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Words Are Known by the Company They Keep




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MOSCOW STATE INSTITUTE

OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

English Language Department 1

 

 

N. Rodoman

 

 

ENGLISH

AT THE SERVICE OF POLITICS

TODAY

 

 

Coursebook of translation

for senior students of International Relations

 

 

Part One

THE CENTURY BEHIND US

 

Section Three

 

 

Moscow

 

 


C O N T E N T S

(-

 

).... 7

Exercises........ 11

Text 1. Pax Americana....... 30

Text 2. ... 39

Text 3. ?... 42

Text 4. History Lessons....... 43

Text 5. ... 44

Text 6. : ...... 47

Text 7. United Nations Milleniun Declaration... 50

Reference List........ 63

 

 

-c

 

, , .

. . , ., 2002, . 125

 

I. , .

I.1. 1 : () , () .

There is a war of words between the U.S. and N. Korea. .

This war of words is between the U.S. and N. Korea. .

. - National security is the main concern of Russias diplomacy.

. The main concern of Russias diplomacy is national security.

, -, , . :

A delegation of French students came to our University early in October. - .

The delegation of French students came to our University early in October. - .

, . Ÿ - .

New evidence came to light three years after the trial. - .

In 1946 the Nurenburg trial started its work to investigate war crimes of the Nazis. - 1946 .

, , . With the cabinet and the Labour party divided over Iraq, the Suez crisis is being increasingly recalled in the tea-rooms of the House of Commons.

, .

1 2.

I.2. , , , rather than as well as. , .

Thanks to the activism of various international organizations, the history of the 1960s looked to a future where integration and unity, rather than confrontation and division would emerge as more relevant themes in international affairs. 60- 20 , , .

[In 1971 Food for the Hungry was founded in California.] Soliciting donations from other countries as well as the United States, the organization helped refugees in Bangladesh (which separated itself from Pakistan in 1971), earthquake victims in Nicaragua, and the hungry in West Africa. (Akira Iriye, p.139) [ 1971 " "]. , , ( 1971 ), .

3 4.

I.3. , ( , ) , .

The report pays particular attention to two issues. .

The 19th century created such industries as chemicals and electrical engineering. 19 .

Mass riots closed all schools and shops in the city. ( ) .

, , .

. The final agreements spell out measures on the protection of global environment.

. The postwar years saw a baby boom in Europe.

, - . Critics say that the scheme will undermine Ontarios public schools.

, , , .

, " ". , , .

14 1963 , , - . This 14th century magnificent palace was the venue of a 1963 summit that buried Franco-German enmity after almost a century of constant bloodshed.

to host to play host to.

5-7.

I.4. , .. , .

 

II. . , .

II.1. , , : , ( ) , , . , , . : France, he hinted, could call a referendum on [EU] enlargement. (Econ., February 22-28, 2003, p.33) , .

, , , . , , .

" " ". . For a vast and open country, there is no such a thing as perfect security, the president said last week.

(2-3 , ), , : - , - .

" ", - . Consensus is still a long way off, he said.

" ", - . I dont rule out this possibility, answered the minister.

8.

II.2. ( ) , . ( , ), .

. The opposition party can offer no convincing alternative.

I sensed no animosity in our discussion, he said at a press conference at the embassy. , - - .

9.

II.3. . , , . *. , " "" , mot-à-mot, "**.

10 11.

 

 

Exercises

 

TASK 1. Translate the sentences into Russian paying special attention to word order and articles.

 

A.

1. a)There was urgent need for food, medicines and doctors. b)The need for food, medicines and doctors was urgent.

2. a)A new plan concerning humanitarian aid took shape in the religious quarters. b)The new plan concerning humanitarian aid took shape in the religious quarters.

3. a)Proposals to expand the international peacekeeping force in Kabul came to nought. b)The proposals to expand the international peacekeeping force in Kabul came to naught.

4. a)A row with Congress could inject the Presidents rather shapeless government with a new, and much needed sense of purpose. b)The row with Congress could inject the Presidents rather shapeless government with a new, and much needed sense of purpose.

