USA and The World 2025–2026

David M. Keithly is a retired university professor. He has published five books and over 80 articles in journals and magazines, and served as editor of The Defense Intelligence Journal and Civil Wars. He was a Fulbright fellow in Europe twice, a fellow of the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation at the University of California, a resident scholar at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Bonn, Germany, and a legislative fellow in the parliament of the German state of Thüringen. He is president of the Fulbright Association’s Southeast Virginia Chapter.

• IntroductionChapter One: National Interest PrioritiesNational SecurityThe Northern Neighbor: CanadaRegional Cooperation in the Western HemisphereEurope’s Political and Economic StabilityRussian Stability and Economic DevelopmentThe Greater Middle EastStable Transitions in AfricaDevelopment in South Asia: India and PakistanAsia Pacific Peace and StabilityPromoting DemocracyTransnational ThreatsThe Environmental DimensionRealism and DemocracyThe American World ImageChapter Two: National Expansion Enduring InterestsInternational CommerceIn the BeginningThe New Nation and Its ConstitutionFirst Diplomatic StepsRestructuring Strict ConstructionismUnleashing the Dogs of WarA Cautionary TaleManifest DestinyAdvances in DemocracyAmerica Becomes a Great PowerThe Path of EmpireChapter Three: Ascent to Globalism Europe’s Lights Go OutWorld War IThe Paris Peace Conference, 1919–1920Isolation and Normalcy: the 1920sEconomic Problems of the Peace 1919–1939The Dictators Take OverNeutrality and AppeasementInto the AbyssThe Arsenal of DemocracyAmerica’s EntryWar in the PacificPandora’s Box of Atomic WeaponryWartime Planning for PeaceUniting for PeaceOld Game, New RulesThe East-West ConflictCold War and Iron CurtainPower and PurposeCracks in the BlocNationalism TriumphsChapter Four: The Anguish of PowerWorld TensionsOn the BrinkThe Ordeal of VietnamThe Middle East ConflictSecurity in the Nuclear AgeThe Second Cold WarStrategic DefenseSouth of the BorderThe Arc of CrisisLooking EastThe World Turned Rightside UpThe Middle East in Peace and WarThe Western HemisphereHeirs of Pericles: NATO and OSCETransnational TurbulenceA Nation Apart?Cold DawnGlossary of International TermsChapter Five: Political Ideas and Political SystemDeliberative BodiesSeparation of PowersChecks and BalancesThe Changing ConstitutionThe Federal SystemThe Legislative BranchThe Executive BranchThe Judicial BranchThe StatesElections in the United StatesRevved Up with Somewhere to GoAll Politics is LocalGlossary of Political TermsChapter Six: The U.S. Economy Going CommercialFluctuations Before 1860Called to AccountAll the World’s An ExchangeWar and Peace, 1914–1919The Crest of the WaveExit ProsperityComparative DisadvantageNational Recovery 1934–1941World War IIThe Bretton Woods SystemPatterns of International Economic CooperationThe Yellow Brick RoadThe “Soaring Sixties” Trade with the East BlocShocks to the SystemMeddling and MuddlingThe NavigatorGo-Go GlobalHome to RoostWhat is Past is PrologueCry HavocReindustrializationGlossary of Economic TermsChapter Seven: A Nation of NationsImmigrationFreedom and Civil LibertiesThe “Melting Pot”Demography as DestinyThe Future Web Sites and Bibliography