TERMINUS : westward expansion, china, and the end of the american empire

A sweeping narrative of America's imperial history and its long entanglement with China. In Terminus , Stuart Rollo examines the origins and trajectory of American empire in the Asia-Pacific region, focusing on its westward expansion and historic entanglement with China. American foreign and strategic policy in this region, Rollo argues, has always been shaped by broader economic and political concerns centered on China. China's current rise, and the economic and strategic systems that China is developing, represents the most serious challenge to the structure of American empire to date. Rollo paints a sweeping historical narrative of American imperial history and its relationship with China from 1776 to the present. Grounded in archival research, official and personal correspondence, policy documents, declassified intelligence material, and congressional records, Terminus traces the development of American empire building from the pre-independence period to the eve of World War I, arguing that this new empire was primarily driven by commercial interests in China. Rollo explores shifts in global power, resource politics, and international economic structures that led the United States to transition from one of several imperial powers to the world's sole superpower by the last decade of the twentieth century. Finally, he examines the decline of American empire since its brief period of unipolarity in the 1990s, explaining the new pressures and challenges posed by the rise of China. Rollo proposes three scenarios for how the United States might manage its inevitable imperial decline: a vain attempt to shore up and extend the empire, an exploitative hegemony, or a post-imperial foreign policy. This last option would work to repair the damaged fabric of American social and political life, providing a long-term, stable foundation for national security, prosperity, and the well-being of its citizens. All empires eventually end, but with the benefit of hindsight, Rollo urges us to consider how to engineer a softer landing. Cover Half Title Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Part I Westward Expansion and the Commercial Origins of Empire One. The Long March Westward and Native Dispossession Two. The China Focus in Westward Expansion Jackal Diplomacy and the China Trade Sectional Interests Unite for Expansion Civil Wars in the United States and China, and the Formation of the “Asia Threat” Discourse The American Civil War and Political Consolidation for Expansionism Three. A Colonial Empire Trade, Capital Investment, and Imperialism The Enclosure of the Continent and the Importance of Sea Power on the New Frontier Theorizing Empire and the Splendid Little War The Open Door: Foreign Policy for a New American Century Part II Ascending Power to Unipolarity, 1914–1991 Four. The 30 Years Crisis Industrial Mobilization and Finance Strategic Resources, Asia, and World Power Haves, Have-Nots, and the Japan Threat in the Pacific Investment, Resources, and the Second World War A Geopolitical Theory for American Empire Five. American Hegemony Planning the Postwar American Empire The American Lake Global Market, Global Order, and Asia An American-Led Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere Six. War with Asia, Recession, and Resurgence War on the Mainland Korea and Vietnam Rapprochement and a Multipolar Region Recession, Resources, and Reaganite Resurgence An Unexpected Victory Part III From a Unipolar Global Empire to a Shrinking Exploitative Hegemony Seven. The Unipolar Moment and Imperial Hubris Global Empire at History’s End Clinton’s Foreign Policy and China The Bush Years in Asia The War on Terror and Embracing Empire Eight. The Sleeper Awakes: China’s Rise as a World Historical Moment The Social Impact The Belt and Road Initiative: A New Economic Order in the Making Conflicting Grand Strategies in the Pacific Oppositional Force Structures Nine. Trump, Biden, and Trouble Ahead Economic Decoupling and Strategic Resource Competition Strategic Resource Competition and Future Conflict Transactional International Relations, Military-Industrial Decoupling, and Strategic Recalibration A Post-Imperial Pacific Strategy Conclusion Notes References Index A B C D E F G I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z