The End of Empires

2021 ◽  
pp. 523-540
Author(s):  
John A. Hall
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Science ◽  
The United States ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Future Prospects

This chapter describes social forces that have led to the end of empires. Attention is given to pre-industrial empires as well as to those, whether land- or sea-based, of the modern world. The factors analyzed derive both from the empires themselves and from contemporary social science. Particular concentration is given to internal “corruption,” the loss of necessary elite unity, overextension, geopolitical rivalry with other great powers and—especially in modern circumstances—nationalism. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the position, character, and future prospects of the United States.

The Study of the DDR in the USA

1976 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Melvin Croan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Sociology Of Knowledge ◽  
Present Report ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
Terra Incognita ◽  
The Usa ◽  
High Level

AbstractUntil the mid- to late 1960s, East Germany remained a virtual terra incognita to all but the tiniest handful of specialists in the United States. Even today, the discovery of the DDR by wider American publics-both academic and non-academic-can scarcely be regarded as anything like complete. Yet, after surveying the state of American research on the DDR, Peter C. Ludz concluded in 1970 that despite certain problems, its future prospects seemed bright.1 Indeed, he contended that the high level of development of social science techniques in the United States, together with geographic detachment from day-to-day involvement in intra-German politics, might enable American scholars to come to grips with "the basic questions" more readily than their German colleagues.2 Just how well has that optimistic forecast been borne out? Readers are invited to draw their own conclusions from the discussion that follows. Since the present treatment, rather than aspiring to be comprehensive, seeks to depict general trends, identify specific problems, and explore future prospects-all in the author's own disciplinary speciality, political science, several cautionary observations should be recorded at the outset. The study of politics, in the United States no less than elsewhere, must constantly grapple with the fact-value dilemma. I believe there can never be a genuinely wertfrei social science, in the sense in which some Americans have tended, somewhat one-sidedly, I think, to understand Max Weber's scientific aspirations. Similarly, with respect to the sociology of knowledge, Karl Mannheim's postulation of a freischwebende Intelligenz appears, to employ Mannheim's own terminology, to be utopian. If, as I believe, political science must be regarded as "metapolitics," then any treatment of work in the field of political science becomes a kind of "meta-metapolitics."3 Thus, description is inseparable from evaluation, if only because all description necessarily "involves selection, synthesis, and sequence."4 My personal value biases (broadly humanistic) and methodological preferences (I favor choosing the particular research techniques appropriate to specific subject of investigation rather than vice versa and am always distrustful of narrowly positivistic approaches) will be apparent in the account that follows. They will obviously also inform the recommendations for possible directions in future work on the DDR with which the present report concludes.

Certainty, Uncertainty, or Indifference? Examining Variation in the Identity Narratives of Nonreligious Americans

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (5) ◽  
pp. 828-850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqui Frost
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
The United States ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Political Organizations ◽  
Identity Narratives ◽  
Beliefs And Values

Much research in social science concludes that uncertainty surrounding individual beliefs and identities is negative and anxiety-inducing, and that people are continuously searching for certainty. In the context of rising rates of religious disaffiliation in the United States, and the rise of social and political organizations created to promote nonreligious beliefs and values, the nonreligious offer a strategic case to explore the meaning and lived experience of certainty and uncertainty surrounding belief and identity formation. Drawing on an analysis of identity narratives from 50 nonreligious Americans, I find that uncertainty is just as often experienced as positive and motivating as it is isolating or anxiety-inducing, and although certainty-filled beliefs and identities are available for the nonreligious, they are just as often rejected for more uncertain ones. I reveal how some nonreligious individuals fluctuate between different orientations toward certainty and uncertainty regarding their nonreligion, whereas others exhibit more trait-like orientations to certainty and uncertainty. These findings have important implications for understanding how orientations to certainty and uncertainty shape identity and belief development in the modern world.

The Unquiet Frontier

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakub J. Grygiel ◽  
A. Wess Mitchell ◽  
Jakub J. Grygiel ◽  
A. Wess Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Global Order ◽  
American Power ◽  
Alliance Networks ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
The World ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Critical Regions

From the Baltic to the South China Sea, newly assertive authoritarian states sense an opportunity to resurrect old empires or build new ones at America's expense. Hoping that U.S. decline is real, nations such as Russia, Iran, and China are testing Washington's resolve by targeting vulnerable allies at the frontiers of American power. This book explains why the United States needs a new grand strategy that uses strong frontier alliance networks to raise the costs of military aggression in the new century. The book describes the aggressive methods which rival nations are using to test American power in strategically critical regions throughout the world. It shows how rising and revisionist powers are putting pressure on our frontier allies—countries like Poland, Israel, and Taiwan—to gauge our leaders' commitment to upholding the American-led global order. To cope with these dangerous dynamics, nervous U.S. allies are diversifying their national-security “menu cards” by beefing up their militaries or even aligning with their aggressors. The book reveals how numerous would-be great powers use an arsenal of asymmetric techniques to probe and sift American strength across several regions simultaneously, and how rivals and allies alike are learning from America's management of increasingly interlinked global crises to hone effective strategies of their own. The book demonstrates why the United States must strengthen the international order that has provided greater benefits to the world than any in history.

