Contrary to popular belief the behavior of nations throughout the international community is rarely driven by moral considerations but rather a mixture of money, influence, and geopolitics. When the ruling class begins to demonize a foreign country one of the first questions you should ask yourself is “What is actually at stake here?” After all, money makes the world go round. Aime Cesaire was a French poet, author, and politician from Martinique. In Aime Cesaire’s work titled “Discourse on Colonialism” he exposes the hypocrisy and brutality that goes along with forging empires in regards to the old European powers, which directly relates to the United States empire that the world knows so well of today. Cesaire argues that colonialism itself has never been and will not be a positive movement in which those who are colonizing had the goal of improving the lives of the colonized cultures themselves, but rather it was in the best interests of the colonists' for purely self-centered reasons such as economic …show more content…
And in order for the United States to keep its global superpower status, it must keep that disproportionate amount of the world’s wealth by all means necessary just as Cesaire implied when he writes “American domination- the only domination from which one never recovers. I mean from which one never recovers unscarred.” (p.77) This domination comes from a number of different variables, such as the Marshall plan directly after WW1, which rebuilt Europe and stopped the spread of communism which was a direct threat to Europe, and the Truman Doctrine which also strengthened US relations around the world as well as preventing communism from spreading. In modern times the United States keeps its financial dominance through aspects such as International banks, and controlling the worlds the oil
In American Colonies, Alan Taylor argues that the story of American colonization has been overly exclusive and biased.[ Taylor,
History has forever talked about the Great Colonization of North America, from the 3G’s(God, Glory, Gold) of the Spanish, the fur trading of the French, to the English Celebrating the first Thanksgiving. But lets catch to the chase, the real question is, which of these three European Powers successfully colonized in America. To answer that question we must first learn what makes a colony successfully, it must conqueror new land and expand its territory. It’s people who live in the colonies must be able to survive the hardships and repopulate, while they must also maintain its wealth. But most importantly a colony must learn to live independently from their original homeland, and political government control.
In the chapter “Foreign Policy” in the book, “The Politics of Power” by Ira Katznelson, Mark Kesselman, and Alan Draper, describes in detail of the events leading to America’s great level of dominance. Throughout the chapter, a few key points were made. The main three points that were observed in this chapter consisted of America’s influence and global expansion, the transition into the globalization era, and environmental problems. From the beginning of the exploration era, to the globalization ear, foreign policy never escaped existence. The use of foreign policy continued into the beginning of World War II, after the war, and through present day. Between each date in history, foreign policy increasingly has played a major role in the turning tides within each event. The importance of foreign policy instructed the world into what it is today and has continued to do so. The relationship pertaining to the United States and its foreign policies have aimlessly been altered through good and bad times. At its birth, America’s international involvement began. Through time, its foreign policy has gained great interest and provided immense dominant reputation. Within the ordinance of America’s global dominance, speculation estimates that no nation truly is dominant as other problems counter true dominance. These problems consist of global warming, human rights, and ecological crisis. These problems will challenge nations in the future to answer the question: “What nation is truly
of his own country’s colonization, Sekou Toure laments that the colonial powers assimilated each of their colonies
The Next Decade, a novel by George Friedman, talks about the predictions of countries in the upcoming decade and how the United States should react to the various challenges. The novel’s first major claim is that the United States is actually an empire, similar to how Rome and Great Brian were. However, unlike the previous empires, the United States refuses to acknowledge its status as an empire. “What makes the United States an empire is the number of countries it affects, the intensity of the impact, and the number of people in those countries affected.” The implication of this quote is that the US has gotten to be so large, if the US decided to draw out of global affairs, the impact would be detrimental. Instead of escaping its duty to the world, Friedman claims that the United States must acknowledge its status as an empire and function as such in order to maneuver the next decade. This claim is a wise claim made by Friedman, but it his only claim of worth in the novel. In The Next Decade, Friedman fails to make his thesis credible because he doesn’t his sources, provide logical arguments on his predications of the future, or examine alternative possibilities.
The United States subsequent to WWII has kept on growing its realm through outside issues and the approach of country building. Much like the British Empire, which happened before it, at its tallness of force the British Empire controlled double the measure of area masses than that the United States. (identified with one effective individual or nation controlling others) influence with America is additionally clarified through cash based achievement. By Finance, the annihilation brought about by WWII permitted America to expect cash based control all through the world. This was the aftereffect of the debilitating of numerous (identified with Europe) nations included in the war, by that/in that way permitting the United States to create half of the world 's GDP.
His final claim states that the US is the only country with enough military, economic, and diplomatic power to "fix" the world. In the text, he gives examples of how America has unprecedented power. For instance, all of the world's navies combined together would still be inferior to that of the American Navy. Moreover, the US generates 30% of the total world economic output. These two factors, among many others, give America the responsibility to watch over and "fix" the world.
