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Indirect Rule: The Making of US International Hierarchy

Online ISBN:
9781501773754
Print ISBN:
9781501773730
Publisher:
Cornell University Press
Book

Indirect Rule: The Making of US International Hierarchy

David A. Lake
David A. Lake
University of California, San Diego
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Published online:
23 May 2024
Published in print:
15 February 2024
Online ISBN:
9781501773754
Print ISBN:
9781501773730
Publisher:
Cornell University Press

Abstract

This book examines how states indirectly exercise authority over others and how this mode of rule affects domestic and international politics. Indirect rule has long characterized interstate relationships and US foreign relations. A key mechanism of international hierarchy, indirect rule involves an allied group within a client state adopting policies preferred by a dominant state in exchange for the dominant state's support. Drawing on the history of US involvement in the Caribbean and Central America, Western Europe, and the Arab Middle East, the book shows that indirect rule is more likely to occur when the specific assets at risk are large and governance costs are low. The book's conceptualization of indirect rule sharpens our understanding of how the United States came to occupy the pinnacle of world power. Yet the consequences of indirect rule that the book documents—including anti-Americanism—reveal its shortcomings. As US efforts at democracy promotion and other forms of intervention abroad face declining support at home, the book compels us to consider whether this method of rule ultimately advances US interests.

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