International Relations Essay

After the civil war, United States took a turn that led them to solidify as the world power. From the late 1800s, as the US began to collect power through Cuba, Hawaii, and the Philippines, debate arose among historians about American imperialism and its behavior. Historians such as William A. Williams, Arthur Schlesinger, and Stephen Kinzer provides their own vision and how America ought to be through ideas centered around economics, power, and racial superiority.

The role of the Middle East has been very crucial to the United States, especially after WWII. The U.S. had three strategic goals in the Middle East and consistently followed them throughout various events that unfolded in the region. First, with the emergence of the cold war between the Soviet Union and the U.S., policymakers began to recognize the importance of the Middle East as a strategic area in containing Soviet influence. This also coincides with the U.S. becoming increasingly wary of Arab nationalism and the threat it posed to U.S. influence. Secondly, the emergence of the new Israeli state in 1948 further deepened U.S. policy and involvement in the region while also creating friction between the U.S. and Arab states which were

At this point in time, the main actors in the international system are nation-states seeking an agenda of their own based on personal gain and national interest. Significantly, the most important actor is the United States, a liberal international economy, appointed its power after the interwar period becoming the dominant economy and in turn attained the position of hegemonic stability in the international system. The reason why the United States is dominating is imbedded in their intrinsic desire to continuously strive for their own national interest both political and economic. Further, there are other nature of actors that are not just nation-states, including non-states or transnational,

The current overwhelming dominance of the unprecedented modern American empire in the realm of world politics generally agreed upon by experts and scholars around the world. There is little to refute the argument that there is any state that comes close to the strength of the Americans in a vast number of areas, most notably economically and militarily. Present debate among experts in the field of international relations revolves around whether the Americans can maintain their primacy for upcoming generations. Robert Dujarric and William Odom, both experienced and respected scholars of international relations, declare in their 2004 work, “America’s Inadvertent Empire,” that America is in a solid position to keep a tight hold on its place at the top. Vividly explaining America’s path to dominance while emphasizing the current state of domination, the authors effectively present the abilities of the empire while also illustrating the potential threats that could bring it down.

The evolution of U.S. Foreign policy following the Civil War is continually evolving. During the Civil War years, America had an economy that was based on agriculture. Farmers were growing cotton, tobacco and sugarcane. Slaves from Africa worked on these enormous plantations. . At the time, America was in an election year with Lincoln as the candidate of the Republican Party claiming he was going to abolish slavery. When Lincoln won the election he did just that, immediately there after 7 states declared their independence from the US, they were then known as Confederate States. After a few years 4 more states

It is almost indisputable that the United States is currently a world superpower. Hans Hoyng is correct when he argues that "America's rise to superpower status began with its 1917 entry into World War I” (Hoyng) because prior to its entry into the Great War, the United States was an overall isolationist country mainly interested in its own wellbeing. Hoyng continues that “President Woodrow Wilson had grand visions for the peace that followed the War, but failed. The battle he started in the US between idealists and realists continues to this day”. World War I provided a perfect opportunity for the United States to grow economically while at the same time enhancing and flexing its political power on the world stage. President Woodrow Wilson’s idealist approach to the end of the war clashed with those who held more realist, hardline approach—a debate that continues today in figuring out how to handle the Middle East. While World War I was not the first time the United States executed an internationalist agenda, the Great War served as the first time in the country’s history that the United States transitioned from unilateralism to unhindered internationalism. In this essay, I will argue that the United States’ shift from its unilateral policies to policies

The US became the world’s only real superpower. After the defeat of the Soviet Union, the U.S. was left as the preeminent power in the world. This has meant that the US expects to have influence all around the world and people all around the

After December 26 1991, when the Soviet Union fell, the bipolarity of the international system was effaced. In the post- Cold War era, the United States faced the problem, without a defined enemy, to adopt a new foreign policy. To begin to analyze the political foreign policy of the United States, one must first understand the international system. According to Political Realism, a theory of international thought, the state is the key unit within the acts within the system. These states act according to their key norms, which are allowed by the system. However, these sates are also affected the domestic and external factors which control how they act. The domestic factors include political culture, their economic system, the leadership

In a country of complicated decisions made by politicians about far away places and the people that live there, it's only a guess as to the motives behind each of these decisions. In Noam Chomsky's book "Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance", Noam gives a scrupulously researched critique of America's quest for dominance at any cost that not only has cast us in the role of a rogue superpower but also jeopardizes the very survival of humanity. From reading this book, I will give an account as to what Chomsky says about American hegemonic ideals and give him credit for the attempt that he has made to expose historical truth.

Global Politics The study of international or rather global politics, seeks to provide an account of politics in the broadest domain. The domain of international politics in the twenty-first century is characterised by the increasing number of actors pursuing common and personal interests. It is largely due to the globalised, interdependent nature of the current international political environment that the concepts of sovereignty and power deserve further evaluation.

The first paradigm of international relations is the theory of Realism. Realism is focused on ideas of self-interest and the balance of power. Realism is also divided into two categories, classical realism and neo-realism. Famous political theorist, Hans Morgenthau was a classical realist who believed that national interest was based on three elements, balance of power, military force, and self interest (Kleinberg 2010, 32). He uses four levels of analysis to evaluate the power of a state. The first is that power and influence are not always the same thing. Influence means the ability to affect the decision of those who have the power to control outcomes and power is the ability to determine outcomes. An example of influence and power

A regional power is a state that has marginal power in its designated geographic region. A state known as a regional power holds the uncontested power influence within its region of the world, and through its power contains a certain form of hegemony upon the region. “Regional powers can be distinguished by four pivotal criteria: claim to leadership, power resources, employment of

International Relations is a state centric discipline that contends with global concerns and foreign affairs amongst the states within the international arena. As the 21st century progressed rapidly, the relationship among states has changed considerably whereby small states in all continents have become a focal point in the international system. Since the days of the Cold War the impact between the small states and the great powers have been a precarious one whereby the great powers kept majority of the small states in the shadows; until now where they have begun to evolve and build their influence in the global world. The voice of the small states became onerous to achieve when the intergovernmental agreements and the economic paradigms were customarily based on the interest of authoritative states. Today, several of the small state actors in the global arena are considered to the most outstanding players in the world; nation states like Slovenia, Catalonia, Luxembourg and Bahrain. The fundamental dynamics of the development of small states in the international system is as a consequence of democracy growth provoked by the introduction of technological advancement due to globalization, communications, infrastructure and trade along with the social transformations shaped by enterprise operations globally. It is an expectation that small states can play a pivotal role in the expansion of a new era through which the international system is revolutionizing to the assistance of

The difference between the Arabs and the South and Southeast Asians! The lure of regionalism — a belief in regional co-operation and integration as a method to advance a region’s shared political, economic or security interests — has had profound effects on the foreign policies of all countries. The conventional wisdom is that such collaborative efforts will serve as the building blocks of a future Economic Community, as well as Unions. Many attempts at uniting as a region are informed by the experiences of the European Union and North America.

Regionalisation means a less interconnected world , with a stronger regional spirit. (Mercosur for example).