ОСОБЕННОСТИ ПОДГОТОВКИ КАДРОВ ДЛЯ ПЕНИТЕНЦИАРНОЙ СИСТЕМЫ В США

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Unterov ◽  
Elizaveta Eremeeva
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Training System ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Foreign Experience ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
Personal Qualities ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Prison Systems ◽  
Correction System

Статья посвящена изучению зарубежного опыта подготовки кадров для пенитенциарных систем. Его анализ и рассмотрение возможности внедрения отдельных элементов направлены на совершенствование системы подготовки сотрудников для уголовно-исполнительной системы России, повышение их профессионального уровня, что в конечном счете будет способствовать достижению главной цели УИС - исправлению осужденных. Авторы особое внимание уделяют изучению специально-профессиональных и личностных качеств, необходимых сотрудникам пенитенциарных учреждений. В статье рассматриваются особенности подготовки сотрудников пенитенциарной системы в Соединенных Штатах Америки. Важнейшей задачей образовательных учреждений и центров по подготовке кадров для пенитенциарной системы США является обеспечение будущих сотрудников знаниями, необходимыми для выполнения профессиональных обязанностей в рамках предстоящей деятельности. Также авторы подчеркивают важность развития при подготовке будущих сотрудников не только профессиональных, но и личностных качеств.The article is devoted to the study of foreign experience in order to improve the training system for the Russian penal correction system. In particular, the training of prison officials in the United States of America is considered as one of the most developed States in the modern world. The improvement of the training process for the Russian penal correction system implies the development of international cooperation with the prison systems of foreign countries. The study of foreign experience of penitentiary education contributes to the improvement of the professional level of the staff of the Penal Correction Service and, ultimately, to the achievement of the main goal - correction of convicts. The authors pay particular attention to the study of specific professional and personal qualities required by potential prison staff. Since there have been significant positive changes in the formation of professional qualities of the future employee of the Russian penal correction system over the past decade, the main focus of the work is on the formation of personal (universal) qualities of the employee of the Federal Penal Correction Service of the Russian Federation, for which the positive experience of the United States is analyzed.

Corruption as a Political Issue in Modern Societies: France, Great Britain and the United States in the Long 19th Century

Public Voices ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Ivo Engels
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Political Corruption ◽  
The United States ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Bureaucratic State

The so-called “long 19th century”, from the French Revolution to the First World War, ranks as the crucial phase in the genesis of the modern world. In the Western countries this period was characterized by the differentiation of the public and the private spheres, the birth of the modern bureaucratic state and the delegitimation of early modern practices such as clientelism and patronage. All these fundamental changes are, among other things, usually considered important preconditions for the modern perception of corruption.This paper will concentrate on this crucial phase by means of a comparative analysis of debates in France, Great Britain and the United States, with the aim to elucidate the motives for major anti-corruption movements. The questions are: who fights against corruption and what are the reasons for doing so? I will argue that these concerns were often very different and sometimes accidental. Furthermore, an analysis of political corruption may reveal differences between the political cultures in the countries in question. Thus, the history of corruption serves as a sensor which enables a specific perspective on politics. By taking this question as a starting point the focus is narrowed to political corruption and the debates about corruption, while petty bribery on the part of minor civilservants, as well as the actual practice in the case of extensive political corruption, is left aside.

The Rise and Fall of Great Powers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geir Lundestad
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
The United States ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Foreseeable Future ◽  
The West ◽  
Economic Modernization

There are no laws in history. Realists, liberals, and others are both right and wrong. Although no one can be certain that military incidents may not happen, for the foreseeable future China and the United States are unlikely to favor major war. They have cooperated well for almost four decades now. China is likely to continue to focus on its economic modernization. It has far to go to measure up to the West. The American-Chinese economies are still complementary. A conflict with the United States or even with China’s neighbors would have damaging repercussions for China’s economic goals. The United States is so strong that it would make little sense for China to take it on militarily. There are also other deterrents against war, from nuclear weapons to emerging norms about international relations. It is anybody’s guess what will happen after the next few decades. History indicates anything is possible.

Counterterrorism Between the Wars

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary S. Barton
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The United States ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Common Interests ◽  
Independence Movements ◽  
Second World ◽  
The U.S

This is a book about terrorism, weapons, and diplomacy in the interwar years between the First and Second World Wars. It charts the convergence of the manufacture and trade of arms; diplomacy among the Great Powers and the domestic politics within them; the rise of national liberation and independence movements; and the burgeoning concept and early institutions of international counterterrorism. Key themes include: a transformation in meaning and practice of terrorism; the inability of Great Powers—namely, Great Britain, the United States, France—to harmonize perceptions of interest and the pursuit of common interests; the establishment of the tools and infrastructure of modern intelligence—including the U.S.-U.K. cooperation that would evolve into the Five Eyes intelligence alliance; and the nature of peacetime in the absence of major wars. Particular emphasis is given to British attempts to quell revolutionary nationalist movements in India and elsewhere in its empire, and to the Great Powers’ combined efforts to counter the activities of the Communist International. The facilitating roles of the Paris Peace Conference and League of Nations are explored here, in the context of the Arms Traffic Convention of 1919, the Arms Traffic Conference of 1925, and the 1937 Terrorism Convention.

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