THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES: AN INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF THE HEGEMONY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

Abstract

The emergence of the United States of America in the 18th century with its preponderance in space and resources (both human and natural) in the Western Hemisphere naturally set her as the de facto hegemon in the area that was once the ―power-play theatre‖ of the distant rival European powers. Although, the US had leveraged on her overwhelming power for maintaining a so-called ―Pax-Americana‖ in the Hemisphere since the declaration of the Monroe Doctrine to the decade after the World War One through unilateral brute force. This paper using the secondary sources of data, critically examines and analyses the United States of America's continued potentials in the maintenance and the sustenance of this hegemony which were fast dwindling at the twilight of the first World War, especially with the avowed sanctity of the sovereign and territorial integrity of states and as well as, other developmental occurrences of the time. Its finally concludes with the contention that, the formation of the Organization of American States was the result of the desperate need to legitimize in an institutional framework of the US hegemony in the Hemisphere in other to guarantying its sustainability and growth.