Superiority in any order
In general terms, the word supremacy is used in our language to designate the superiority or supremacy of any order, for example that which an entity exercises over others of the same type.
Territorial hegemony, a classic supremacy
The term can be applied in various situations and contexts, however, in our language it is mostly used to speak or account for the supremacy and superiority that a state or a people exercises over another and that is basically based on the power that one holds. and in the weakness that the other has in relation to him. In other words, hegemony in this sense indicates the dominance that one territory or country has over another. A basic example of this relationship is the one that a nation has with a colony of its own.
The dominance of areas such as politics, the economy and the military influence hegemony
Another common type of hegemony is the one that occurs between Nations, a Nation or bloc of Nations can have it as a consequence of having significant potential in several areas, such as political, military, economic, cultural or in just one of these. but that is enough for in this context to stand out above others.
In this same sense, when we speak of world hegemony, what is meant is the dominance of the world that a certain country has over others, which due to this situation are subject to its decisions, because in this way, when the need arises, they will be able to obtain the economic favor or the military aid in case they have to face militarily with another nation.
The United States currently and in the slightly more distant past, the United Kingdom, have known how to dispose of the nickname of hegemonic nations for the incredible development they achieved in various aspects, but fundamentally it is worth noting that it is the economic issue that mostly makes some nations more dominant and others weaker.
A superiority with bad press
We must emphasize regarding the approach to this concept that it tends to have a negative connotation for many because it is immediately linked to oppression and the authoritarian exercise of power that can and is capable of being exercised by a nation that has the authority to do so over that other that is considered as weaker and to which then there is no other option than to accept it.
Even those who flatly oppose this type of state of affairs that occurs naturally in international politics since ancient times, promote and associate hegemony with something diabolical and evil.
One of the current examples of this that we present is given in the speeches of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who in tune with his late counterpart Hugo Chávez, constantly points out and denounces the hegemony that the United States exercises in the world and whose mission is that of intimidating nations that do not align with them and that "pretend" to be free.
We could say that in this discourse there is a certain part and another that is not at all ... many nations, especially those that have economic resources to spare, put pressure on weaker nations in some aspects that suit them, while on the other hand, countries like Venezuela, they use that position contrary to hegemony to unleash political administrations based on paternalism and lack of freedom.
Cultural hegemony
On the other hand, and from an exclusively social perspective, we can also find ourselves with the hegemony or cultural superiority that a group holds over others and, as such, enforces it in the way it can. Developed by the Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci, which is the one who has created the idea of it, cultural hegemony consists in the domination and maintenance of power exercised by a person or group in terms of persuasion, imposing their values, ideologies and beliefs, will configure and sustain the majority system, thus achieving a homogeneity in terms of action and thought, as well as what is culturally produced and published.
That is, according to Gramsci's theory, The ruling class will not only be able to force a subordinate or lower social class to satisfy its main interests, renouncing its identity and group culture, but will also manage to exercise total control in the forms of relationship and production. of the second and the rest of society. Meanwhile, Gramsci also warns that this process is not easy to notice, because it occurs very subtly.
Today hegemony is basically achieved through the action of cultural agents, among which the mass media stand out. The cinema is a very good example of this, there, some societies usually establish certain models of thought and behavior so that later other societies adopt these as their own.
