dc.description.abstract | The years of U.S. global hegemony represent a unique period in history. Theorists and scholars disagree on whether the secondary states accept or reject U.S. hegemony – and further whether the unipolar world represents a world in, or out of, balance. This thesis analyses the secondary states’ response to the U.S. hegemony through an analysis of the counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and further out into the Indian Ocean. Rising regional powers, such as China and Russia, are using the counter-piracy operations as a means of balancing the U.S. military dominance in an increasingly more strategically important region. The regional grand powers’ balancing and anti-access/area denial strategies will indeed pose a threat to the U.S. command of the commons in the future. | nb_NO |