The Decline of the United States and the End of the Western Colonial Order: Three Complementary Approaches and Four Analytical Pathways in Understanding the Nature and Causes of Decline

Saghaye-Biria, Hakimeh

doi:10.22034/irsj.2025.536709.1159

The Decline of the United States and the End of the Western Colonial Order: Three Complementary Approaches and Four Analytical Pathways in Understanding the Nature and Causes of Decline

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Hakimeh Saghaye-Biria

Assistant Professor and Faculty Member, Faculty of Islamic Education and Thought, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

10.22034/irsj.2025.536709.1159

Abstract

This article examines the decline of the United States within the broader framework of the decline of the Western colonial order—an order that began in 1492 and, after 533 years, is now approaching its terminal phase. From this perspective, the American “unipolar moment” is assessed as part of the final stage of Western decline. Consequently, what we are currently witnessing is the decline of the Global North under U.S. leadership and the emergence of a new order centered on the Global South. Within this context, the Islamic Republic of Iran—alongside Russia and China—plays a key role. Iran is regarded not only as the core of the Axis of Resistance but also as a central axis enabling China and Russia to access new mechanisms for constructing global order. Through a meta-synthesis approach to analyzing American decline, three principal approaches were identified: (1) the relative reduction of power in comparison with emerging powers such as China and India; (2) the declining capacity to achieve strategic objectives due to decreasing internal productivity; and (3) structural decline. In addition, four major factors are proposed for understanding the causes of the current situation: the internal failure of the globalization project; China’s strategy of marginalizing U.S. power; successive U.S. military defeats in West Asia following the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran; and decolonization through the erosion of the ideological “software” of American exceptionalism. During the transitional period from this final Western colonial order, the adoption of precise strategies by the Islamic Republic of Iran assumes particular importance. Necessary measures include playing an active role in political, economic, and cultural engagements with countries of the Global South. Furthermore, Iran’s participation in filling the ideological vacuum of the emerging order may play a pivotal role in consolidating its position.

Keywords

U.S. decline

Western colonial order

Islamic Revolution

Roots

Approaches

Subjects