Race Reality And Realpolitik

The year 2015 marked the centennial of the 1915 United States occupation of Haiti and Haiti’s resistance to that signal event in its history. This study surveys the issues of economics, race, and realpolitik embedded in the political economy of U.S. interactions with Haiti that resulted in occupation. It then interrogates what constitutes the “state” as it pertains to foreign policy, along with an inspection of who benefits from empire. This approach eschews tired dichotomies of whether or not the United States as a whole materially benefited from empire to instead simply look at who individually gained and what were the capacities of these beneficiaries to craft policy. Next it delivers insights derived from a forensic analysis of Woodrow Wilson’s perception of race and his decision to intervene in Haiti. Attitudes enabling United States military leaders to implement a policy of occupation are provided through a study of Admiral William Caperton’s role in the intervention. The focus then telescopes out to inspect the role played by the press, especially as booster for commercial opportunities. In short, the project answers the questions of why, who, and how American empire was undertaken through the case study of Haiti and its occupation in 1915.

The author argues against the emerging consensus among anthropologists and other academics that all races are biologically equal--a notion he attributes to the influence of Franz Boas. Instead, he attempts to make a scientific argument for inherent white superiority.

War reparations have been large and small, repaid and defaulted on, but the consequences have almost always been significant. Ever since Keynes made his case against German reparations in The Economic Consequences of the Peace, the effects of transfer payments have been hotly debated. When Nations Can't Default tells the history of war reparations and their consequences by combining history, political economy, and open economy macroeconomics. It visits often forgotten episodes and tells the story of how reparations were mostly repaid - and when they were not. Analysing fifteen episodes of war reparations, this book argues that reparations are unlike other sovereign debt because repayment is enforced by military and political force, making it a senior liability of the state.

For most of the twentieth century, the most critical concerns of national security have been balance-of-power politics and the global arms race. The religious conflicts of this era and the motives behind them, however, demand a radical break with this tradition. If the United States is to prevail in its long-term contest with extremist Islam, it will need to re-examine old assumptions, expand the scope of its thinking to include religion and other "irrational" factors, and be willing to depart from past practice. A purely military response in reaction to such attacks will simply not suffice. What will be required is a long-term strategy of cultural engagement, backed by a deeper understanding of how others view the world and what is important to them. In non-Western cultures, religion is a primary motivation for political actions. Historically dismissed by Western policymakers as a divisive influence, religion in fact has significant potential for overcoming the obstacles that lead to paralysis and stalemate. The Incorporation of religion as part of the solution to such problems is as simple as it is profound. It is long overdue. This book looks at five intractable conflicts and explores the possibility of drawing on religion as a force for peace. It builds upon the insights of Religion, the Missing Dimension of Statecraft (OUP, 1994) -- which examined the role that religious or spiritual factors can play in preventing or resolving conflict -- while achieving social change based on justice and reconciliation. The world-class authors writing in this volume suggest how the peacemaking tenets of five major world religions can be strategically applied in ongoing conflicts in which those religions are involved. Finally, the commonalities and differences between these religions are examined with an eye toward further applications in peacemaking and conflict resolution.

A critical history of the sociologies of conflict of Lester Ward, Albion Small, Robert Park, and Arthur Bentley all of whom fell under the influence of German sociologists who explicitly approached the study of conflict from the perspective of realpolitik.

Between Two Worlds: Jean Price-Mars, Haiti, and Africa is a special volume on Jean Price-Mars that reassesses the importance of his thought and legacy, and the implications of his ideas in the twenty-first century’s culture of political correctness, the continuing challenge of race and racism, and imperial hegemony in the modern world. Price-Mars’s thought is also significant for the renewed scholarly interests in Haiti and Haitian Studies in North America, and the meaning of contemporary Africa in the world today. This volume explores various dimensions in Price-Mars’ thought and his role as historian, anthropologist, cultural critic, public intellectual, religious scholar, pan-Africanist, and humanist. The goal of this book is fourfold: it explores the contributions of Jean Price-Mars to Haitian history and culture, it studies Price-Mars’ engagement with Western history and the problem of the “racist narrative,” it interprets Price-Mars’ connections with Black Internationalism, Harlem Renaissance, and the Negritude Movement, and finally, the book underscores Price-Mars’ contributions to post colonialism, religious studies, Africana Studies, and Pan-Africanism.

This book proposes a radical new way of thinking about our democratic future, our ecological survival, and our ways to keep economies fair. It shows that adopting upper limits to wealth and income; replacing elections with local direct democracy and legal duty involving randomly selected citizens; and replacing welfare and redistribution policies with pre-distribution and reparations promises new solutions to political apathy, discontent, manipulation, economic inequality, unfairness, unequal opportunities, and looming ecological disaster.

A concise book on Realpolitik: its origins as an idea; its practical application to statecraft in the recent past; and its relevance to contemporary foreign policy.

Out of a slave rebellion, Haiti was forged as an independent nation. This fact, in and of itself, should have been enough to perpetuate an image of Haitians as strong and agentive people. But leaders of countries on both sides of the Atlantic felt threatened by Haiti's beginnings and were intent on sapping it of resources. More than a century of various restrictions on trade, the imposition of crippling fines, and, eventually, a US occupation followed. Yet even as they suffered economically under these penalties, Haitians persisted, some of them becoming influential actors in the world of global politics. Throughout much of the twentieth century and even to this day, there has been a dearth of scholarship on the intellectual and political contributions of Haitians. In the Shadow of Powers, first published in 1985, was a corrective to this oversight and remains a foundational text. Bellegarde-Smith traces the history of Haiti through the life and career of his grandfather Dantès Bellegarde, one of Haiti's influential diplomats and preeminent thinkers. As Brandon R. Byrd describes in his foreword to this new edition, "Bellegarde was driven by a subversive, racially inclusive vision of civilized progress. He believed in and continued to push for Haiti to establish an existence for itself, black people, and the colonized world independent of the considerable shadow cast by the world's military, economic, and industrial powers." Scholars and students who want to learn about the intellectual and political foundations of Haiti, its influence on other intellectuals worldwide, and its struggles against imperialism continue to find this to be an invaluable classic.