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Recent attention to Presidential Emergency Action Documents (PEADs) – the secret directives available to the United States presidents during declared emergencies – has intensified concerns about the concentration of executive power and the fragility of constitutional safeguards in the US. Reports that some allies of President Donald Trump have explored the use of emergency powers to exert greater control over electoral processes, combined with ongoing efforts to reshape electoral institutions through aggressive gerrymandering and executive action, have deepened fears of democratic backsliding. 

Yet focusing exclusively on Trump risks overlooking the broader historical significance of the present moment. The real issue extends beyond Trump’s authoritarian tendencies to encompass a wider crisis of American hegemony and the growing tension between democratic institutions and oligarchic power in an evolving global order.

Also read: Neither Washington Nor Beijing Can Prevail in an Age of Global Disorder

Political hegemony rests on a combination of consent and coercion. Stable political orders depend primarily upon legitimacy – the capacity of ruling elites to persuade citizens that their leadership serves the public interest. Force is always present, but it plays a supporting role. When consent weakens, however, coercion moves to the foreground.

The post-1945 American-led international order was arguably the most successful hegemonic project in modern history. Through military alliances, transnational elite networks, philanthropic foundations, universities, think tanks and policy organisations, the US embedded its leadership within broadly accepted norms. Thus, American power........

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