A World Safe for Commerce: American Foreign Policy from the Revolution to the Rise of China

by Dale C. Copeland

How commerce determines whether America preserves the peace or goes to war

When the Cold War ended, many believed that expanding trade would usher in an era of peace. Yet today the United States finds itself confronting not just Russia in Europe but China in the Indo-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America. Shedding new light on how trade both reduces and enhances the risks of international crisis, A World Safe for Commerce traces how, since the nation’s founding, the United States has consistently moved from peace to conflict when the commerce needed for national security is under threat.

Dale Copeland shows how commerce pushes the United States and its rivals to expand their spheres of influence for access to goods even as they worry about provoking a breakdown in trade relations that could spiral into military conflict. Taking readers from the wars with Britain in 1776 and 1812 to World War II and the Cold War, he describes how America’s leaders have grappled with this inherent tension, and why they have shifted, sometimes dramatically, from peaceful, mutually beneficial policies to coercion and force in order to enhance control over vital trade and prevent economic decline.

A World Safe for Commerce reveals how trade competition could lead the United States and China into full-scale confrontation. But it also offers hope that both sides can work to improve their overall trade expectations and foster the confidence needed for long-term peace and stability.

Genres: History, Economics, China, Politics, United States, International Relations, American

504 pages, Hardcover

Published February 6, 2024

About the author

Dale Copeland is Associate Professor in the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia.

Reviews

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book, providing an observation of American foreign relations using the theory of Dynamic Realism and the role of international commerce. The author, American academic Dale C. Copeland, expands on his previous work, Economic Interdependence and War, using the history of America’s interactions with other countries, from the colonial era to the present, to offer a strong proof of his geoeconomic approach to international relations. The book’s initial chapters describe Dynamic Realism, a middle path between Realist and Liberal theories of international relations, and the strong role that commerce and future trade relations play in determining a country’s interactions with other nations. Copeland then steps through different eras of U.S. foreign policy, demonstrating how Dynamic Realism and trade expectations were driving forces for American actions, despite various domestic influences. The book ends with a detailed assessment of future U.S.-China relations. Copeland’s application of his theories remains insightful, though there is a drift toward over-fitting and potentially reading too much into the black-and-white proclamations of official documentation. Nevertheless, this is a healthy book for anyone wanting to understand a more geoeconomics-focused approach to international relations. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the forces acting on the U.S. and China in their future interactions.