5. a)Coordination with neighbouring countries is also essential to stop the flow of Afgan opium. b)The coordination with neighbouring countries is also essential to stop the flow of Afgan opium.

 

B.

1. Bitterest verbal exchanges are taking place between Cuba and the United States.

2. In November 2001 the first shipment of American goods in four decades arrived in Cuba.

3. Hundreds of people have been arrested in the aftermath of the demonstration.

4. A sort of equilibrium among various centres of power has been established in the world arena.

5. Institutional reforms have begun under the transitional government. (Econ., June 30 July 6, 2001, p.48).

6. If the Pushtuns leave the new Afgan government, serious violence could break out again.

7. Fresh gunfire erupted on the edge of Ivory Coasts second city of Bouake after heavy gunbattles there on Tuesday.

8. A regional summit due Thursday to try to defuse the crisis was called off, without explanation.

9. Other problems loom on the horizon. (Econ., June 30 July 6, 2001, p.51).

10. He said disarming Iraq would define victory, not capturing or killing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. (M. Times, March 6, 2003, p.10)

11. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said progress had been made on forging a deal but time would be needed for rival parties (in Northern Ireland) to consult their grassroots. (Ibid., p.10)

12. In the meantime, new organizations were being established. The Florence Nightingale International Foundation was founded in London in 1934 for training nurses throughout the world.

13. Ten years later the problem of the cost of the NHS had not gone away even though the Trade Unions power had largely been eliminated and various other initiatives to control costs through efficiency programmes had been introduced. (Understanding British Institutions, p. 196).

 

 

TASK 2. In translating the sentences below concentrate in particular on the ways of rendering new information by means of word order and articles.

 

A place for everything, and everything in its place.

R.B.Sheridan (1751-1816)

A.

 

1. ) . ) .

2. ) . ) .

3. ) , . ), , .

4. ) . ) .

5. ) . ) ) , - , .

6. ) . ) .

7. ) , , . ) , .

 

.

1. .

2. .

3. (quarters) .

4. 10 . (to envisage) 70 [...]. (to welcome): (expedience) . , ( ) [...]. , (at full steam) , . ( , 26 2002, .12).

5. . (, 25 2003, . 3).

 

 

TASK 3. Think of the appropriate word order in your translation of the sentences containing rather than.

 

A. Translate the sentences containing rather than into Russian.

1. Under the Conservative governments of the 1980s and 1990s, Britain looked to American free-market ways rather than to Europes social-welfare model for ideas on economic reform.

2. The likelihood that Saddam Hussein possesses some nasty weaponry disturbs Pentagon planners, but most of his neighbours see this as a fuzzy and remote danger rather than a clear and present one.

3. British New Labours ambitious new world order does have a unifying theme in international engagement rather than shrinking isolationism. (Guard., December 20. 2001, p.7).

4. Mr.Blair has twisted the whole of British politics into a new shape. It is the system he broke rather than the machine he built that makes his premiership so interesting.

5. If UN inspections for weapons of mass destruction are frustrated by Saddam, Bush should be held to his promise of multinational rather than purely US military action, and sustained rather than fleeting engagement in the reconstruction effort. (IHT, October 15, 2002, p.6).

6. That second round gives voters the chance to vote with their heads rather than their hearts. (Econ., April 6-13, 2002, p.31).

 

B. Translate the sentences into English using rather than.

 

1. , , .

2. , , , .

3. , , , , .

4. , , , .

5. . , .

6. , .

7. , 45- , .

8. , , . . , , ?

9. , , . ("-7", 23 , 2003.)

 

 

TASK 4. Practice making the necessary transpositions when translating sentences with as well as.

