This paper examines the need of the United States of America to have an enemy which it can focus upon. The author chronologically examines the different enemies the US faced since the year 1765 and the American Revolutionary War or American War of Independence. He analyses the form, function and evolution of these enemies over time. Furthermore, this paper also touches the economic aspect of military spending.
Table of Contents
A Study of the Form, Function, and Evolution of the United States’ need for an Enemy since 1765
Objectives and Topics
This paper examines the historical, political, and economic evolution of the American tendency to identify and maintain national enemies. It explores how this "enemy-dependence" serves to consolidate domestic authority, justify military-industrial expansion, and define national identity from the colonial era through the post-Cold War period.
- The historical roots of enemy-naming in American colonial and revolutionary rhetoric.
- The psychological and sociopolitical functions of "enemy-ship" in maintaining domestic stability.
- The role of the military-industrial complex in necessitating perpetual external threats.
- The transition from ideological constructs of the Cold War to modern economic challenges like China.
- The relationship between American exceptionalism, globalization, and the persistent need for an antagonist.
Extract from the Book
A Study of the Form, Function, and Evolution of the United States’ need for an Enemy since 1765
The form, function, and evolution of America’s need for an enemy is represented by three principal rudiments which have come to influence the American mentality and worldview, determine US foreign policy and domestic affairs, and by and large, shaped American society since its conception. The first element can be found rooted in America’s colonial and revolutionary beginnings as an ideological construct, caused by decades of conflict and aggressive political rhetoric that facilitated fear and paranoia amongst the populace. Such hostility entrenched itself in the American psyche as a deep-seated conception that the United States was to be a nation and peoples constantly embattled, facing an enemy at every turn. This inevitably led revolutionaries to embed such sediments within the constitutional and legal documents that have come to shape the political outlook of the nation ever since.
The second element to further reinforce enemy-dependence has taken hold of and influenced processes of the American political system in several ways: On a transnational level, the United States’ search for identity has come to shape its economic outlook on the world, one where American ideals of Democracy and freedom are equitably exported on a global scale and thus, necessitates that a perpetual enemy is maintained, one that can offer the US the ability to achieve and maintain global economic hegemony and the formation of free markets world wide that provide commercial entities beneficial to it. Furthermore, the framing of enemies foreign and domestic has been used by American political leadership and society to obstruct rising threats from within, to maintain domestic stability by the state and by implication, divert public attention away from such problems to consolidate national rule.
Summary of Chapters
A Study of the Form, Function, and Evolution of the United States’ need for an Enemy since 1765: This introductory section establishes the framework of American enemy-dependence, tracing its origins in colonial history, its role in shaping political identity, and its function in supporting domestic control and economic hegemony through the maintenance of perpetual external threats.
Keywords
United States, Enemy-dependence, Cold War, Foreign Policy, National Identity, Military-industrial complex, American Exceptionalism, Globalization, Democracy, Political Rhetoric, Domestic Stability, Ideological Construct, Communism, China, National Security
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the central focus of this research?
The work investigates the persistent tendency of the United States to define its national identity and political goals in opposition to a perceived "enemy," dating back to 1765.
What are the primary thematic fields addressed in the text?
The study covers political psychology, diplomatic history, the economics of military spending, and the sociological impacts of threat-framing on American public opinion.
What is the primary research question?
The research seeks to understand how the form, function, and evolution of the US need for an enemy have shaped American policy and society from its inception to the present day.
Which scientific methods are employed?
The author uses a historical and historiographical approach, synthesizing political theory, economic analysis of defense spending, and media analysis of political rhetoric.
What core concepts are treated in the main body?
The main body addresses the ideological roots of American "enemy-ship," the manipulation of public fear to consolidate power, and the reliance of the military-industrial complex on continuous external conflicts.
Which keywords best characterize this work?
The work is defined by concepts such as enemy-dependence, American exceptionalism, the military-industrial complex, and the evolving nature of global threat perceptions.
How does the author characterize the role of the military-industrial complex?
The author argues that the complex acts as a primary driver for maintaining an enemy, as industry and political leadership rely on an inflated defense budget to sustain the national economy.
How does the transition from the Cold War to the current era illustrate the author’s theory?
The transition demonstrates that after the collapse of Communism, the American political establishment pivoted to new threats, such as the war on drugs and the rise of China, to maintain the existing paradigm of enemy-dependence.
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- Andre Chavez (Autor:in), 2014, The United States' Need for an Enemy, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/307294
