This is a historical account, embedded in a set of theoretical constructs, of the 200-year drive by the United States to first, become a global power and, second, create an international security and economic system capable of protecting and promoting its strategic and economic interests. The text explains the significance of the interaction of domestic and international factors in the directing of American foreign policy in the international system.
ALEX HYBEL is Susan Eckert Lynch Professor of Government in the Department of Government at Connecticut College.
Introduction: The United States and the Changing Nature of the International System The Rise of New International Giant The New Giant's First Major Blunder The Humbling of Democracy A New Kind of War Exuberance Hindered Audacious Titan Made by the U.S.A. Appendix: The Cold War Was Not a Matter of Culpability
'...a competent and useful overview of the place of the United States in the international system in the last two centuries.' - Political Science Quarterly