United States: New Rome

Author: Bendeshaj Jing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: The author provides a comprehensive comparison of Rome and America in terms of domestic affairs, foreign policy, and humanities, presenting vivid historical panoramas. These panoramas are not merely records of history but also deep comparisons and analyses of it. The author believes that the past and the present are intertwined over two thousand years. We live in a world filled with atomic energy, computer networks, and genetic decoding, which separates our present from all the past. However, what remains unchanged is politics. Situations are always changing, and the problems arising from human interactions, even over thousands of years, remain the same. The author argues that the path Rome and America took to become world powers was similar, and their unique status as the only world powers was also similar. On the "islands" of the Romans and Americans—Italy and North America—Rome became a military powerhouse and a dominant empire at the time; America became an economic powerhouse, unmatched by any other country. When the sea no longer served as a shield, both the Romans and Americans expanded for defense. Their security policies evolved into hegemonic policies, but America could not become an empire like Rome, because it only climbed one step onto the ladder of world powers. It could act as an international police force without regard for the opposition of other countries, but its power could not extend to the entire world. Russia, India, Indonesia, and China were beyond the reach of Washington. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, America, as the unique world power with no competitors, could only enjoy a brief moment in the long river of history. The so-called "Pax Americana" could not last as long as the "Pax Romana." After the book was published in Germany, it received widespread acclaim from all sectors of society. Der Spiegel called it "a politically significant historical essay with profound contemporary relevance," Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung hailed it as "a truly great achievement in both politics and history," and Der Stern deemed it "a book that one cannot afford to miss."