This book presents an overview of the main changes in the United States' foreign policy in response to the transformations in the international order in the last decades. If, after the end of the Cold War, the USA invested in the universalization of market economy and in the strengthening of its military supremacy, new developments demanded reorientations in the country’s foreign strategy. The controversial military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, the 2008 economic crisis, the rise of the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and the rise of right-wing populism altered the global political landscape and demanded new responses from the most powerful country in the world.
This volume brings together nine essays in which the founding member of the World International Studies Committee, Sebastião C. Velasco e Cruz, analyzes how the United States’ foreign policy responded to the growing challenges posed by this changing international order, discussing topics such as:
- The evolution of the American geopolitical strategy after the end of the Cold War
- How US foreign policy reacted to challenges to security and dilemmas of the international order
- Barack Obama's foreign policy and world politics
- Donald Trump and the rise of populism in the USA
- US relations with BRICs and Latin America
The United States in a Troubled World: Essays on Interpretation will be of interest to international relations and political science researchers both within and outside the United States.
Author(s): Sebastião C. Velasco e Cruz
Series: Contributions to International Relations
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 232
City: Cham
Preface
Acknowledgements
Contents
Chapter 1: A Problem of Method: The United States’ Grand Strategy – Debate, Policies, and Implications for Brazil
Shifts in the International Arena and the Strategic Debate in the United States
Strategy, Grand Strategy, and State Action: Theoretical Elements to Frame the Investigation
References
Chapter 2: Between Norms and Facts: Challenges to Security and Dilemmas of the International Order
From National Defense to Cooperative Security
“A Crime Against Humanity!”
The Warlords
Back to a Hobbesian World? Threats “New” and “Old”
References
Chapter 3: After the Cold War: Geopolitical Evolution, Scenarios, and Prospects
Three Events
A New Order?
Transformations in the World Economy
International Security in the Post-Cold War Period
Considerations on the Debate Regarding the Configuration of World Power in the Post-Cold War Period
Aspects of US Grand Strategy and Distribution of Power in the International System
Metamorphoses: Challenges and Prospects
References
Chapter 4: The United States in India’s Mirror: Reflections on the Development Strategies and Foreign Relations of an Ascending Country
Atypical Developmentalism: Particularities of the Indian Pattern of Development and Reform
Planning with Democracy
Heavy-Industry Priority
The Restricted Space of Foreign Capital
The “Gigantism” of the Public Sector
Social Transformations in the Countryside and the Predominance of Family Farming
Complementary Remarks
Particularities of the Indian Reform Process
Back to the Future: Trade Negotiations, International Alliances, and Outlook
References
Chapter 5: A New Course? Obama’s Choices and World Politics
Policy Orientation
Commitment to Reality?
Hegemonic Consensus and the Obama Policy
Where Is It? Where Is It Headed?
Iraq
Afghanistan
Iran
Russia
References
Chapter 6: The Tragedy of Diplomacy and Obama’s Foreign Policy
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
References
Chapter 7: The Presence of Tradition: Populism in the United States
Unusual Occurrences
Trump and Populism
The Roots of American Populism
Populist Tradition in the United States
Trump’s Election, Populism, and the Challenges of Democracy at Present
References
Chapter 8: A House Divided: Donald Trump and the Transformation of American Politics
The Trump Phenomenon and a House Divided
Mismatches: The Political Polarization Debate in The United States
Severed Relations
A Society Divided?
Polarization: Determinants and the Obscure Realm of Affect
Polarization and the Obscure Dimension of Sentiment
Polarization as Effect and Strategic Goal
The Conservative Movement, the Republican Party, and the Trump Case
The Problem Better Defined
The Conservative Movement
Structural Change in the Political Communication System
Politics Conceived of as War
End of Cycle: Financial Crisis and the Uprising of the Republican Bases
References
Chapter 9: International Order? Inter-American Relations and Political Outlook for Latin America
Some Preliminaries
International Order
Latin America
“Concert and Disconcert” of the World
Contested Hegemony and the Crusade Against Corruption
War Operations in the Brazilian Theater
The Brazilian Crisis and Latin America’s Challenges
References
Index