 

A

1. The scholarly literature on globalization is rapidly growing. A number of sociologists and anthropologists, as well as political scientists and economists (although as yet very few historians), have undertaken to explore the evolution and contemporary characteristics of what has been called the new realities that mark the last decades of the twentieth century. (Akira Iriye, p.p. 7-8)

2. Nature conservation was also beginning to attract the attention of international, not just national, organizations at this time. International protection of nature had been attempted a few times before the war, but the founding of the League of Nations made it possible for private organizations as well as some concerned states to work through the world organization to arrive at specific agreements on conservation of wildlife. (Ibid., p. 25)

3. [American Quakers argued that the United States and the Soviet Union should accept the idea of coexistence]. To carry out what they were preaching, a group of Quakers [] traveled to Russia in 1955 and visited several provincial cities as well as Moscow. (Ibid., p. 72)

4. The experience of post-communist societies in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union as well as the violent suppression of Chinas anti-government protests in 1989 has been a sobering one for many of Chinas intellectuals. (Econ., June 30 July 6, 2001, p. 22)

5. Italy, he said, favoured a constructive approach towards understanding between different civilisations as well as combating illiteracy in the developing world.

6. [During the Vietnam war] volunteers worked in [Vietnamese] hospitals, refugee camps, and city slums to alleviate suffering. While these were US organizations, the volunteers included Europeans and Asians as well as Americans. (Akira Iriye, p. 99)

7. These are transnational phenomena to be addressed as much by intergovernmental organizations and nongovernmental organizations as by independent states. (Ibid., p.p. 6-7)

8. Certainly the promotion of trade has always been a central part of the activity of diplomacy and is not, as some allege, a comparatively recent innovation. The Venetian diplomatic service was initially a commercial venture and there is much evidence that the spur to organized diplomacy on a permanent and spatially static basis was just as much economic as political or military. (Graham Evans and Jeffrey Newnham. The Penguin Dictionary of International Relations. Penguin Books, 1998, p. 129).

 

B

1. 60- , (capacity) (developmental) , (to have an obligation) .

2. , .

3. , (the Land of Basques), .

4. . , , (policeman).

5. - , .

6. , .

7. , (to enrich) , .

8. , .

9. , .

 

 

TASK 5. Change the syntactic structure of the sentences in your translation.

A. Make the English subject an adverbial modifier of place in Russian.

1. The US Presidents doctrine holds that states which sponsor terrorism should be confronted, not talked to.

2. The agreement did not spell out how many troops each side will pull out.

3. The report of the UN Secretary-General highlights the two themes designated for the current year: preventing armed conflict, and treatment and prevention of major diseases, including HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

4. The article examines the economic attraction of integration.

5. France has seen a much more anguished and wide-ranging argument than most other EU countries about whether or not EU enlargement is a good idea (Econ., December 7-13, 2002, p.36)

6. The Universal Declaration on Human Right, adapted in 1948, boldly proclaimed that recognition of human rights is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.

7. The peace agreement, which ended five years of civil war, called for 30 percent of federal and local executive and local executive bodies to be filled by opposition members.

8. The report focuses on issues that were particularly salient over the past year.

9. The industry saw double-digit growth last year.

10. A short time ago the world heard a new term new economy.

11. The Declarations 30 articles catalogue civil, political, economic and social rights.

12. The plan sets out a plethora of targets to bring about dramatic improvements in health care.

13. The editorial stressed that such deeds tainted with a significant degree of hypocrisy would only undermine the idea of a just peace in the Middle East.

14. Most writings on modern world affairs have almost entirely ignored this fact.

15. In 1946 Moscow hsted a conference of sixty-six technical experts and administrators on international telecommunication. (Akira Iriye, p. 48)

 

B. Make the Russian adverbial modifier of place the subject of the sentence in English.

 

1. .

2. .

3. .

4. .

5. .

6. .

7. .

8. , 2 . .

9. .

10. .

11. .

12. .

13. 7 26 .

14. .

15. .

16. .

17. .

18. , .

19. , .

20. .

21. .

22. .

23. .

24. .

25. .

26. .

27. .

28. 1980 .

29. , 2004 10 [] ("", 11 , 2002.)

30. .

31. , , , (to embrace) .

32. , , , , , . ("-7" 192, 24-30 , 2002.)

33. . , "".

34. .

35. .

36. .

37. [] , . ("", 30 2002.)

38. , .

39. , .

40. .

41. (uneasiness and insecurity), (to pervade) , , .

42. .

