America's Strategy in World Politics: The United States and
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Spykman, Nicholas J. / Sempa, Francis P., PUBLISHER: Transaction Publishers, Less than a year after ong>theong> United States entered ong>theong> Second World War, Nicholas Spykman wrote a book that placed ong>theong> war effort in ong>theong> broader context of ong>theong> s global balance of power. In "America's Strategy in World Politics," Spykman examined world politics from a realist geopolitical perspective. ong>Theong> United States, he explained, was fighting for its very survival as an independent country because ong>theong> conquests of Germany and Japan raised ong>theong> specter of our geopolitical encirclement by hostile forces controlling ong>theong> power centers of Europe, ong>theong> Middle East, and East Asia. Spykman warned that ong>theong> United States could not safely retreat to a defensive position in ong>theong> Western Hemisphere. Spykman looked beyond ong>theong> immediate strategic requirements of ong>theong> Second World War, envisioning a postwar world in which ong>theong> United States would help shape ong>theong> global balance of power to meet its security needs. Even though Soviet Russia was our wartime ally, Spykman recognized that a geopolitically unbalanced Soviet Union could threaten to upset ong>theong> postwar balance of power and ong>theong>reby endanger U.S. security. Spykman also foresaw ong>theong> rise of China in postwar Asia, and ong>theong> likely need for ong>theong> United States to ally itself with Japan to balance China's power. He also recognized that ong>theong> Middle East would play a pivotal role in ong>theong> postwar world. Spykman influenced American postwar statesmen and strategists. During ong>theong> Cold War, ong>theong> U.S. sought to deny ong>theong> Soviet Union political control of Western Europe, ong>theong> Middle East, and East Asia. Spykman's geopolitical vision of U.S. security, supported by a balanced Eurasian land mass, coupled with his focus on power as ong>theong> governing force in international relations, makes "America's Strategy in World Politics" relevant to ong>theong> twenty-first century.