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Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000001144165 | D210 K46 1988 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
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Reviews 4
Publisher's Weekly Review
Kennedy, a history professor at Yale, here assesses the interaction between economics and strategy over the past five centuries; the correlation between productive and revenue-sharing capacities on the one hand and military strength on the other. The book is a vigorous entry in the debate over the extent to which national wealth should be used for military purposes. It reveals, for instance, how the Hapsburg monarchs overextended themselves in repeated conflicts, becoming militarily top-heavy while their economic base dwindled, an imbalance that ultimately proved fatal. In a final section, Kennedy explores the implications of today's economic and technological trends in relation to the balance of military power, and the problems and opportunities in this regard facing China, Japan, the European Economic Community, the Soviet Union and the United States. (January 25) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
It is a historical question not easily answered: Why does one nation rise to power over other nations, yet, seemingly the next day, lose that power and sink into second-rate status, to be replaced by still another rising nation? Yale historian Kennedy addresses the issue, and the answer he supplies is quite impressive. Essentially, Kennedy says that national means do not always live up to national ends; that since the Renaissance, a cycle of nations Spain, the Netherlands, France, and Britain, among them has followed a certain pattern. Striving to garner wealth, they expand militarily. As a result of the desire for ever more wealth and power, though, military overexpansion takes place. Soon, the economic base can no longer support the military spending, and wealth and power erode. Kennedy insists that these characteristics are applicable to the great powers that exist today: the U.S., the USSR, China, Japan, and the European Economic Community. This very detailed, lengthy volume demands careful attention, but it is not so much turgid as it is intensely earnest. Notes, bibliography; to be indexed. BH. 909.82 History, Modern / Economic history / Military history, Modern / Armaments Economic aspects / Balance of power [CIP] 87-9690
Choice Review
This superior analysis of international politics since 1500 holds that uneven economic and technological changes are the unintended motive springs for political, military, and intellectual changes, and that the combination of these determines a great power's emergence and its longevity. This pattern will continue into the next century. Nothing, including nuclear weapons, is sufficiently unique about the world or the US (or USSR) now to anticipate that a pattern existing for 500 years has been fundamentally changed. Neither the US nor the USSR will pass into the oblivion of Carthage, Rome, or Austria-Hungary. Their demise will be impeded by impersonal forces, larger than either. Kennedy (history, Yale) accepts a deterrent role for nuclear weapons; he seems not to believe their presence changes the historical pattern according to which states rise and fall because of techno-economic forces. Despite his evidence, the author seems to have considerable confidence in the rationality of states. These, however, may be ``dragged down by some accidentally induced escalation,'' which itself may be encouraged by the shifting productive abilities of others outside the bipolar model. Here lie many of the unanticipated occasions for war in the past, even between similar economic systems that had reached similar technological stages. The role played by uneven development and unintended causes (well illustrated by his examples) makes one somewhat skeptical. Still, this is an astounding book. Recommended for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty.-P.K. Breit, University of Hartford
Library Journal Review
Yale historian Kennedy surveys the ebb and flow of power among the major states of Europe from the 16th centurywhen Europe's preeminence first took shapethrough and beyond the present erawhen great power status is devolving again upon the extra-European states. Stressing the interrelationships among economic wealth, technological innovation, and the ability of states efficiently to tap their resources for prolonged military preparedness and warmaking, he notes that those states with the relatively greater ability to maintain a balance of military and economic strength assumed the lead. Kennedy never reduces the analysis to crude materialism or empty tautology. Stimulating, erudite, carefully crafted, and readable; for public and academic libraries. James B. Street, Santa Cruz P.L., Cal. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
