For several years, the U.S. has dominated the world when it comes to military, social, and economic aspects. During the reign of President Harry Truman, the U.S. was fronted as a country that would provide financial, military, and political assistance to any democratic country under threat from authoritarian forces. In fact, this ‘doctrine’ shaped the country’s foreign policy in such a manner that it deviated from withdrawing from regional battles that did not involve the United States directly to one that can intervene to bring socioeconomic, political or even military transformation (Cook, Glickman, & O'Malley, 2012). On that note, the U.S should play an intervening role in global affairs to ensure that there is parity across the world. Today, country is very serious on matters that touch on peoples’ freedom and equality.
Looking back into history, the economic power of the United States has been very positive. The economic transformation of the country from 1940s to 21 st century has been great either. For example, during 1950s, the country underwent massive industrialization, and thereafter, the American economy has expanded to cover areas such as education, information, finance and entertainment ( Shi, David & Tindall, 2010) . Since the end of WWII, the U.S. has been the global best in terms of industrial power. The strong GDP per capita against other countries has elevated the country to an extent that it is a major economic player in the world today. Despite this, the country was seriously affected by the recent House Bubble and the Great Economic Crisis affected the entire world. Worth noting that by taking key economic measures, the country has addressed the economic challenges.
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Discuss why the Spanish-American war is viewed by some as a move towards “imperialism”
The Spanish-American War symbolized the rise of the U.S as a global power on the stage of diplomacy and international relations, and it is why it is typically associated with American imperialism. The war announced to the rest of the global powers that the United States was now a significant player. It demonstrated that the U.S had abandoned its policy of isolationism since it showed its might against the Spanish. Indeed, the war illustrated the American move towards imperialism. Generally, this change in policy was surprising for most parties since the U.S was a former British colony, and was opposed to the European notion of imperialism ( Cook, Glickman, & O'Malley, 2012). Before the War, Congress passed an Act promising that the U.S would respect the independence of Cuba. However, after the battle, the U.S annexed Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Hawaii, and Guam, which acted as its military bases. Nevertheless, many people believe that the move was a one-time moment of American imperialism that was realized through economic dominance.
3. Compare and contrast U.S. policy with other imperial powers of the late 19 th century.
In the 19 th Century, the U.S policy was centered on peaceful co-existence with other nations. American leadership sought to create mutually beneficial ties with other countries to promote economic development and social justice. On the other hand, the European politics prior to 1914 was immense, and some of the powerful nations fought for supremacy in the continent. This was because of political polarization of Europe between 1887 and 1914 with Germany and Austria-Hungary forming dual alliance in 1879 while Britain, France, and Russia coming together to form the Triple Entente that rivaled the Dual Alliance ( Shi, David &Tindall, 2010) . The German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck made a difference in Europe by making Germany to be the strongest military country in the continent. Besides, he challenged the smaller alliances between countries for example, France and England. During these times, Germany attempted to develop Triple Alliance involving Italy and Russia. However, with the reign of Wilhelm II, the Alliance was affected, and Russia was forced to withdraw, leading to the formation of Franco-Russian alliance. In 1898, Germany lost its calmness with Britain, and it challenged England in North Sea battleship building ( Goldfield & Goldfield, 2014) . Following the defeat of Russia by Japan during the periods of 1904-1907, Russia became weak. In 1907, Britain, Russia, and France employed co-operative diplomacy to come together. Notwithstanding, Italy had secret talks with France in 1902, making Germany to remain with Austria-Hungary ( Goldfield & Goldfield, 2014) . In 1912, the Anglo-German naval race lost its impulsion, thus, giving way to Austro-German and Franco-Russian alliance to dominate the Europe.
4. Why do you feel America was hesitant to enter World War I?
The United States was hesitant to join World War 1 since it was a battle of supremacy among the European powers. The battle for supremacy in Europe in the beginning of 1900s was marked by warfare across the continent ( Goldfield & Goldfield, 2014) . Germany, for instance, proved to be the largest economy in Europe, and it capitalized in that to fight for its greatness in Europe. The First World War was triggered with various reasons, and the prominent ones included the balance of power, economic gains in Europe as well as having political alliances that fought against each other. ( Shi, David &Tindall, 2010) The political rivalry was immensely diving the continent, and it is clear that strength of the alliances and the level of preparedness enabled Germany to emerge stronger.
