From wealth to power : the unusual origins of America's world role / Fareed Zakaria.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zakaria, Fareed

Series:

Princeton studies in international history and politics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

International relations.

United States--Foreign relations--1865-1921.

United States.

Physical Description:

x, 199 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, [1998]

Summary:

If rich nations routinely become great powers, Zakaria asks, then how do we explain the strange inactivity of the United States in the late nineteenth century? By 1885, the U.S. was the richest country in the world. And yet, by all military, political, and diplomatic measures, it was a minor power. To explain this discrepancy, Zakaria considers a wide variety of cases between 1865 and 1908 when the U.S. considered expanding its influence in such diverse places as Canada, the Dominican Republic, and Iceland. Consistent with the realist theory of international relations, he argues that the President and his administration tried to increase the country's political influence abroad when they saw an increase in the nation's relative economic power. But they frequently had to curtail their plans for expansion, he shows, because they lacked a strong central government that could harness that economic power for the purposes of foreign policy. America was an unusual power--a strong nation with a weak state. It was not until late in the century, when power shifted from states to the federal government and from the legislative to the executive branch, that leaders in Washington could mobilize the nation's resources for international influence.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Introduction: What Makes a Great Power? 3

Chapter 2 A Theory of Foreign Policy: Why Do States Expand? 13

Chapter 3 Imperial Understretch: Power and Nonexpansion, 1865-1889 44

Chapter 4 The Rise of the American State, 1877-1896: The Foundation for a New Foreign Policy 90

Chapter 5 The New Diplomacy, 1889-1908: The Emergence of a Great Power 128

Chatper 6 Conclusion: Strong Nation, Weak State 181.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0691044961

OCLC:

37437597