43. 2008 2012 (carbon oxide and dioxide) , 5,2% 1990 .

 

 

TASK 6. Restructure the sentences in your translation.

A. Make the English subject an adverbial modifier of time in Russian.

1. Yesterday saw a further slump of the dollar in the international financial markets.

2. The 20th century witnessed the development of two contradictory trends.

3. The summer of 1990 already signaled a forthcoming crisis in the countrys economy.

4. In both countries, the past year has seen a further deterioration in already grim human-rights records, despite criticism by the State Department. (Econ., September 7-13, 2002, p.29)

5. March 7th brought a clash between the American troops and a small guerilla group. (Econ., March 10-17, 2001, p.29)

6. In the 19th century, when the West set ashore in Arab lands, in the form of Napoleons conquest of Egypt, the locals were fascinated by this powerful civilization. In fact, as the historian Albert Hourani has documented, the 19th century saw European-inspired liberal political and social thought flourish in the Middle East. (Newsweek, October 15, 2001, p.23)

7. The years 1945-1950 also saw the beginnings of organized activities in many other areas as well. Particularly notable were those that focused on human rights, the environment, and developmental assistance. (Akira Iriye, p.p. 55-56)

8. The 1970s saw the founding of various movements and organizations dedicated to coping with the perceived environmental crisis.

9. [] The 1970s began to develop what Hobsbawn calls a transnational economy in the world, symbolized by the mushrooming of multinational business enterprises. (Akira Iriye, p. 129)

10. The 1970 saw many new initiatives undertaken by these and other countries, both officially and privately, to promote communication and understanding among nations. (Ibid., p, 155)

11. Until relatively recently, most [British] emigrants headed for the big five Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States but the past 20 years has seen a sharp rise in the number of people heading across the Channel []. (Econ., April 26-May 2, 2003, p.29)

12. [] 1986 saw a worse disaster than the Challenger crack-up: Chernobyl. (WSJ, August 29-31, 2003, p.A6)

 

B. Make the Russian adverbial modifier of time the subject of the English sentence.

 

1. .

2. 21 .

3. : 1991 , 1998 , 2000 "" . - ?

4. 90- XX , (to rip apart) , .

5. .

6. 80- .

7. (to bring about) ?

8. 19 , , .

9. - .

 

 

TASK 7. Restructure the sentences in your translation.

 

A. Make the English subject an adverbial modifier of cause in Russian.

 

1. The peace treaty concluded in October brought the troops home.

2. September 11, 2001 shone a spotlight on one more vital issue the importance of multilateral peace and security.

3. Venezuelas turmoil has already sent world oil prices up to $30 a barrel.

4. The storm brought down power lines and closed schools and roads. (WSJ, December 6, 2002, p.W19)

5. Investigators turned to eyewitnesses for clues to the cause of an explosion and raging fire at a plastic factory that killed at least three people and injured 37 others. (M. Times, January 31, 2002, p.10)

6. But September 11th opened a rift between Islam and the West in which Palestine is indeed playing a growing part. (Econ., January 25-31, 2003, p.11)

7. Factional fighting has dragged the people of Somalias capital back to the darkest days of the civil war in 1992.

8. Weeks of unrest that had erupted into violence led the President to impose a state of emergency on Sunday.

9. Weak [economic] growth has pushed Germanys [budget] deficit above 3 percent of gross domestic product this year, breaching the cardinal rule of the EUs Stability and Growth Pact [] (M. Times, November 6, 2002, p.12)

10. The default of 1998 crushed the popular assumption among Russian officials that the IMF would be always there to bail them out.

