scholarly journals From Wealth to Power

2000 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-123
Author(s):  
Amr Sabet
Keyword(s):  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
International System ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Dutch Disease ◽  
The Body ◽  
State Structure ◽  
The Us ◽  
The One

From Wealth to Power is a study in the social and historical dynamics contributingto the rise and fall of essential actors in the international system. Itattempts to join history with social sciences theory in order to shed light onbroad theoretical topics in world politics, such as the rise of new great powers.In so doing it seeks to add to the body of scholarship that combined the studyof state structure with traditional international relations theory. The particularfocus is on the expansive rise of the United States, not only to world prominence,but also as a modem state. American foreign policy during the period1865-1908 is examined in light of changes in the state structure along the fourmajor variables- scope, autonomy, coherence, and capacity (p. 40)- touchingupon that country's domestic and administrative development.The first of the six chapters of the book poses the main questions that Zakariaattempts to address: ''What turns rich nations into 'great powers'?'' "Why, as states grow increasingly wealthy, do they build large annies, entangle themselvesin politics beyond their borders, and seek international influence?""What factors speed or retard the translation of material resources into politicalinterests?" (p. 3) and finally, "Under what conditions do states expand theirpolitical interests abroad?" (p. 18). Such questions visualize, on the one hand,a strong and direct correlation between great powers' economic rise and falland their growth or decline. Anomalies, on the other hand, are explained as a"Dutch disease," or the malady that does not allow "a nation of unequalledindividual prosperity and commercial prowess from remaining a state of greatinfluence and power" (pp. 4-5). The latter, Zakaria claims, was an Americanaffliction during the second half of the nineteenth century. This was particularlytrue during the relatively long period of nonexpansion and isolation followingthe Civil War (1860--64). Despite a tremendous increase in wealth, productivity,and power, it was not until the 1890s that the US began expandingagain. Zakaria considers this to be an aberration, reflecting a "highly unusualgap between power and interests" that lasted for some thirty years (p. 5). Anexplanation, according to him, would not only require a full historical account,but also "first-cut theories" which clarify national behavior (p. 8) ...

scholarly journals From Wealth to Power

2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 149-156
Author(s):  
Amr Sabet
Keyword(s):  
Great Influence ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Dutch Disease ◽  
The Body ◽  
State Structure ◽  
Social Science Theory ◽  
Science Theory ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
The One

From Wealth to Power is a study in the social and historical dynamicscontributing to the rise and fall of essential actors in the internationalsystem. It attempts to join history with social science theory in order to shedlight on broad theoretical topics in world politics, such as the rise of newgreat powers. In so doing it seeks to add to the body of scholarship whichcombines the study of state structure with traditional international relationstheory. The particular focus is on the expansive rise of the United States,not only to world prominence, but also as a modem state. American foreignpolicy during the period 1865-1908 is examined in light of changes inthe state structure along the four major variables: scope, autonomy,coherence and capacity, touching upon that country's domestic and administrativedevelopment. The first of the six chapters of the book poses the main questionswhich Zakaria attempts to address: "What turns rich nations into 'greatpowers?' I' "Why, as states grow increasingly wealthy, do they build largearmies, entangle themselves in politics beyond their borders, and seekinternational influence?" "What factors speed or retard the translation ofmaterial resources into political interests?", and finally, "Under whatconditions do states expand their political interests abroad?'' Such questionsvisualize, on the one hand, a strong and direct correlation between greatpowers' economic rise and fall and their growth or decline. Anomalies, onthe other hand, are explained as a "Dutch disease," or the malady whichdoes not allow "a nation of unequalled individual prosperity and commercialprowess to remain in a state of great influence and power." The latter,zakaria claims, was an American affliction during the second half of thenineteenth century. This was particularly true during the relatively longperiod of non-expansion and isolation following the Civil War (1860-64).Despite a tremendous increase in wealth, productivity and power, it was notuntil the 1890s that the US began expanding again. Zakaria considers thisto be an aberration, reflecting a "highly unusual gap between power andinterests," that lasted for some thirty years. An explanation, according tohim, would not only require a full historical account, but more so, "first cuttheories" which clarify national behavior ...

scholarly journals FUTURE OF US HEGEMONY

2019 ◽  
pp. 4-12
Author(s):  
A Subotin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Social Power ◽  
International System ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Politics ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Future ◽  
Us Hegemony

