Question

dangerous nation by Robert kagan summary

Answer 1

Dangerous Nation by Robert Kagan summary;

The book attempts to reevaluate America’s place in the world from the colonial era to the turn of the twentieth century. In this book, the author; Robert Kagan strips away the myth of America’s isolationist tradition makes the revelation of a more complicated reality: the increasing global power and influence steadily of the Americans for the past four centuries. According to him; even from the time of the Puritans, America was no shining “city upon a hill” but it was an engine of commercial and territorial expansion driving the Native Americans, as well as French, Spanish, Russian, and ultimately even British power, from the North American continent especially. Americans believed they were destined for global leadership, even before the birth of the nation. Underlying their ambitions, Kagan argues, there were set of ideas and ideals relating the world and human nature. He focuses on the Declaration of Independence as the document, firmly establishing the American conviction, of the inalienable rights of all mankind transcended territorial borders and blood ties. American nationalism was always internationalist at its core according to what he showed. He also makes a startling discovery: that the Civil War and the abolition of slavery leading to the fulfillment of the ideals of the Declaration should be the decisive turning point in the history of American foreign policy as well. Kagan's brilliant and comprehensive reexamination of early American foreign policy elucidates; why America, from the very beginning, has been viewed internationally not only as a wellspring of political, cultural, and social revolution, but as an ambitious and, dangerous nation due to its ambitious nature.