11. This policy did curb inflation, but it also sent interest rates souring and prolonged the economic downturn.

12. Chinas accession to the WTO exacerbated unemployment in some parts of the country.

13. The killings brought the weekend death toll from violence in Kashmir to 24.

14. The dramatic developments throw Israel into a turbulent election campaign at a time when the nation is facing severe problems the two-year-old Palestinian uprising, a deepening economic crisis and the possibility of an Iraqi attack on Israel in the event of a US strike against Saddam Hussein. (M. Times, November 6, 2002, p.13)

15. Japans attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 brought the United States into war.

16. The Fulbright program was only one of many undertakings that sent American scholars and students abroad and invited their counterparts to the United States. (Akira Iriye, p. 83)

17. The entrenchment of the notion of subsidiarity within the EU legal framework after Maastricht enhanced policy choices for states in certain spheres. (D.Held & A.McGrew, D.Goldblatt & J.Perraton, p.74)

18. During the Middle Ages the crusades facilitated the diffusion of military technologies between East and West. (Ibid., p.115)

19. It [EU membership] gives us more leverage to tackle the many challenges we share with our neighbours. (From Tony Blairs speech made on November 28, 2002)

20. Even if the Day X activities [the declaration of war against the governments policy towards Iraq by campus groups] work as planned, the resulting chaos will be only a faint echo of the student movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when such protests closed down universities for weeks at a time. (Econ., March 8-14, 2003, p.41)

21. Russias relations with the NATO alliance have warmed since the signing last year of a partnership agreement that increased military and political contacts and set up a NATO Russia Council []. (M. Times, October 10-12, 2003, p. 4).

22. The election of Tony Blairs Labour government in May 1997 ended 18 years of Conservative rule under Margaret Thatcher and John Major.

 

 

B. Make the words that express cause in the Russian sentences the subject of the English sentences.

 

1. - .

2. - .

3. , .

4. .

5. .

6. .

7. , - - 200 , . ("", 30 , 2002.)

8. , .

9. 1988 (to bring about) .

10. .

11. - (reckless military scheme/operation) .

12. , .

13. - .

14. .

15. 120 .

16. , , .

17. - 1914-1918 - .

18. , (with) 500 .

19. - .

20. .

21. - 1994 .

 

 

TASK 8. Find the words denoting a source of information in each sentence.

 

A. Translate the passages putting the source of information at the beginning of the Russian sentence.

 

1. A US Army transport helicopter crashed east of Bagram Air Base in Afganistan on Thursday and ther were casualties among those aboard, a US military spokesman said. (M. Times, January 31, 2003, p.10)

2. The amount of accounting fraud at Worldcom Inc. is likely to exceed the $7 billion previously disclosed to investors, according to a broad report from a special company monitor []. (M. Times, November 6, 2002, p.12)

3. About 40 per cent of the British public regard the great number of asylum-seekers as the most serious problem in Britain at present, a new Populus poll commissioned for The Times indicates.

4. Every possible terrorist attack option is being examined, Whitehall sources said.

5. Charities should show they are worth tax breaks, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations said.

6. Drug abuse among police officers is one of the biggest problems facing anti-corruption detectives, Home Office research shows. (Times, February 12, 2003, p.12)

7. This has been the largest demonstration since the White House announced its War on Terror 17 month ago, reports the newspaper.

 

B. Translate the passages placing the source of information at the end of the sentence.

 

1. "", .

2. -- , , .

3. , .

4. , , , .

5. , .

6. , (closed door) .

7. .. , .

8. , (at an all-time high).

 

C. Translate the sentences paying special attention to the order of the words introducing direct speech.

 

1. " ", - .

2. " , ", .

3. " , , , ", .

4. " ", .

5. , , " .

 

 

TASK 9. Translate the following passages.

 

A. Pay attention to the negation conveyed by the no + Noun pattern.

 

1. The company has certain chances to survive in the economic turmoil if it meets no serious obstacles in implementing its new strategy.

2. The EU wants the Swiss to let it seek out tax-evaders (who are committing no criminal offence under Swiss law). (Econ., September 7-13, 2002, p. 34)

3. [] Governments and rebels alike will get no assistance at all if they act irresponsibly. (Econ., June 30 July 6, 2001, p. 13)

4. The US Energy Secretary made no direct mention of OPEC. But he condemned the record of international oil markets since the mid-1990s, saying that volatile prices were becoming increasingly problematic. (M. Times, September 23, 2002, p. 8)

5. Based on all credible information to date, the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] has found no indication of Iraq having achieved its program goal of producing nuclear weapons []. (M. Times, October 23, 2002, p. 13)

6. The party senior officers have given no clear indication who they would pick as their new leader at their conference due on Tuesday.

