1st Edition

An Analysis of Paul Kennedy's The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers Ecomonic Change and Military Conflict from 1500-2000

By Riley Quinn Copyright 2017
    112 Pages
    by Macat Library

    112 Pages
    by Macat Library

    Paul Kennedy owes a great deal to the editor who persuaded him to add a final chapter to this study of the factors that contributed to the rise and fall of European powers since the age of Spain’s Philip II. This tailpiece indulged in what was, for an historian, a most unusual activity: it looked into the future. Pondering whether the United States would ultimately suffer the same decline as every imperium that preceded it, it was this chapter that made The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers a dinner party talking point in Washington government circles. In so doing, it elevated Kennedy to the ranks of public intellectuals whose opinions were canvassed on matters of state policy.

    From a strictly academic point of view, the virtues of Kennedy's work lie elsewhere, and specifically in his flair for asking the sort of productive questions that characterize a great problem-solver. Kennedy's work is an example of an increasingly rare genre – a work of comparative history that transcends the narrow confines of state– and era–specific studies to identify the common factors that underpin the successes and failures of highly disparate states.

    Kennedy's prime contribution is the now-famous concept of ‘imperial overstretch,’ the idea that empires fall largely because the military commitments they acquire during the period of their rise ultimately become too much to sustain once they lose the economic competitive edge that had projected them to dominance in the first place. Earlier historians may have glimpsed this central truth, and even applied it in studies of specific polities, but it took a problem-solver of Kennedy's ability to extend the analysis convincingly across half a millennium.

    Ways in to the Text 

    Who was Paul Kennedy? 

    What does The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers Say?  

    Why does The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers Matter?  

    Section 1: Influences 

    Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context  

    Module 2: Academic Context  

    Module 3: The Problem 

    Module 4: The Author's Contribution  

    Section 2: Ideas  

    Module 5: Main Ideas  

    Module 6: Secondary Ideas 

    Module 7: Achievement  

    Module 8: Place in the Author's Work 

    Section 3: Impact 

    Module 9: The First Responses  

    Module 10: The Evolving Debate  

    Module 11: Impact and Influence Today  

    Module 12: Where Next?  

    Glossary of Terms 

    People Mentioned in the Text  

    Works Cited

    Biography

    Riley Quinn holds master’s degrees in Politics and International Relations from both LSE and the University of Oxford.