184 Notes
influence in the 20th century. To a great extent, these ideas constituted the basis for
German attempts to penetrate the heart of Russian territory in both world wars,
manifesting in the German aspiration of lebensraum (a term that was introduced by
Mackinder) in the East. Mackinder’s ideas also influenced American geopolitical
thinking. Kennedy, “Mission Impossible.”
- Mackinder, “The Geographical Pivot of History,” p. 436; Halford Mack-
inder, Democratic Ideals and Reality: A Study in the Politics of Reconstruction (London:
Constable, 1919). - Nicholas J. Spykman, The Geography of the Peace, ed. by Helen R. Nicholl
(New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1944), p. 43. - Nicholas J. Spykman, America’s Strategy in World Politics: The United States
and the Balance of Power (New York: Harcourt, 1942), p. 24. - About at least a year before Pearl Harbor and Hitler’s declaration of war,
President Roosevelt wanted to join the European struggle, because “if Great Brit-
ain falls, the axis countries will control the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, and
Australia and the oceans—and will send enormous military resources and fleets to
act against the Western Hemisphere.” Alton Frye, Nazi Germany and the American
Hemisphere, 1939–1941 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1967), p. 190. - George F. Kennan, American Diplomacy 1900–1950 (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1951), p. 5. - George Bush, National Security Strategy of the United States, 1990–1991
(Washington, DC: Maxwell Macmillan Pergamon, 1990), p. 5; Melvyn P. Leffler,
“The American Conception of National Security and the Beginnings of the
Cold War, 1945–48,” The American Historical Review, Vol. 89, No. 2 (April 1984),
pp. 346–381. - Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1976—The first edition was published in
1776). Richard Cobden wrote in 1894 that wherever an empire achieves status in
neighboring territories by force of arms, the territory seizure will be a source of
weakness rather than strength. Richard Cobden, Speeches on Questions of Public Pol-
icy, ed. by John Bright and James Rogers (London: Macmillan, 1870), Vol. 1; and
Richard Cobden, Political Writings (New York: D. Appleton, 1867), Vol. 1. Norman
Angell argues that European nations do not increase their wealth by enlarging
their territory. Norman Angell, The Great Illusion: A Study of the Relations of Military
Power to National Advantage (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1910). According to
Klaus Knorr, conquest of territories for economic reasons has become out of date.
Klaus M. Knorr, The Power of Nations: The Political Economy of International Relations
(New York: Basic Books, 1975). Carl Kaysen agrees that the question of whether the
degree of occupation of a new territory adds to the economic power of the occupier
is debatable. Carl Kaysen, “Is War Obsolete? A Review Essay,” International Secur-
ity, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Spring 1990), pp. 42–64. - Unlike the current standard, Schweller argues that there are good reasons
for analyzing tripolarity as a structure separate from a multipolar system in which
more than three powers operate. Schweller, Deadly Imbalances. - It should be noted that each of the three key theoretical paradigms in inter-
national relations theory relates differently to the structure of the international
system. Constructivism treats it as a distribution of ideas because it has an ideal-
ist ontology. Neoliberalism considers it to be material capabilities and institutions
because it added to a supra-institutional structure to the material base. Neorealism