7. The United States has had no aid program for Algeria since at least 1992, when the government canceled an election that was apparently won by the militant Islamic Salvation Front.

8. Russia wasted no time capitalizing on that diplomatic success.

 

B. Use the no + Noun pattern of negation in your translation.

 

1. , "", , (tangible) .

2. , , - (credible) , .

3. .

4. , ?

5. .

6. , , (to envisage) .

7. , , .

8. " ", - "".

9. , .

10. , .

11. , .

12. .

13. .

14. , (to fit) .

15. , , , , .

 

 

TASK 10. Replace each of the underlined words by another part of speech, thus making transpositions in the sentences.

 

1. .

2. .

3. .

4. .

5. .

6. .

7. .

8. , , .

9. , .

10. .

11. .

12. , .

13. , .

14. .

15. , - .

16. .

17. .

 

 

TASK 11. In your translation substitute other parts of speech for the underlined words (adverbs) regrouping parts of the sentences.

 

A

1. In the nineteenth century, Clausewitz famously wrote that war is politics conducted by other means; today [] the same could be said for the law. (F.Affairs, January/February 2003, p. 130)

2. After clinging to the belief that saving the pound was their trump card, the conservatives painfully discovered at the last election that it was no such thing. (Econ., February 22-28, 2003, p. 40)

3. He [Mr. Bush] narrowly won the staunchly Democratic state of West Virginia in the 2000 election, in large part because he promised to help steel workers more than Al Gore or Bill Clinton [] (Econ., June 30 July 6, 2001, p. 10)

4. Mr. Caro uncharacteristically fails to observe that the amendment also had the virtue of protecting black criminal defendants from being unjustly convicted. (Econ., April 6-13, 2002, p. 34)

5. Across Europe, working-age people are complaining about ever-higher taxes to finance a fast-growing population of ever-older retirees. [] All Europe save Britain is woefully unprepared to deal with the age wave, reports a recent study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. (Newsweek, June 30-July 7, 2003, p.28)

 

B

1. Consolidating NATO geographically in the part of Europe closest to the Middle East makes sense. (Econ., April 6-13, 2002, p.34)

2. Mr Blair has other reasons to hope that any conflict turns out to be diplomatically brief. (Econ., January 25-31, 2003)

3. They [the Democrats] are likely to keep the loyalty of most blacks, who have never shown much sign of defecting; and blacks remain electorally the more important minority, looming larger in Americas moral imagination and mattering more in swing states. (Ibid., p. 47)

4. He is constitutionally obliged to give up his post as state president at the annual session of the rubber-stamp parliament, the National Peoples Congress, next March. (Econ., November 23-29, 2002, p. 56)

5. They do their best to sound reserved publicly, though they spare no fire in criticizing the prime-minister privately.

6. Talking to terrorists is never palatable. But the government [of Sri Lanka] has been unable to defeat the Tigers militarily, despite emptying its own treasury in the attempt. (Econ., September 7-13, 2002, p. 13)

 

C

1. , .

2. - . ( " " 1, / 2002., . 101)

3. , .

4. , , , , (to prevent from) .

5. , .

6. .

7. -; .

8. , .

 

 

TASK 12. Correct the word order in the translation of the sentences selected from students test papers.

Proper words in proper places make the true definition of a style.

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

 

 

1. . He is a well known in Russia poet.

2. . That was the most ancient on the USSR territory civilization.

3. , . The Security Council having adopted this resolution reaffirmed its determination to put an end to this crisis.

4. . Now it is time to summarize the collected in research materials.

5. . He was asked to share the gained in the work with foreigners experience.

6. 26- , 20 , . 26-year-old John Mitchel was arrested in the northern part of Manchester after the police had found 20 items of jewelry hidden in a built-in closet in his flat.

7. , , . The blow was delivered by the most grateful and, perhaps, the most devoted US ally Israel.

8.
- , - . Holding in Moscow for the first time in history the session of the Russia-NATO Council at 20 is one more illustration of the fact that both Russia and the NATO member states are actively building productive cooperation.