Abstract. The demise of the bipolar system of international politics has revived interest in such closely related and contested terms as "superpower", "hegemon", "empire" and "imperialism". This article represents an attempt to define the most probable trend in the future evolution of the international system with regard to the role of the United States of America as the most prominent state power of today's world. This article seeks to analyse the US power posture in today's world politics by comparing its core capabilities to those of the classical empire of the previous century - the British Empire - with analytical emphasis on both the "hard power" and the "soft power" dimensions. The author maintains that the notion of US hegemony or even American Empire is still relevant despite a clear historic tendency of hegemonic decline seen throughout the second part of the 20th century. The United States still ranks high on the scale of most traditional power factors and, what is by far more important, they continue to be able to shape and control the scale and the volume of international exposure of all other major players within the framework of contemporary global international system. The relative decline of US influence upon world politics at the beginning of the new millennia has been effectively off-set by the profound change in the nature of American power which is now assuming the form of a structural dominance. The author's personal view is that US hegemony is not doomed to wane, given the enormous impact the United States have already made economically, politically and intellectually upon the post World War II international relations. The continuance of the US playing the pivotal role in the international politics of the 21st century will be dependent on the ability of the US political class to adapt to and to harness the social power of numerous non-state international actors that are due take over the leading role in the future world's politics.

scholarly journals 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UN: HOPES AND REALITIES

2021 ◽  
pp. 38-52
Author(s):  
E. L. Kuzmin
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Security Council ◽  
International System ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Politics ◽  
The Us ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Special Rules

Examining the history of the UN creation in the first part of the article, the author focuses on an exceptionally significant issue settled in 1945 during the Crimean Conference of the Heads of the Three Great Powers, namely: the order of voting in the UN Security Council. Various appeals to renounce the “veto” of permanent members of the UN Security Council enshrined in the UN Charter have become the main leitmotif of numerous attempts of the United States and their closest allies to revise the UN Charter. Reviewing such proposals, the author notes that populist ideas the essence of which constitutes the call to replace, based on the principles of equality of all States, an international Organization by a supranational structure whose activities would actually be based on the principle of “who has force, has power” have been disseminated in Western political and scientific circles.The author goes on to consider the crucial question: whether the Organization have been able to cope with its main mission: to maintain international peace and security?Listing the outstanding universal documents of our time developed in the bowels of the UN, the author calls the most notable, in his opinion, achievement of the Organization — a real liberation of dozens of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America from colonial oppression. Analyzing the activities of the UN, the author acknowledges that the Organization in many respects is still far from its unifying convergent essence: the US and its NATO allies lead the policy aiming at crashing the system of international relations, based on the central role of the UN in world politics; the US promote a concept that implies the creation of closed alliances to develop and implement measures bypassing the UN. Amid such realities, Russia, seeking to strengthen multilateral principles in international affairs, emphasizes the creation of a self-regulating international system, which requires collective leadership of the leading States that is represented geographically and civilizationally, and exercised with full respect for the central and coordinating role of the United Nations.The article also draws attention to the fact that modern reality identifies more and more intractable problems, which often lead to the “autonomization” of international law: “niches” that are not filled with legal material inevitably give rise to situations where the gaps concerned are governed by particular and special rules based on bilateral or regional foundations, The author sees the empowerment of international law in the approval of principles of intercivilizational communication, the pursuance of synthesis of various legal systems, ideologies, cultures, religions and other spiritual values, which would provide a reliable basis for strengthening the importance and influence of international law.

Conclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 239-242
Author(s):  
David F. Schmitz
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
International System ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
World War ◽  
The One ◽  
Franklin Roosevelt ◽  
Second Chance

The crisis of the 1930s made changes in American foreign policy a necessity, and events demonstrated that Franklin Roosevelt made the correct decisions on the major issues to protect American interests and meet the challenges. For FDR, World War II was the second chance for the United States to create a lasting peace, one based on the Grand Alliance, collective security, and the United Nations. Beyond just the defeat of Germany and Japan, it was an opportunity to build a world order that would produce peace and prosperity through a cooperative, multilateral international system. This was Roosevelt's great legacy, to envision a different world than the one that proceeded the war and to begin to establish the values and institutions it would be built on. In doing so, he transformed American foreign policy. Roosevelt was the most important and most successful foreign policymaker in the nation's history.

Perspectives pour la paix mondiale à une époque de turbulence : Les États-Unis et les crises internationales

2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-90
Author(s):  
Patrick James ◽  
Athanasios Hristoulas
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International System ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Politics ◽  
External Factors ◽  
World War ◽  
International Crises ◽  
International Crisis ◽  
The Us ◽  
Using Data

Recent events in world politics raise Fundamental doubts about the reasons behind conflict, crisis and war. What, for example, causes a state to become involved in an international crisis ? In an attempt to answer that question, the present study focuses on the experiences of a leading member of the international System over a sustained period of time, specifically, the United States in the post-World War 11 era. Ultimately, in order to develop a more comprehensive explanation of activity by the United States in international crises, this investigation combines external factors with others from within the state. Following a brief review of the research program on conflict linkage, internal attributes with potential relevance to involvement by states in crises are identified. External influences on foreign policy, consistent with the tradition of realpolitik, also are specified. These elements then are combined in a model of conflict linkage. Using data pertaining both the US as a polity and an actor in the international System, propositions derived from the model are tested in the crisis domain. The study concludes with some recommendations for further research on the linkage of domestic and foreign conflict, with particular reference to the explanation of crises.

