Made by the USA: The International System. . - book review

Parameters, Summer, 2002 by Russell W. Ramsey

Made by the USA: The International System. By Alex Roberto Hybel. New York: Palgrave Press, 2001. 340 pages. $49.95. Reviewed by Russell W. Ramsey, Ph.D., D. Min., Professor of Latin American Studies, Troy State University, Visiting Professor at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, Ft. Benning, Georgia.

Professor Alex Hybel subscribes to the proposition that open and democratic systems have a marked advantage in the acquisition and retention of global influence. He then vitalizes this theory by describing the rise of the United States to world preeminence, employing a highly original structure and a set of sophisticated, internally consistent paradigms.

Dr. Hybel is the Susan Eckert Lynch Professor of Government at Connecticut College and a well-known lecturer on both world and Western Hemisphere politics. For the first six chapters in Made by the USA, Professor Hybel describes the relevant political actors and forces, the economic influencers, and their relationship. These chapters are arranged chronologically, starting with the early 19th century. The author manages, in amazingly short space, to show cognizance of a multitude of explanations for the outcomes of world power struggles. Without consciously delineating military power as a separate entity, he weaves a succinct and accurate portrait of relative military power in each period. He emphasizes forces over actors, and economics over ideology, without ignoring any of the factors.

Chapter seven describes the United States as the world's fully developed hegemon, and Professor Hybel makes no assertion that is not adequately sustained by the groundwork laid in previous chapters. The scope of Hybel's sources is simply staggering; his massive use of references sustains his far-flung entry into differing economic, political, and military realms. Sometimes excessive footnoting can be tedious to the reader, yet Hybel's prose flows at such a snappy pace, it invites the reader to continue.

The book is perhaps the most inclusive short description yet written of how the United States became the world's primary hegemon at Cold War's end. It is also totally convincing, leaving in intellectual tatters the work of those who consider correct ideology to be determinative. The reader will respect Hybel's conclusions even when not in agreement, for the documentation is so powerful and the logic so deceptively simple, yet airtight.

In way of recommendations, this reviewer would have liked an entry on the Spanish Civil War, as it illustrates the failed policy of US neutrality during the 20th century's divisively ideological civil wars. Also, a few examples of naval and maritime power application by the United States would strengthen Hybel's thesis, when couched in Mahanist philosophy. But these additions could make only small improvements in what is likely to be the best book of its kind in print.

While the general reader would benefit from this book, it is tightly packed with interdisciplinary facts and analysis, and with answers to intellectual battles about international relations en route to the finish line, all adding up to some heavy lifting. However, Professor Hybel's book is strongly recommended for courses at all levels in international relations, world politics, or economics. Read in conjunction with Professor David Landes's 1998 blockbuster, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, the book would be excellent for a general course on the world in the 21st century.