The U.S only became involved after the situation heightened. The U.S. condemned the decision made by Germany to attack any ship that operated in the British water. As a result, it warned the Germans of its readiness to take Germany to war because their people also suffered from the attack made by the Germans. While Germany reacted so harshly to the Britain’s Naval Blockage of Germany, the U.S, which was a neutral state in the European war, was affected and as a result, their (U.S) anger was provoked. The incident of May 7, 1915 that resulted into 128 American casualties after the British passenger ship was brought down heightened the pressure and consequently, the rivalry between the U.S. and Germany ( Shi, David &Tindall, 2010) . Few years later, the U.S. terminated its diplomatic agreement with the Germany following the unrestricted submarine warfare that affected the neutral countries as well.
5. President Wilson proposed the League of Nations which eventually led to the formation of the United Nations. Discuss whether or not such an institution is a good idea.
The United Nations is a good idea since it is an advocate for social justice in the world. Social justice can be explained in two ways before combining the different perspectives to convey meaning. The social perspective relates to the distribution of societal benefits ( Martell, 2013) . In this case, only three categories of people make up a society, and they include men, women, and the families they make. Although some may argue that people cannot cease social problems, it is clearly evident that social justice refers to human beings to send a message that anything a person does, this or that way, affects the well-being of another one.
On the other hand, justice is the aspect of distributing fairness to all humanity, and this is concerned with the application of the law. It is applied to humanity, and its enforcement follows human conduct. From these two aspects, social justice can as such be defined as the attribution of rights and duties within the societal setup so that human beings can receive specific benefits and punishment for failure to comply with the rule of just conduct ( Martell, 2013) . From this application, it is clear that no humanity should be favored because an individual, as a moral agent, knows what is good and bad or wrong and right. The United Nations plays a vital role in maintaining this balance.
Social justice tends to provide every individual with inviolable rights in such a manner that even the strongest powers of the society cannot overturn. There is a reasoning point that whenever justice is applied in the best way possible, social exploitation cannot find its place in the society ( Martell, 2013) . With this regard, society, as a social institution, can be at the forefront of becoming aggressive on all means of enhancing social justice. There is a role that every individual plays even in dealing with such issues as they unfold in the society. The government in authority through the elected leaders can instill into the minds of the citizens the need and benefits of observing equity and fairness to one another. As a social construct, change is likely to be observed because human beings have that capacity of creating just or unjust situations.
Justice is based on the relevant laws, but inflicting legal restrictions on some immaterial behaviors without justifiable reasons is meaningless. Fairness should result in liberty, and this is achieved when individuals are treated with equality. An environment with social justice is judged on the following grounds ( Martell, 2013) . Firstly, individual members have total freedom of thought, and this means that no one is subjected to mistreatment. Secondly, people have the autonomy of conscience such that problems relating to social relationships as determined by religion and gender among others are minimized. Lastly, people are free to enjoy political liberty such that they are free to associate and express their ideas in a democratic environment so that they can successfully possess the positivity of social justice.
As a mandate of the UN, a citizen belonging to a particular category of people is entitled to fair treatment because the law is applied universally to all wrongdoers. Due to this, justice is perceived to be a continuous will to give each his or her due regarding the treatment being given out. However, providing justice should not be done intermittently, rather should be consistent all through a person’s life. Correspondingly, a fulfillment of people’s social well-being is a role for the UN as far as social justice is concerned. Even as the struggle for equality or fairness continues to find its way in the societies where people live in, some structural differences will take the time to get over. Issues such racism and political differences propagate hatred, and many social injustices do arise in most cases. The UN helps in such situations by mediating between the conflicting parties.
6. Did America’s role in the Great Depression affect other countries around the world? What would a depression in today’s global economy look like?
After the Great Depression, the United States was detrimentally affected by the impact of the crisis on market and commercial prosperity. During the altercation between powerful international superpowers such as Germany and Japan, new polices were fabricated to protect the country’s domestic policy. The amendments were formulated to protect the country’s economy from unhealthy implications that would otherwise augment inflation. An example of a critical event which caused the plummeting of America’s economy was the 1973 OPEC embargo ( Shi, David &Tindall, 2010). To deal with the oil restrictions, President Nixon’s government implemented Projected Independence which would attempt to liberalize the oil market. The oil standards which were established adversely affected factory employees and thus was the root cause of the massive labor strikes that transpired during the 1970’s ( Roediger 2019) . Hence, the measures which were initiated to mitigate the impact of the Cold War gave international investors precedence and disregarded local industrialists.
