Capitalist Peace

Reviews / Votes

This book provides detailed evidence of how, from the Great Depression to the present, the United States has used economic influence to promote its foreign policy objectives...This book shows how important the deliberate use of economic influence was in shaping the postwar world. It offers a formidable defense of free trade as critical to maintaining the international order and outlines the serious consequences of US's neglect of its leadership role * Choice * This book provides detailed evidence of how, from the Great Depression to the present, the United States has used economic influence to promote its foreign policy objectives....For most of this period, 'free-trade internationalism' was the policy of both Democratic and Republican presidential administrations. However, particularly during times of economic stress, domestic political forces challenged this policy. Zeiler argues that advocates of free-trade internationalism were aware of the economic and political costs, but the diplomatic benefits-namely, curbing the influence of the Soviet Union and promoting peace-outweighed the costs. This book shows how important the deliberate use of economic influence was in shaping the postwar world. It offers a formidable defense of free trade as critical to maintaining the international order and outlines the serious consequences of US's neglect of its leadership role. * Choice * At a time when the world order seems to be crumbling, Thomas Zeiler provides a detailed examination of how US foreign policymakers have tried for decades to construct a 'capitalist peace.' This topical and fascinating contribution deserves our attention. * Douglas Irwin, Dartmouth College * In this sweeping survey of free trade ideology since the Great Depression, Thomas Zeiler offers a robust defense of capitalist liberalism as having shaped American history-and the world-mostly for the better. Richly researched, innovative, and thoughtful, this is a book to be reckoned with. * Barbara Keys, author of Reclaiming American Virtue: The Human Rights Revolution of the 1970s * Capitalist Peace is a highly significant and timely intervention in the ongoing debate over the proper role of American economic power in the international system. Richly documented and argued with sophistication and clarity, Thomas Zeiler's work provides a fresh examination of twentieth-century America's free trade policy and the ideological imperatives its advocates proclaimed. With the importance of international trade once again paramount in our political debates, the book is essential reading for policymakers and the public alike. * Thomas A. Schwartz, author of Henry Kissinger and American Power: A Political Biography * Thomas Zeiler provides a learned account of an essential subject: America's use of trade liberalization as an instrument not just of domestic prosperity but also of international peace and security. Spanning from the rise of free-trade internationalism in the 1930s to the agenda's possible fall today, Zeiler reveals how profoundly Donald Trump and other nationalists have turned away from the longstanding pursuit of 'capitalist peace'-but also how the seeds of the revolt were planted long ago. This history of economic statecraft across the American Century could not be more timely. * Stephen Wertheim, author of Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of U.S. Global Supremacy *