Impact of the Cultural and Historical Factors on the Expansion of US Power
Abstract
In order to analyze the impact of the cultural and historical factors on the US power expansion beyond its border, the author of the article will focus on the three issues: 1) defition of power and the factors leading to the expansion of power of major countries in the world; 2) the basic historical foundation for US expansion of power ideology and 3) the impact of the cultural factor on the US expansion of power.
In the international politics, power has been considered as one of the issues being focused by acadamic community. This is because power has been crucial for national interest and the basic goal of national foreign and defense policy. Thus, major countries in the world always spend their efforts and schemes to extend their power over those, which are small and medium. The factors leading to the expansion of power of a nation has been various but could be mentioned as such: 1) national interest, especially the economic interest; 2) the balance of power or power competition among major countries 3) national potential and 4) the regional and international context. Among these factors economic interest and the power competition have been, so far, the significant ones contributing to the hegemonism and expansionism of big countries in the world. As a young nation which has enjoyed no experience of feudal system, America has built up, since the early day, the foundation for power expansion based on the economic potential and also the geographical advantages. The historical foundation includes: the immigration with the idea of building a "City upon the Hill", the belief of the Manifest Destiny, the religious belief in "the Nation under God" and the Western movement. As the matter of fact, the American feel that it is naturally to exert American values and power upon others.
Finally, the author of the article have used the Social Darwinism and the Frontier theory to analyze and explain the behavior of American government toward other countries in the world. This is to explain further to the readers that the nature of power expansion of America was not only rooted since its early history but could also be analyzed by the angle of cultural characters. Although, the US administration has changed over time but its basic nature will continue to stay with the people and society.