The United States, Moral Norms, and Governing Ideas in World Politics: A Review Essay

1993 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 223-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathal J. Nolan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
International System ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Traditional Role ◽  
Moral Principles

Nolan reviews three works describing the influence of ethics on modern international relations, namely Code of Peace: Ethics and Security in the World of the Warlord States (Dorothy V. Jones); The Age of Rights (Louis Henkin); and Morality and American Foreign Policy: The Role of Ethics in International Affairs (Robert W. McElroy). All present timely academic and historical arguments for existing opportunities to bring ethics into world politics. Jones and Henkin concern themselves most with moral principles involved in establishing international law and organizations, while McElroy discusses the same issues from the unique perspective of U.S. foreign policy. Nolan gives full recognition to the traditional role of democratic states, particularly the United States., in shaping the moral norms of the international system in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries through ethics that are Western in origin but certainly not in their inherent content.

scholarly journals Perceptions of the United States and the Americans. The collage approach

Finisterra ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 47 (93) ◽  
Author(s):  
Petri Hottolal
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
News Media ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The One ◽  
Pais Vasco

National and regional stereotypes are difficult to study in a practicalmanner. The Collage method, an experimental method for descriptive research materialanalysis, was designed to that end. It was first tested in a seven-nation survey of college anduniversity students, on the sociotype of the United States and its typical inhabitants. Amongthe samples the one collected in Spain (Pais Vasco) was more critical and sometimes morerealistic in its perceptions than the rest. The criticism focused on the US way of life andespecially on the nation’s role in world politics. The positive aspects of the love-hate relationshipwith the USA were mostly projected on the typically American female, whereasthe male represented the majority of negative connotations. For the students, the typicalUSA was located on the West Coast, in California. The perceptions were clearly influencedby US media entertainment, in addition to more factual news media information

The Dark Double

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrei P. Tsygankov
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
International System ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Politics ◽  
American Democracy ◽  
Media Presentation ◽  
The Us ◽  
Interstate Conflicts ◽  
Media Narratives

This book studies the role of US media in presenting American values as principally different from and superior to those of Russia. The analysis focuses on the media’s narratives, frames, and nature of criticism of the Russian side and is based on texts of editorials of selected mainstream newspapers in the United States and other media sources. The book identifies five media narratives of Russia—“transition to democracy” (1991–1995), “chaos” (1995–2005), “neo-Soviet autocracy” (2005–2013), “foreign enemy” (since 2014), and “collusion” (since 2016)—each emerging in a particular context and supported by distinct frames. The increasingly negative presentation of Russia in the US media is explained by the countries’ cultural differences, interstate competition, and polarizing domestic politics. Interstate conflicts served to consolidate the media’s presentation of Russia as “autocratic,” adversarial, and involved in “collusion” with Donald Trump to undermine American democracy. Russia’s centralization of power and anti-American attitudes also contributed to the US media presentation of Russia as a hostile Other. These internal developments did not initially challenge US values and interests and were secondary in their impact on the formation of Russia image in America. The United States’ domestic partisan divide further exacerbated perception of Russia as a threat to American democracy. Russia’s interference in the US elections deepened the existing divide, with Russia becoming a convenient target for media attacks. Future value conflicts in world politics are likely to develop in the areas where states lack internal confidence and where their preferences over the international system conflict.

Echoes of a Forgotten Past: Mid-Century Realism and the Legacy of International Law

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-386
Author(s):  
Oliver Jütersonke
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
International System ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Politics ◽  
World Government ◽  
World State ◽  
World Community ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The One

Those studying the work of Hans J. Morgenthau, widely considered the “founding father” of the Realist School of International Relations, have long been baffled by his views on world government and the attainment of a world state—views that, it would appear, are strikingly incompatible with the author's realism. In a 1965 article in World Politics, James P. Speer II decided that it could only be “theoretical confusion” that explained why Morgenthau could on the one hand advocate a world state as ultimately necessary in his highly successful textbook, Politics Among Nations, while writing elsewhere that world government could not resolve the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States by peaceful means. According to Speer, Morgenthau posits at the international level a super-Hobbesian predicament, in which the actors on the world scene are motivated by the lust for power, yet he proposes a gradualist Lockean solution whereby the international system will move, through a resurrected diplomacy, out of a precarious equilibrium of balance-of-power anarchy by a “revaluation of all values” into the “moral and political” bonds of world community, a process whose capstone will be the formal-legal institutions of world government. This oscillation between Hobbes and Locke, Speer asserted, must be the result of Morgenthau's “commitment to the organismic mystique that comes out of German Romantic Nationalism,” although he admitted in a footnote that his reflections on the intellectual sources of Morgenthau's theories were “mere speculation.”

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