The Working Group (WG) on United States Studies has enjoyed a fruitful academic life since its creation in 2004. After more than 18 years of work, it has published six books (co-edited by Siglo XXI-CLACSO in 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2018, and 2021) and countless working papers, essays, and research projects in collaboration with various institutions. The WG has organized dozens of meetings in 12 countries (at CLACSO Assemblies/Conferences, ALAS and LASA Congresses, among others) and currently has 31 members from 8 countries. The WG is one of the most established academic reference points in the hemisphere, and its theoretical output is a constant source of consultation.

The research carried out in these almost two decades revolved around the hypothesis, increasingly accepted in academic and political circles, about the crisis of hegemony that the US would be experiencing, a category that served as a starting point in the research carried out to this day.

The internal debate on the "crisis of US hegemony", as a methodological guide, has been widely discussed since the constitution of the GT, is constantly being enriched and continues to be a necessary category to contrast the complex and dynamic correlation of contemporary geopolitical forces.

The notion of hegemony, as conceived from the outset, helps to understand its multiple determinants in terms of both geographic scope and temporality, as well as its diverse impacts (domestic, regional, and global). In fact, this category can be compared across time and space, and therefore, US hegemony can be explored from both diachronic and synchronic perspectives.

With this determination, the Working Group agreed to develop three concurrent lines of research. First, the work focused on investigating and understanding the changes in the power, influence, and strength of the United States globally and in its relations with nation-states, interpreted as continuity, instability, or crisis. Second, the work also directed its analysis toward the evolution of changes that have occurred and are occurring within the United States in terms of contradictions related to class, gender, identity, inequality, shared values, belonging, and interests, as well as the different political repertoires and narratives in the cultural sphere and/or in the positioning of labor movements affected by the economic crisis. Third, the Working Group prioritized studies on the relationship between the United States and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), which since the beginning of the 21st century has undergone a series of dynamic changes, but always managed reactively from the perspective of hegemonic conservative power. This relationship is marked, in its controversial projection of security and foreign policy, by the impact of global changes, as well as by the geopolitical, geoeconomic and geostrategic disputes arising from competition with China, Russia and other powers.

The working hypothesis is confirmed, thus validating the phenomenon of a crisis of hegemony. The former superpower now faces crises of varying dimensions, beginning with its own democracy and continuing with its economic power in the face of the increasingly vigorous Chinese economy and those of its allies (BRICS). Subsequent military defeats in countries where it has intervened, either unilaterally or in coalition with NATO, have jeopardized its geopolitical dominance in energy, its ability to control oil prices, and the high costs associated with its massive public debt.

Internally, the US is suffering severe economic imbalances that are increasingly impacting large sectors of its society, in stark contrast to the power amassed by the military-industrial-financial complex, whose profit margins generate a daily reserve army of labor. Social inequalities, manifested in income inequality, lack of basic services, inflation, and unemployment, are part of a ticking time bomb threatening to shatter its democratic stability. The Trump administration has laid bare the phenomenon of white supremacy, racism, and xenophobia.

Regarding relations between the US and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), the changes observed highlight resistance to traditional US dominance and to neocolonial forms of pressure and intervention. The region has benefited from the arrival of progressive political trends with an integrative vocation, interrupted by a brief cycle of conservative restoration supported by Washington. Under the shadow of the Monroe Doctrine, and after almost two centuries of its validity, the fabrication of scenarios for political and military intervention against those autonomous national projects that deviate from the dominant will of the US seems unshakeable. The global geopolitical dispute with China, Russia, India, and Iran appears to be giving way to a process of aggressive recomposition through new and sophisticated forms of interference, unilateral sanctions, financial blockades, the creation of parallel diplomatic and governmental bodies, fueled by media and legal warfare (fake news and/or lawfare). The multidimensional aggression against Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Bolivia demonstrates the wide spectrum of interventionist and anti-democratic strategies operated from the State Department and the Southern Command, with mechanisms ranging from coups to alleged deliberate assassinations.