The pivotal decade was in essence the beginning of free trade, low taxation for the prosperous and weakening of unions. Most important among the implications of the Cold War imperative, was the abolishment of international trade restrictions which bequeathed foreign powers with access to the American market. Consequently, the Revenue Act of 1978 was birthed which prioritized fiscal growth for the country ( Shi, David & Tindall, 2010). However, because the government specialized in financial advancement for savers, it neglected to incorporate investors in the development plan. As a result, commercial entities which were well endowed with monetary resources were able to capitalize and eventually, benefit from their investments. With regards to the neglected factions, investors and regular factory employees were traded off for the country’s financial empowerment.
Clearly, the equivalence in wealth and resources which was intrinsic during the Great Depression deteriorated in the 1970’s. Due to the implementation of impeding policies, the fall of trade unionism sentiments and superiority of international corporations in the supply chain, the wealthy were able to obtain more substantial remunerations than the poor ( Roediger 2019) . Ideally, the cessation of equal wealth dissemination in the economy can be linked to policy changes and the globalization of the American industry. Furthermore, contrary to the Great depression, worker satisfaction considerably decreased due to the mentioned driving factors. Accordingly, the growth of the U.S. market that began in the 1940’s critically dwindled in the 1970’s. In short, 1970 was a decade which ensured resource distribution was altered in favor of the capitalists.
A modern economic depression would be catastrophic to the global economy. This consequence was illustrated in the economic crisis of 2008-2009. Since many economies are interlinked today, the downfall of one giant economy would be accompanied by the crash of the global economy.
7. Write a good-sized paragraph on American isolationism after World War I.
American isolationism after World War 1 was instigated by internal labor struggles. In America, the period after the First Word War experienced the dissolution of post war liberalism. Previously, the New Deal which was formulated to halt the escalation of tension between American capitalists and trade unions had caused significant economic growth during the Great Compression ( Roediger, 2019) . Essentially, wage compression ensured that company employees were adequately compensated for their work. Regardless, the liberal consensus that was established between the two opponents was fragile. In secret, American capitalists took up tactics which sought to undermine the power which unions enjoyed over the labor market. The restrictions which were aligned with enhancing conservatism triggered general dissatisfaction of union members. Correspondingly, the equivalent growth of the American industry was impeded by the endeavors initiated by the private conglomerates to undermine trade unions. In principle, the efforts would ensure that affluent business conservatives acquired the lion’s share of financial benefits ( Roediger, 2019) . Fundamentally, the liberal consensus was proved to be futile to the protection of unions from American business owners. When clandestine strategies were exposed, private agglomerations intensified their strategies. The corporations implemented political lobbying tactics and even entered electoral races to garner support. In addition, ‘think tanks’ were established which coordinated the war against the liberalization of the American market. On top of the interference by capitalists, prominent government organizations such as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) joined the fight against liberal consensus. Resultantly, liberal awareness was hindered by the intensified efforts of powerful organizations to propagate antiunionism. Eventually, trade unions weakened and the think tanks regained power over the American labor market.
8. *Problem-Solving Exercise*-- The United States responded to the Soviet Union and the rise of global communism with a policy of containment. How would you have responded to halt the spread of communism across the globe.
I would have focused on the principles of social justice to halt the progression of communism. My position on social justice is very clear. Matters about the problem in question do not require independent existence, but rather the society and other affiliated institutions therein can come to an agreement that inclusivity is necessary. The emerging issues in the society today tend to impede liberalism (a political preference that favors social progress through reformation and changing the laws but not through revolution) ( Roediger, 2019) . One aspect that should be clear is that as the world changes, people should not forget their individual rights and dignities because they determine the obligations, while at the same time, they encourage the social sharing of values from one person to another.
Social justice is meant for human beings such that anything that a person does can affect the well-being of another person. The subject matter under discussion requires that social ideals (social values, beliefs, and goals) be upheld so that egoism that propagate other injustices is battled out ( Whittington, 2009) . Nevertheless, achieving equity and fairness in the society do require everyone to be involved irrespective of someone’s political affiliation, social status, and gender differences. Treating one another with respect is of material value, and as a result, many complaints arising from social problems can cease to occur.
