The U.S., Global Capitalism, and Foreign Policy

1. The U.S., Global Capitalism, and Foreign Policy Prof. David Sicilia University of Maryland dsicilia@umd.edu

2. According to the authors, what is new about their approach in this book?

3. Globalization • the history of the world? • or world history? • as a set of questions and problems • America and the World • why? • implications? (American Exceptionalism)

5. capitalism

6. foreign policy/foreign relations/international relations • what does it include?

7. 2. On balance, which side benefitted most from the “Columbian Exchange”?

8. Joseph de Acosta, religious man who had visited the New World early 1520s • “a thousand different kinds of birdes and beasts of the forrest, which have never been knowne, neither in shape nor name; and whereof there is no mention made, neither among the Latins nor Greeks, nor any other nations of the world.”

10. small pox • 12 day incubation • 3-4 fever and vomiting • skin eruptions • Why the 25 year delay in parts of the New World? • from Antilles to Yucatan • “a pestulencesiezed them, characterized by great pustules, which rotted their bodies with a great stench, so that the limbs fell to pieces in four or five days”

12. 1552 – Rio de Janeiro – respiratory disease • 1558 – Rio to Espirito Santo – pleurisy • 1558-1560 – Rio de la Plata – small pox • 1562-63 – Brazil – small pox

13. 3. How did commerce in humans shape the Atlantic economy?

14. slavery in Europe • nearly extinguished by 1700 • the only place in the world trying to end it; certain kinds of individual freedoms were deeply entrenched • c. 1800 – revived and expanded • Africa • indigenous Americas • Middle East

15. transatlantic migration • 1492-1580 < 25 percent were slaves • 1700-1780 >75 percent were slaves • 1820s > 90 percent were slaves

18. 4. How did Spanish and English government strategies differ in the New World when it came to economics? Diplomacy?

19. 5. How and why was the new United States less global than its predecessor colonies?

21. 6. How was internal migration shaped by international diplomacy?

22. 7. To what extent was the American Civil War international?

23. 1. What was the “second industrial revolution”? Was it international?

24. 2. What were the key arguments for and against “new empire”?

26. 3. According to the authors, in the early 20th century the U.S. commanded an “informal empire.” What do they mean? Do you agree?

27. types of imperialism:foreign control of decisions and assets • legal or non-legal • informal: use of force to secure or open foreign markets • formal: colonial rule over indigenous peoples • economic or cultural • coercive or invited

28. 4. Was the New Deal an American creation?

29. 5. After World War II, how did the U.S. try to shape the world economically and diplomatically? Where did it succeed? Fail?

32. 6. Why did the U.S. lose much of its global predominance after 1973?

33. 7. Has recent globalization advantaged or disadvantaged the U.S.?

34. How can we “globalize” American history? • What has been the American style of diplomacy?