Roots of the Pax Americana: Decolonisation, Development, Democratisation and Trade

This book examines how and why Americans built an informal trading empire and why the British Empire needed to be removed before a Pax Americana could be built. The Pax Americana is a phenomenon of global significance, and this fascinating book offers a systematic explanation for the rise of this super empire and examines in detail how it is governed.

A core feature of the book is a concern with America’s vision of the world and how the USA has attempted (especially since 1945) to export this vision across the globe. The book identifies and examines the underlying discourses and belief systems that gave rise to a Pax Americana. An eclectic range of methodologies and theories are deployed to explain the phenomenon of this informal empire, ranging from to materialist (political economy) explanations of US imperialism through to those explanations grounded in the non-materialist realm of values, ideas and world views. The result is an exploration of the curious phenomenon of an anti-imperialist empire with both economic and moral roots.

Eric Louw, now at University of Queensland, previously worked for a number of South African universities, and ran a Non-Government Organization engaged in development work.