The Imperial Republic: The United States and the World 1945-1973

by Raymond Aron

Overview

The Imperial Republic based as it is on Raymond Aron's realist philosophy, is involved only indirectly or by implication in the disputes about moralism, revisionism, and even imperialism. Its main aim is to account for the diplomacy of the United States as it was in a special time period. Like all diplomacy, it can be explained only within the system of inter-state relations to which the protagonist belongs.

United States diplomacy during the twenty- eight year period of 1945-73 is examined from strategic, political, and moral stand points were in diplomats openly declared their aim, and did they achieve it? Does the result justify accusations either of incompetence or of imperialism? Does not the reaction within the United States to a policy which had been a striking success now induce second thoughts about both the policy and its results? The imperial republic is trying to throw off its burden; once a missionary, it has lost the sense of mission; it is still capitalist, but its spoiled children no longer believe in money; it was puritan, but its cities abound in sex shops; it regards itself as scientific, yet mystical and nudist sects are common.

The reader is not asked to endorse Aron's paradoxical interpretations, but to try to discover the reasons for any disagreement he may feel regarding differences in political judgment. People who have acquired the habit of thinking of the contemporary world in Manichaean terms-in terms of the reduction of whole populations to slavery by monsters, or in terms of capitalism, imperialism, or revisionism- may be out raged by a book that is not concerned with grounds for outrage and in which there are neither villains nor heroes; but rather with mixed messages by decent policymakers. At the time of its initial publication The Times Literary Supplement called The Imperial Republic "an important book . . . no other author does so much." It remains so!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781412810791
Publisher:	Transaction Publishers
Publication date:	09/15/2009
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Raymond Aron (1905-1983) was the foremost political and social theorist of post-World War II France known for his skeptical analyses of leftist ideologies. was well known in both the United States and United Kingdom, serving as Andrew D. White Professor-At-Large at Cornell University. He also taught at Columbia and Oxford. He authored more than forty books, including Main Currents in Sociological Thought, The Opium of the Intellectuals,and The Imperial Republic, all published in new editions by Transaction.

Irving Louis Horowitz (1929-2012) was Hannah Arendt Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Political Science at Rutgers University. He was the founder and served as chairman of the board and editorial director of Transaction Publishers.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Transaction Edition, by Irving Louis Horowitz Preface to the American Edition Introduction Prologue: The Insular Continent PART I: The United States in the Inter-State System: The Success and Failure of Paramountcy Introduction Chapter I:Assigning the Guilt: The Origins of the Cold War Chapter II: The Two Crusades Chapter III: Ascent and Descent Chapter IV: Disciples of Metternich Conclusion: Success or Failure? PART II: The United States in the World Market: The Privileges and Constraints of a Dominant Economy Introduction Chapter I: Freedom of Persons or Freedom of Trade: The Economic Foundations of American Diplomacy Chapter II: The Two Marshall Plans: The Round Trip of the Dollars Chapter III: Aid or Counterrevolution: The United States and the Third World Chapter IV: The Changing Forms of Imperialism Conclusion: The End of Economic Sovereignties Postscript: Between Imperial Diplomacy and Isolationism Index