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Review
[From Wealth to Power's] tightly argued thesis addresses a question sure to be revisited.... Its conclusions are both provocative and full of implications for the world today. -- Walter A. McDougall, The New York Times Book Review
Mr. Zakaria persuasively illustrates [his] argument by examining America's emergence as a great power.... [His] account of turn-of-the-century American diplomacy is concise and insightful. -- Aaron L. Friedberg, The Wall Street Journal
A significant contribution to the study of international relations. -- "Choice
Mr. Zakaria persuasively illustrates [his] argument by examining America's emergence as a great power.... [His] account of turn-of-the-century American diplomacy is concise and insightful. -- Aaron L. Friedberg, The Wall Street Journal
A significant contribution to the study of international relations. -- "Choice
Product Description
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.
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First Sentence
WHAT TURNS rich nations into "great powers"? Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
WHAT TURNS rich nations into "great powers"? Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Zakaria explains why America became a world power in the "unusual," halting, delayed manner that it did. This book puts the events of 1898 and the diplomacy of Teddy Roosevelt in a fascinating light. He restores the fame and reputation of one of the great American statesmen -- William Henry Seward. And I agree with the other reviews -- it's *very* well written with interesting, well chosen anecdotes.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
the author has two separate agendas. One is to contribute to theoretical debates among academic political scientists; the other is to tell the story of America's rise to global power between the Civil War and World War I. The theoretical stuff seems right but is pretty arcane; the history, on the other hand, is very well told and intelligently structured. It'll definitely make you think. Plus, the whole thing is written beautifully.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
7 reviews
39 of 42 people found the following review helpful
a great overview of early U.S. foreign policy
30 April 1998
Format:Hardcover
the author has two separate agendas. One is to contribute to theoretical debates among academic political scientists; the other is to tell the story of America's rise to global power between the Civil War and World War I. The theoretical stuff seems right but is pretty arcane; the history, on the other hand, is very well told and intelligently structured. It'll definitely make you think. Plus, the whole thing is written beautifully.
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
The growth of the American state, and of American power
30 Aug 2004
Format:Paperback
"What turns rich nations into great powers," asks Fareed Zakaria in his opening line; he attempts to answer that question by examining American foreign policy from 1865 to 1908 observing that the period from 1865 to 1889 featured few expansive ventures, though that from 1890 to 1908 saw plenty expansions.
Mr. Zakaria, now the editor of Newsweek, wrote "From Wealth to Power" for his doctoral dissertation. Hence the tone of the work is largely academic, with plenty of references to academic debates and literature reviews. All the same, the text is accessible and hardly ever esoteric; the academic density is likely to add to rather than subtract from the enjoyment of reading the book.
What of the thesis itself? Mr. Zakaria approaches his period of examination from two alternative angles, both of which are used in the international relations literature to explain why nations expand: realism and defensive realism. The former places emphasis on why and when states choose to expand by focusing on an innate drive to power, tempered by practicability and opportunity; the latter maintains that states expand when they are faced with threats.
Mr. Zakaria, it turns out, is content with neither of the two propositions. What best explains this period of American foreign policy, he contends, is a variation of realism: state-centered realism (SCR). The important qualification of SCR is that it accounts for power conversion-the ability of the state apparatus to convert national resources into stated government objectives. This approach, Mr. Zakaria continues, applies to the American case because although the American nation was strong from 1865 to 1908, only when the state and its bureaucracy were streamlined was America able to pursue an ambitious foreign policy (from 1890 onward).
The thesis is elegant, the argument tightly argued, and the prose clear and concise. Occasionally, Mr. Zakaria attacks defensive realism by refuting arguments that some defensive realists would rarely make; but this is rare and cannot distract from the convincingness of the his overall thesis: that it was the rise of the American state that helped America convert its vast national wealth into international influence. Anyone seeking to understand that period of American foreign policy, or the overall theoretical question, can hardly do better than read "From Wealth to Power."
Mr. Zakaria, now the editor of Newsweek, wrote "From Wealth to Power" for his doctoral dissertation. Hence the tone of the work is largely academic, with plenty of references to academic debates and literature reviews. All the same, the text is accessible and hardly ever esoteric; the academic density is likely to add to rather than subtract from the enjoyment of reading the book.
What of the thesis itself? Mr. Zakaria approaches his period of examination from two alternative angles, both of which are used in the international relations literature to explain why nations expand: realism and defensive realism. The former places emphasis on why and when states choose to expand by focusing on an innate drive to power, tempered by practicability and opportunity; the latter maintains that states expand when they are faced with threats.
Mr. Zakaria, it turns out, is content with neither of the two propositions. What best explains this period of American foreign policy, he contends, is a variation of realism: state-centered realism (SCR). The important qualification of SCR is that it accounts for power conversion-the ability of the state apparatus to convert national resources into stated government objectives. This approach, Mr. Zakaria continues, applies to the American case because although the American nation was strong from 1865 to 1908, only when the state and its bureaucracy were streamlined was America able to pursue an ambitious foreign policy (from 1890 onward).
The thesis is elegant, the argument tightly argued, and the prose clear and concise. Occasionally, Mr. Zakaria attacks defensive realism by refuting arguments that some defensive realists would rarely make; but this is rare and cannot distract from the convincingness of the his overall thesis: that it was the rise of the American state that helped America convert its vast national wealth into international influence. Anyone seeking to understand that period of American foreign policy, or the overall theoretical question, can hardly do better than read "From Wealth to Power."
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
A provocative retelling of American history
6 May 1998
Format:Hardcover
Zakaria explains why America became a world power in the "unusual," halting, delayed manner that it did. This book puts the events of 1898 and the diplomacy of Teddy Roosevelt in a fascinating light. He restores the fame and reputation of one of the great American statesmen -- William Henry Seward. And I agree with the other reviews -- it's *very* well written with interesting, well chosen anecdotes.
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