From wealth to power

Description

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 in which the U.S. considered expanding its influence in such diverse places as Canada, the Dominican Republic, and Iceland. Taking a position 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.

First Sentence

WHAT TURNS rich nations into "great powers"?

Excerpt

WHAT TURNS rich nations into "great powers"?

Subjects

Series Statement

• Princeton studies in international history and politics

Other Editions

• From wealth to power: the unusual origins of America's world rolePrinceton University Press1998-01-01
• From Wealth to PowerPrinceton University Press1999-01-01
• From Wealth to PowerPaperbackPrinceton University Press1999-07-26