9. Discuss America’s response to 9-11. What do you feel was effective? What would you have done differently?
September 11, 2011 was a very tragic and devastating day for the United States of America, it was when the infamous Al-Qaeda hijacked jets and rammed them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Virginia. The attacks, considered being the most vicious in American history killed around 3000 people and many more were injured . ( Shi, David, & Tindall, 2010) As a result, the government of the United States declared a war on terror and attacked the nations of Iraq and Afghanistan on top of other stringent measures that were applied. This essay will analyze two actions taken by the U.S government post 9/11 and their impact both in the United States and the rest of the world.
The Bush administration engaged in various anti-terrorism measures in the aftermath of the attacks that included military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan with the aim of stopping the Al-Qaeda terrorist network , bringing its leader, Osama bin Laden, to justice and preventing other terrorist groups from emerging. The president got universal approval from the American people to sanction the attacks and NATO joined in the war citing that the attack on U.S was within the confines of its charter ( Roediger, 2019) . The anti-terrorism measures also involved military and economic sanctions against nations that were thought as facilitators of terrorism. On top of these measures, the U.S congress unanimously passed the USA Patriot Act, which gave the government the right survey domestic activities that were perceived as potential terror threats and tightened immigration laws .
These actions by the U.S government gained the support of many across the globe; however, there were some criticisms against them. The USA Patriot Act has been the center of much debate and controversy whereby Civil rights groups have accused the law as a violation of privacy since the law can be used as an excuse to spy on individuals and organizations that have no connection to terrorism ( Roediger, 2019) . On top of this, they claim the act has would result in unjustified and unconstitutional detention of immigrants. Regarding anti-terrorism, questions have been raised as to whether the measures which were formulated to deal with military conflicts in the traditional sense are suited to fighting terrorist groups around the world that do not adhere to the classic rules of warfare. These terror networks have no regard for human life and are willing to achieve their objectives at all costs .
The reaction of the U.S government post 9/11 has had a massive impact both in the United States and globally. Muslims and anyone who looked like an Arab felt the biggest brunt of discrimination and were victims of threats, assaults and some have even been killed despite them being innocent. Also, major concerns were raised over the safety of airports which led a number of people to shy away from flying and this has resulted in heavy losses in the aviation industry and the economy at large Afghans to embrace democracy and other liberties to help their society achieve high levels of modernization.
On that note, I would not have vilified Muslims when embarking on the war on terror. By depicting Muslims as fundamentally anti-American and evil, portraying Islam as a faith of violence, by attacking the religious beliefs of Muslim and destroying the Quran, the nation is foregoing a chance to reconcile on of the largest religions in the world. One way to achieve this objective is to encourage dialogue between the different religions to endorse co-existence in America in the way the founding fathers pictured it and inform all citizens about the spirit of peace, love, and tolerance. These principles are enshrined in the Quran’s scriptures. In the same way the Bible informs Christians to be humble, gentle, and patient, and treat each other with love, the Quran states that Muslims should respect all religions . Therefore, Islam is a religion of peace and love, and its principles should be widely embraced in American society. American people should remember recent history when the anxiety between different religious groups led to the brutality that was the Holocaust. Americans need to learn from past events and not destroy the longstanding openness towards Islam in the country. Indeed, the U.S, a nation which prides itself on its progressiveness, should work towards developing a better nation, in which Islam is part of its rich cultural and religious fabric. The claim that the religion should be banned in the country should be ignored and those advocating for this move should not be allowed to dictate policy regarding the war on terror.
Conclusion: Write a brief conclusion wrapping up the discussion on the role America should play in the world today. Include points on politics, economics, and the military .
Ever since the end of the Second World War, the United States has been regarded as the world’s superpower. The country has fought several wars internationally. The country has participated in many wars such as Vietnam War, the Gulf War, Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq wars. Whereas the U.S. prevailed and became a victor in these wars, it was not immune to terror attacks. One of such attacks is that of September 11, 2001 in New York that left more than 3000 people dead. Winning war against terrorism is historic, and the country is somehow safer than how it used to be initially. As it stands, the U.S continues to ‘ruled the world’ socially and culturally, economically, politically, militarily. Based on these four categories, it is possible to note the country’s contribution has been great. Despite the challenges sustained, the country has travelled a long journey, and it continued dominance in the fields mentioned above make it supreme above any other country in the world.
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