Making the World Safe for Democracy
A Century of Wilsonianism and Its Totalitarian Challengers
Amos Perlmutter
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 11/2000
Pages: 214
Subject: Political Science
| University of North Carolina
Print ISBN: 9.78E+12
eBook ISBN: 9780807863848
DESCRIPTION
In this interpretive study, Amos Perlmutter offers a comparative
analysis of the twentieth century's three most significant world
orders: Wilsonianism, Soviet Communism, and Nazism. Anchored in
three hegemonical states--the United States, the Soviet Union, and
Nazi Germany--these systems, he argues, shared certain
characteristics that distinguished them from other attempts to
restructure the international political scene. While Communism and
Nazism were committed to imperial ideologies, Wilsonianism was
inspired by an exceptionalist, peaceful, democratic, and free
market world order. But all three were able to mobilize industrial,
technological, and military resources in pursuing their goals. In
the process of examining the democratic, Communist, and Nazi
systems, Perlmutter also provides a framework for understanding
U.S. foreign policy over the course of the century, particularly
during the Cold War. He underscores the importance of ideology in
establishing an international order, arguing that in the wake of
the Soviet Union's demise, no system--not even Wilsonianism--can
lay claim to the title of new world order.
Originally published in 1997.
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