Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America's World Role
From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America's World Role
From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America's World Role
Ebook374 pages7 hours

From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America's World Role

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

()

Read preview

About this ebook

What turns rich nations into great powers? How do wealthy countries begin extending their influence abroad? These questions are vital to understanding one of the most important sources of instability in international politics: the emergence of a new power. In From Wealth to Power, Fareed Zakaria seeks to answer these questions by examining the most puzzling case of a rising power in modern history--that of the United States.


If rich nations routinely become great powers, Zakaria asks, then how do we explain the strange inactivity of the United States in the late nineteenth century? By 1885, the U.S. was the richest country in the world. And yet, by all military, political, and diplomatic measures, it was a minor power. To explain this discrepancy, Zakaria considers a wide variety of cases between 1865 and 1908 when the U.S. considered expanding its influence in such diverse places as Canada, the Dominican Republic, and Iceland. Consistent with the realist theory of international relations, he argues that the President and his administration tried to increase the country's political influence abroad when they saw an increase in the nation's relative economic power. But they frequently had to curtail their plans for expansion, he shows, because they lacked a strong central government that could harness that economic power for the purposes of foreign policy. America was an unusual power--a strong nation with a weak state. It was not until late in the century, when power shifted from states to the federal government and from the legislative to the executive branch, that leaders in Washington could mobilize the nation's resources for international influence.


Zakaria's exploration of this tension between national power and state structure will change how we view the emergence of new powers and deepen our understanding of America's exceptional history.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJul 26, 1999
ISBN9781400829187
From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America's World Role
Author

Fareed Zakaria

Fareed Zakaria is the host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, bestselling author of The Post-American World and The Future of Freedom, and a columnist for The Washington Post. He lives in New York City.

Read more from Fareed Zakaria

Related to From Wealth to Power

Titles in the series (64)

View More

Related ebooks

United States History For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for From Wealth to Power

Rating: 3.611111111111111 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

9 ratings1 review

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Very dry. Basically a thesis paper. A significant amount of time was spent on explaining what factors didn't spur the transition the US took from a great economic power to a political one, and it wasn't until probably around 40 pages that Zakaria started talking about the factors that did cause this.This is much drier than most of Zakaria's more popular, layman's work. I still enjoyed the topic, but it's more like reading a Special Report in the Economist than listening to an interview on Charlie Rose.

