EP 686 To Dominate the World the U.S. First Had to Own Its Neighborhood

According to our guest, there is a lost chapter of American foreign policy–the century following the Civil War in which the United States carved out a sphere of influence and became the only great power in modern history to achieve regional hegemony.  The ways in which America achieved complete supremacy in the Americas was at turns reluctant and at other times ruthless.  The historical significance of this neighborhood dominance later becomes America’s ability to project its might throughout the world.  And while questions have arisen about how well we have done that, America’s peacekeeping role has been the dominant fixture in world stability since World War II.  According to Sean Mirksi, author of “We May Dominate the World”, this history offers us a window into the trajectory that other regional powers–China, Russia and Iran–may take in the coming decades.

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