One Does (Not) Choose Their Enemies. Why Is America against All?

Book review: America against All [Amerika protiv vsekh] (2023). Geopolitics, Statehood and Global Role of the USA: History and Modernity [Geopolitika, gosudarstvennost’ i global’naya rol’ SSHA: istoriya i sovremennost’]. Moscow: LLC “Commonwealth of Cultures” [OOO “Sodruzhestvo kul’tur”], 588 p.

What is America for Russia, the rest of the world and itself? This question is answered differently by historians, journalists, writers, diplomats, academic researchers, and incumbent politicians. Why has the United States – in recent years especially – pursued an exemplarily offensive foreign policy, as if directed “against everyone”? The authors of the book of the same name, “America Against All. Geopolitics, Statehood and the Global Role of the United States: History and Modernity” offer their answer to this question. The authors of the monograph analyze a significant body of literature on the U.S. geopolitical thought, reflect on the origins of American statehood, and seek to trace the formation of the so-called ‘‘American empire” and the spread of American hegemony from the late 19th century to the present day. In conclusion, the authors outline proposals for democratizing modern America. This book review is an attempt to critically analyze the assessments and recommendations of a large number of authors from the Diplomatic Academy, IMEMO RAS, MGIMO University, RUDN, and branch institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

1. America against All [Amerika protiv vsekh] (2023). Geopolitics, Statehood and Global Role of the USA: History and Modernity [Geopolitika, gosudarstvennost’ i global’naya rol’ SSHA: istoriya i sovremennost’]. Moscow: OOO “Sodruzhestvo kul’tur”, 588 p. (In Russian).

2. Bolkhovitinov N.N. (1990). Russian-American relations and the sale of Alaska, 1834-1867 [Russko-amerikanskie otnosheniya i prodazha Alyaski, 1834–1867]. Moscow: Nauka, 368 p. (In Russian).

3. Bolkhovitinov N.N. (1991). Russia opens America. 1732-1799 [Rossiya otkryvaet Ameriku. 1732–1799]. Moscow: International Relations, 336 p. (In Russian).

4. Bolkhovitinov N.N. (2021). History of Russian America (1732-1867): in 3 volumes. [Istoriya Russkoj Ameriki (1732-1867): v 3-h tomah]. Ed. by acad. N.N. Bolkhovitinov. 2nd ed. M.: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya. (In Russian).

5. Grinev A.V. (2000). Reasons for the sale of Russian America to the United States in Russian historiography [Prichiny prodazhi Russkoj Ameriki SSHA v otechestvennoj istoriografii]. Clio [Clio] 2: 17-26. (In Russian).

6. Grinev A.V. (2002). The role of the state in the establishment of the Russian-American Company [Rol’ gosudarstva v obrazovanii Rossijsko-Amerikanskoj kompanii]. Russian Discovery of America. Collection of articles dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Academician Nikolai Nikolayevich Bolkhovitinov [Russkoe otkrytie Ameriki. Sbornik statej, posvyashchennyj 70-letiyu akademika Nikolaya Nikolaevicha Bolhovitinova]. M.: ROSPEN: 437-450. (In Russian).

7. Grinev A.V. (2016). Alaska under the wing of the double-headed eagle (Russian colonization of the New World in the context of domestic and world history) [Alyaska pod krylom dvuglavogo orla (rossijskaya kolonizaciya Novogo Sveta v kontekste otechestvennoj i mirovoj istorii)]. Moscow: Academia, 589 p. (In Russian).

8. History of the United States. In four volumes (1983). Moscow: Nauka. (In Russian).

9. Kissinger H. (1994). Diplomacy. Simon & Schuster, 912 p.

10. Pechatnov V.O. (2006). Return to Fulton [Vozvrashchenie v Fulton]. Russia in Global Affairs [Rossiya v global’noj politike] 2. Available at: https://globalaffairs.ru/articles/vozvrashhenie-v-fulton/ (accessed 18.05.2024). (In Russian).

11. Pechatnov V.O. (2014). Americanistika v MGIMO [American Studies]. Vestnik MGIMOUniversity [MGIMO Review of International Relations] 5(38): 131-135. DOI: 10.24833/20718160-2014-5-38-131-135. (In Russian).

12. Pechatnov V.O., Manykin A.S. (2021). History of U.S. Foreign Policy [Istoriya vneshnej politiki SSHA]. 2nd ed., revised and supplemented. Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya, 680 p. (In Russian).

13. Petrov A.Yu. (2006). Russian-American Company: activities in the domestic and foreign markets (1799-1867). PhD Dissertation [Rossijsko-amerikanskaya kompaniya: deyatel’nost’ na otechestvennom i zarubezhnom rynkah (1799 –1867). Dissertaciya na soiskanie uchenoj stepeni doktora istoricheskih nauk]. Moscow: IGH RAS, 478 p. (In Russian).

14. Sidorov A.Yu., Fradkova V.I. (2023). Doctrine of “regime change” in American foreign policy tradition and ideology [Doktrina “smena rezhimov” v amerikanskoj vneshnepoliticheskoj tradicii i ideologii]. Observer [Obozrevatel’] 1: 17-29. (In Russian).

15. Sogrin V.V. (2021). History of the United States [Istoriya SSHA]. Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya, 600 p. (In Russian).

16. Sogrin V.V. (2022). The Americanempire. Origin. Stages. Modernity[Amerikanskayaimperiya. Proiskhozhdenie. Etapy. Sovremennost’]. Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya, 176 p. (In Russian).

17. Tarbeev I.M. (2018). Formation of Soviet American studies as an expert-academic discipline in the 1950s-1960s [Stanovlenie sovetskoj amerikanistiki kak ekspertnoakademicheskoj discipliny v 1950–1960-e gg]. RSUH/RGGU. Bulletin. “Political Science. History. International Relations” Series [Vestnik RGGU. Seriya ”Politologiya. Istoriya. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya”] 3(13): 77-92. DOI: 10.28995/2073-6339-2018-3-77-92. (In Russian).