Book preview

From Wealth to Power - Fareed Zakaria

^book_preview_excerpt.html}rDZDB IP$ @fo553%e GO?'ۉͯ}Y+3{HC93U+Jm}۫wχWϳ˫^^fggW'WgOf._5;91ygWg/KeE蛶WϷ7.g"{4euؾ˞cC#p7޺k?${wrA9 thǐX+ >򫣇O~VukC]J}2ǩ~avil<$CruiU//ާO{_b()_O6Uѻd}I| Af;`1M[ESC1R4 2{ m1B}\B:"Q&>MѺ&4OVkQ/]6qׅ/fsmš)y]۲cqx_`za)M5rXAz/[lFVҺM.`J6>[~\/;-ï?\ogz2o|'yV=wd9m#S܃ឹv Œ6WMNI==PŨe h`@d T-XWqfWN9%.La^BԢQNqGF쳸x+#oꙏx`hk>J  Npy>ll.zP:R?foDfU',N޴*!usвOE?@_CmxR:Vh3i6{s;2jUC?~ϛ? j!^EO.N}~;<ս?s`wa󳿜^\]5pqzyb~7=\fț>B<θS?Ձvp]w{ۻsˇI(6~t.{>{/ğI s?A 4MzO,9t>\P /W/[c@u[GЕ[IZQy'<|諣:^[\7p&]٬ϼl0F}l4Y5eŷŻ(j.iV 3>6>F!%܉ZT+g5=x e4m7[7 <~JOyiG|GO>>&~8 .M >|5x~/+4ӯ~x}&b?o1G_~W]N.C"Z&RD=Ҵru,@Pa  N=9zO7$(J4,A# sȦO?|;lѦ}1LM3BWڗٓǹjj2Crq?$xyrdo` _-}GYmgy 5'4D4n"^yM}\8amE"< p Thj"vx>7* /sÙ*%ω;?f ULi-hMFv1m᳚^pϺý~/8O>LY7;W}ubkhi^Ƿg*tݦ E җ{8~sI-k{|JJG8˕ iΰ p mK\]Cŀ˜c=vԆrGqF/^_c<3OvUqHżi 1 Db'. U ˶qN͖Va{n`a5ka(kjj.)FqaZ7MS"ل J5o\LOҜ 7e'RL*N})^HY兩ĎT 87t[^bRĈЫpfG 1(' WgF h3&!ATBG } Sjòά"4/.hQr/eLr ":^8/ 4@"8Y09RjR$0?loʼ)+4pjHg|\肛4N9+c\m7BK1-#wWpүr[qx.!P?ygmG->R7Ae13ms 3i+l z<%~C dU@h6,"k6Ԙ΃ df eөOz̳˼.'[ #MNC7/@W5CWv_m[̱yk0RYFXGH,d;z70cBf7֙|Pbo\yLBα"{Lox\'+D| 3:ceNQ{ű˔{׀"DuP~Pl(p7lYG(r&tab3B=_ uC.qf]lrva0; Ȟ#3[B1Bg ),q[ XM. 0!RG #+nRF6fen~a#(Rb2FBPOpל)} y0"䅒 PQ`[`W?} ~:7cbl/2E_\eN~ OKYq -[6Y׶JRYg\Pyd|8- dEF%)a. >wѻ f`X{E Ncl"05<4"S}0J}"Ow6 }bs-B3Kq47ӱZ8c(P֢-0'CP} y=[/\*= I ,.Vn4]r&F-~ { ÿ!(Tk%CQA; IG\ 8u kJ sZd jʾuLPעNrl{J@@s W0g!?-%qxX [xɚ*`BfWȦE,cͮ&mTg񟈹kʔRcM7b;ǃtBLwdV=N_YBTm a!&` cH9qY',O)ϫܐꚆ<-4NwUE6Da4? m +XgVHڇu]ˀ !NX9Z0 e#nB.mLXԋ*^IUxF^ZUEī.%i Bie}WK z |&g7}S )+`6Js:HgO; Y^?QYB/V<+R:1 zKuS1]Nb T u\Ͷ1XW_JN\sf-1;B0"~ Ij9;& bП!"CS03&u V"HJe;ִt"YP'\,2NbnI2M+hKϷZ3=4%)2DcRyr~¶P JVhܺp;F n3X$QʗN">{nO"}VCBk!S V-!ưq*d- BK2 4[, +m3ϥ[vˡEB֤ `3?