth. This essay concludes that the
less will be the differences between the western and other countries, the more will be the
representation of the developing countries in the international bodies. This is leading to the
weakening of the western dominance in the international systems.
9 Cordesman, Anthony H., Ashley Hess, and Nicholas S. Yarosh. Chinese military modernization and force
development: a western perspective. Rowman & Littlefield, 2013.
10 Bitzinger, Richard A. "The State of Defense Innovation in India: Can It Catch Up with Global Leaders?." (2014).

5INTERNATIONAL RELATION
Bibliography
Alejandro, Audrey. Western Dominance in International Relations?: The Internationalisation of
IR in Brazil and India. Routledge, 2018.
Bitzinger, Richard A. "The State of Defense Innovation in India: Can It Catch Up with Global
Leaders?." (2014).
Cordesman, Anthony H., Ashley Hess, and Nicholas S. Yarosh. Chinese military modernization
and force development: a western perspective. Rowman & Littlefield, 2013.
Desai, Radhika. "The Brics are building a challenge to western economic supremacy." The
Guardian 2 (2013).
G. Javalgi, Rajshekhar, W. Benoy Joseph, Elad Granot, and Andrew C. Gross. "Strategies for
sustaining the edge in offshore outsourcing of services: the case of India." Journal of Business &
Industrial Marketing 28, no. 6 (2013): 475-486.
Gaughan, Andrea E., Forrest R. Stevens, Catherine Linard, Peng Jia, and Andrew J. Tatem.
"High resolution population distribution maps for Southeast Asia in 2010 and 2015." PloS one 8,
no. 2 (2013): e55882.
Gay, Robert D. "Effect of macroeconomic variables on stock market returns for four emerging
economies: Brazil, Russia, India, and China." The International Business & Economics Research
Journal (Online) 15, no. 3 (2016): 119.
Ghani, Ejaz, William R. Kerr, and Christopher Stanton. "Diasporas and outsourcing: evidence
from oDesk and India." Management Science 60, no. 7 (2014): 1677-1697.

6INTERNATIONAL RELATION
Hoge Jr, James F. "A global power shift in the making." In Paradoxes of Power, pp. 62-68.
Routledge, 2015.
Hopewell, Kristen. "Different paths to power: The rise of Brazil, India and China at the World
Trade Organization." Review of International Political Economy 22, no. 2 (2015): 311-338.