Borrowed Power: Financial Origins of American Grand Strategy
Open AccessAmerica’s international ambitions during the twentieth century did not follow orthodox balance-of-power concerns. The U.S. (a) cared not at all about the balance of power during the interwar period; (b) prevented the return to equilibrium during the Cold War; and, (c) despite the absence of any apparent security imperative, reinforced its equilibrium-shattering objectives in the post-Cold War era. So, if not balance-of-power concerns, what has shaped America’s international ambitions? Why did the U.S. turn from a great power disinterested in playing power politics to one intent on being the preponderant great power? This dissertation explains American ambition in terms of financial power. Growing financial power facilitates borrowing. Borrowing, in turn, lowers the penalty to prosperity a state incurs to pursue its international ends; and as this penalty falls, the state’s ambition expands. To evaluate this argument—both against rival arguments and the empirical record—the dissertation investigates the origins of American grand strategy following WWI, WWII, and the Cold War. Based on these case studies, the dissertation concludes there is reasonably strong support for the argument that America’s growing opportunity to borrow across the twentieth century largely determined its transition from member to leader of the great-power club. Finally, based on this analysis, the dissertation concludes that continuity rather than change is the likely trajectory of American ambition in the foreseeable future.
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