Ȫ#'Zvsm$N. ėjō9C)4)#Ai<1) NL쭗O 'T{3qIp6r.YpH&WN^uŝTkąiHLW(<"-dō4 ?S`aBJr:Z!N2LJ5? j1Z瞾"O5I)<؆B=nۺjw;rrC1يЇiR 傴𵉈l9wVjG{gA>~@/U!3fkEj`4~ o,D~Knt}Ʋ5 02TET IPʖS_mS|q7!BQ@3QI+8{~*qE~ uHX tswCΒ*!ʘFW Jnz\&pt+D$.2˯:q k}lLʄ>Y* ^֗N{ =XI6x||F:Hl8icPdk},&+BNk;8ߴQ ~gE>F>J8s߭ ?btMntJl]KM(/I 4&:|s^FNS|!{ ͎T=u0|3`Fj5K52zO*6N[.UD7G N3eR {pKⰃXʄ* +k IќF|^3Ʋ5c )kj] 6%3U/ Yy Pdeu$Kد-wilvn=RR[I[M YuSQ9ԨE"t}GiwPG T.40 F̼\_ AXfCX1GnzW'^6k:}ُh O$} m,/ĹĦ3ї$#UYT=XI<ʖpg:L|ө V8Vj}t/E%S]$ɍDڐ`t̙1[z[*\k wSL}GǣG@yfiZӶw +RFrJǏ ]K:UZOMX5af"Zd&LV. ,co*%)m,T@j ͠"{굱 ;/Ui11,VJ{dﳍFzxFnE$b$'sk2OS]oҺv۴Qu cnvu5JHb]A#RΌCߣ.rt[@F3/JH",lPfi=Cd\Y%s8\)NaeB*iB=|()gLRǼ8-(x#;RFQֱ)"\ 6"_ۉh붮G˅Ex}tGHN]~aRd#b8oRs)sm|!N ;4XYq~od;FP>O I$0֣>A'ӔzCHU# ^}p!S7tIPNb9-D] `T+_8\> Qbb(t13t8|5-bh=89."R?[hRfzoĘ31FAPK,髭H0LFtvLr{u@Uv:gPoq 2ю(z ,&Xd&K߹,!% kU]61J 2$vتco3& /\cEE>+>[I,Bp쥴6^JdlQH$=<ZKRjl,Li\z oM W y )!hW+U1 $oDZB73SFLM}턐qB4iau㹟׾_z6-H\LGđR'RBI[#3eъq{%670J4^J)hһэPc9msS0R01V!=-; ||{姑sg(@y&mv-cY "I<(Q>֫qȘ2۞ 'B-2t AXMᢑc+Z7.O4$0slݷYXIu'SG׎H#ܽ%0sҩa\@Ki2#FyIC{"fQ򡷈\ShNV˳˫?]eWO_QɑR!W%x34-秴r!EdV)XQ 5sBFh&nTLlCe.A`3.Ҋ+ }jɞQL(x*{IIHNtv0C=H} "jH/ZS[~2zIgiRjIo-_Z8jd?릛 mDՃc~n<&!2=O#WR2[;li(xs$|+'q˴=]>dlư% [[Y9Y {v5m讥G1(&IOꀷ)(Ŧ&-AWk׃7ҔEAZk$} ccZN t^E-u;@@*.J.K*VW1(bܵWo"jK싙A*u+}]J1& Ok"yŒŋLșhшx&eJ6Z QP*-cz,ER{5)餌+7S11%_4mQ D +1+h@0}n99A5P,DD~h:T$7̰~-MyΌ%Vskr)[.(#T.[~*;_\EiHwYXJ(ġ@| yK |R{"!dScQ1N@gd~^"lr9j9B6i/B 1MZhú4ΈY?+nEK~b01T vx̥vl!סm&Ntk3xlԦTs1t ֚6P2Yq!VĈ 3I_~1OKG@ QL ZEˍAC=k6AMh69m3!Єp&_ś|!UC#",vj[Ky6K~v!G?%:i䷝ z} म8}K^i84'GZb$l&vH1ZJC.b]ot9<7p$HN2ds`,M4M.ɞ 㱝Ia'XI߈ 2zdB;BQ֭UXm]<0ӳV|=q4#I*愩Xz![J/nJSdh ,մpC2X*LjJ.'D]:oVHs/6lej`D$oNU_-Z]S3 jŢ-D'31?mc_ Ž偟ˍ rm?b88myhcǣvZRGB PIz/v S,$oikB[~?[=6t;7C?K.1)\ .E֞<2ܷ]5Dh2ɨ=,4 \>0fo\Uf -R93q7qx9eB2뀍LY+kd? t#M,P=Ēpwa I'V (v]MlZv7&U Аx%ލ-Q!Wx _;MhU:1+ZGVXDX;S7u[TN,ZOHʍ)9`m𶓓9,f dFm2]eBg~{n
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1