The effects of European colonization can still be seen today. It can be seen physically in the landscapes of the islands of the Caribbean, and mentally it is still present in some of the inhabitant’s minds. Political struggles should not be ignored as well as many islands have struggled since their independence. Today when many Europeans look back at the peak of their country’s empires they see the Caribbean as a contributing factor. While there is no question as to the wealth generated by the control of the Caribbean islands, one can ask how great these European colonizers were. There are many ways to measure accomplishment, if one measures it just by wealth then European colonization could be considered a success. However, if we were to
Colonization was used as early as the 18th century to expand a particular country’s territory. Essentially it supposed to be a positive thing, expanding the territory’s resources such as medicine, and education. Jamaica Kincaid, however, plead the opposite. In her book, A Small Place, she expounded on the after effects of colonialism on her small island, Antigua. The Island, discovered by Christopher Columbus, is only nine by twelve miles long, surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean (Kincaid, 80), which has “swallowed up a number of black slaves” (Kincaid, 14). Jamaica Kincaid, described the slave owner (Europeans) as “Human rubbish,” who took “noble and exalted human beings from Africa” to enslave them (80). She
Africa is home to countless cultures that all have their own unique ideas and customs. During the past couple of centuries, these cultures were threatened to the point where they almost ceased to exist. The Berlin Conference was a very important occurrence in Africa and Europe's history. It legitimized what the European powers, mainly France and Britain, had been doing for the past hundred years, without the approval of any African country. During the late nineteenth century, France and Britain began imperialistic ventures into Africa, which eventually led Leopold II to conquer the Congo. It was Leopold's II presence in Africa that to led the Berlin Conference.
Three levels of analysis, each with its own distinct strength, reveals three different ways of understanding international relations. The first states that all nation-states behave similarly, the second emphasizes the unique internal factors of a nation-state, while the third level of analysis focuses on the individual deciding a state’s course of action. Each level of analysis is useful in the study of international relations. Indeed, used all together, it is not long before arriving at a point where a vast number of explanations for the actions of a country are brought to light. However, to best understand international relations, one level of analysis is more useful than the rest, because it provides the most comprehensive
In the Discourse on Colonialism, Cesaire illustrates a compelling relationship between colonized states and the proletariat class. He conveys that the proletariat socio-economic class allows for the possible unification of society against the powers of colonialism. Interestingly, the comparison reflects as these elements extend from constructed illusions to unequivocal creeds. By isolating and juxtaposing the two groups, Cesaire is able to elaborate on how he believes that race and class unite to dominate 'inferior subjects' in nations throughout the globe. Throughout the essay, Cesaire provides reasoning for the socially constructed experiences of those dictated by colonial imperialism, particularly Africans, and proletarian conflicts in
Nuclear bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, not answering the call for help in Rwanda, allowing Germany to take over Czechoslovakia, supporting the creation of the state of Israel, giving out loans (with interest) to developing countries, and the creation of the United Nations are all forms of international interference and cooperation amongst states. When looking at these examples and many more, it begs the question, does morality play a role in international affairs of a state? George Kennan, a prominent Skeptic, would argue that in international politics “other criteria, sadder, more limited, more practical, must be allowed to prevail.”
If prompted with the question what is colonization and or how did Europe and America colonize different countries and peoples the answer might be as simple as: it was the process of taking land from other countries and pushing to change the peoples of those countries towards western ways. This answer is to simple, a lot of people do not know the motives behind colonizing another country. Even though the motives behind colonizing another country depend on the time and location of the colonizing, Europe and America have always set above every other country around the world. They title themselves as being superior to all others. Thus, a lot of countries bought into the western ways and believe Westerners to be “demigod”. In Michael Adas essay, Contested Hegemony: The Great War and the Afro-Asian Assault on the Civilizing-Mission, even though the focus is on the ups and downs of colonization in Asia and Africa. The essay looks at the motives behind colonizing these peoples, why some bought into the idea and how World War One changed everything for Europe, Asia and Africa in terms of colonization.
The final level of analysis Morgenthau considers to be important is whether or not the power is legitimate and moral or if it is illegitimate and immoral. Legitimate and moral power carries considerable weight in the international community. However, if the power of a state is derived from illegitimate sources such as a dictatorship the international community will be less responsive to that state, weakening its power. Weak or small states may enter into alliances with stronger states to increase their power and influence within the international community (Kleinberg 2010, 33-34). Morgenthau also believed that the charisma and personality of a leader was very important when reviewing the balance of power and understanding a state’s self interest (Kleinberg 2010, 32).