The Working Group's publications reflect the rapid pace of change at the global, internal, and regional levels over the past two decades, as well as the shifts in US hegemony across economic, commercial, political, military, cultural, and technological dimensions. The new Russia-Ukraine conflict, instigated by the US with the support of the European Union and NATO, and with global repercussions, undoubtedly represents a defining scenario for the continuation of Western unilateralism or for the reconfiguration of a multicentric international system with a trend toward regionalization.

The US military defeat in Afghanistan and other regions, coupled with the reorientation of political and military capabilities toward Eastern Europe—aimed at fragmenting Russia and weakening China's growing power in a post-pandemic context—offers a new field of geopolitical analysis. It appears that the only way to halt the accelerating decline of US hegemony would be to extend military conflict to a global scale, a kind of second Cold War amidst a cycle of multidimensional planetary crisis, the resolution of which does not seem to lie with capitalist globalization, much less with Western imperialism.

It is likely that relations between the US and Latin America and the Caribbean would revolve around this new global geopolitical context. The dispute between an increasingly agonizing West and the rest of the world, ever less dependent on imperial hegemony, offers our region an unparalleled opportunity to overcome its strategic marginalization and find new paths to forge an alternative project that strengthens democracy, integration, social justice, and economic, technological, and industrial development projects serving the historically most disadvantaged sectors.

The Working Group's reflections find this moment of hegemonic crisis an opportunity not only to demonstrate the relative certainty of its working hypotheses, but also to offer creative perspectives on the major global challenges, perspectives capable of producing significant transformations through the mobilization and advancement of social forces. Undoubtedly, between these two scenarios lies the imperative to confront the threats emanating from "hard power," which increasingly resorts to the explicit theological narrative of its "manifest destiny," while simultaneously invoking its long-standing and well-known Monroe Doctrine maxim.

Since 2007, when the GT's first book was published, to date, the GT's reflections and research have been based on a central and current hypothesis: the United States is in a crisis of hegemony on the international stage.

From this, two relevant aspects emerge for analyzing changes and continuities in the domestic sphere and its relationship with Latin America and the Caribbean. First, the evolution and contradictions of social and political relations in the United States are highlighted: reflections on the struggles of diverse groups, labor movements, the erosion of freedoms for women, young people, and immigrants are of particular interest, as is understanding the mechanisms and instruments wielded by economic and political power groups in the formulation and implementation of domestic policy. Second, further reflection on the United States' relationship with Latin America and the Caribbean is undertaken, considering its projection in the constantly evolving international political landscape. Among these developments, the increased relations between the United States and its largest competitor in the region, the People's Republic of China, stand out, driven by ongoing geoeconomic and geopolitical strategies.

Undoubtedly, the next three years will be crucial for analysis in the United States. Due to the recomposition of Congress in the upcoming November 2022 elections, the presidential race will begin, with former President Donald Trump's candidacy still in the works, along with other more conservative options. The well-known effects of a potential new term on the region and Latinos in the United States are significant. Domestically, the Latino vote in the United States will be fundamental to the upcoming presidential elections. The issues on the agenda reflect their interests and those of the region as a whole, hence the need to continue analyzing a hegemon in crisis, yet still with palpable effects in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The US Studies Working Group will begin its research in 2023 with 31 members (13 women and 18 men) from 8 countries (12 of whom come from priority countries). Each member is developing research projects closely linked to the group's objectives. Over the next three years, we will meet at least twice a year (either in person or online) to exchange progress, hypotheses, and offer critiques necessary for reflecting on our work in a collaborative environment. We hope to publish two edited volumes that examine the processes characterizing the United States and continue testing our hypothesis—the crisis of hegemony and its effects both domestically and for the Latin American and Caribbean region—which, as mentioned, we have been developing for 18 years.