 

 

TASK 13. Read the text. Translate it into Russian.

 

Text 1

Pax Americana

The 20th century has been the American Century. Already in the 1830s the French writer, Alexis de Tocqueville was predicting that the future of the world would be decided by the United States and Russia, their starting point is different, and their courses are not the same; yet each of them seems marked out by the will of heaven to sway the destinies of half the globe. In the second half of the 20th century his prophecy was vindicated. But, even before the First World War the industrial might and the wealth of the United States were legendary. The children of American millionaires married into the European aristocracy, drawing together the elites of the two continents and producing by 1900 forty-two American princesses, seventeen duchesses, sixty-four baronesses and one hundred and thirty-six countesses. It was no accident that two of Britain's leading statesmen in the twentieth century, Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden were half American.

Twice within fifty years US intervention decided the course of a world war and brought victory to the democracies. Then, for fifty years, Washington led the Cold War struggle against communism, emerging from the confrontation in 1989 less confident, less sure of its values than it had been in 1918 or 1945 but victorious nonetheless. When the American academic, William Fox coined the term Superpower during the Second World War, he identified three members of his new category, the USA, USSR and the British Empire. By 1989 there was only one survivor.

Throughout the twentieth century US leaders had a vision of the sort of world they wished to shape. Pax Americana would be democratic, capitalist and socially egalitarian. []

After the Cold War American ideology was by no means universally accepted, despite its victory over communism. Moslem Fundamentalists overthrew Americas ally, the Shah of Iran in January 1979, tore Afghanistan to pieces in the 1990s and destabilized large areas of North Africa. Their anger was a reaction to the secular materialism of the West. Western media compounded the problem precisely because they intruded everywhere, flaunted Western values and threatened traditional standards of behaviour. Yet, if Western materialism and nihilism was often deeply disliked in the Moslem world, democracy alone could confer real legitimacy on a government. By far the largest number of countries in the 1990s either were genuinely democratic or paid lip-service to democratic political values. Most of the military dictators had been driven from power in Latin America, although democracy was still threatened by instability and ethnic tensions in Eastern Europe and Africa.

History did not come to an end with the collapse of communism, as the American analyst Francis Fukuyama argued. Nor did the mood of euphoria, which greeted the fall of the Berlin Wall, last for very long. Saddam Hussein showed that aggressive regimes were still determined to expand their territories and their military arsenals. The collapse of Yugoslavia and the various wars in the Caucasus reminded the world how thin a veneer civilization still presented. But Pax Americana had survived triumphantly. No form of government seemed likely to challenge democracy, no economic structure could rival capitalism for the improvements it brought in standards of living, no other country could rival Hollywood as a producer of dreams for the common man. This was America's century, just as the nineteenth had been Britains.

Abridged from Pax Americana by Philip Towle. World Encyclopedia of Peace, Vol. 4, p. 130, 132

 

 

Notes

 

1. Pax Americana (Latin) 1) -, ; 2) ; 3) , 4) , .

A period of general stability in international affairs under the dominant influence of US power. The American Peace, from the Latin pax, meaning peace, modified by the Latinized adjective Americana. The expression is the etymological grandchild of Pax Romana and the child of Pax Britannica.

The Pax Romana refers to the period of peace and civil order that prevailed within the Roman Empire under Augustus Caesar. In the 19th century, many British likened their colonial rule and the wordwide economic and political power they wielded to those of Rome, and the term Pax Britannica gained currency.

After World War II, with British power diminished and the empire breaking up, many Americans thought the United States should step into the role of world banner and policeman. []

The Oxford English Dictionary notes that a variety of similar constructions have been fashioned on this model (including pax atomica) to refer to the peace imposed by a great power. An example in Time, September 25, 1989, by Charles Krauthammer:

Germany was conquered, then divided into two states designed to remain forever in a state of permanent, if cold antagonism. Pax Americana and Pax Sovietica solved the German problem.

(Merriam-Websters Dictionary of Allusions by Elizabeth Webber & Mike Feinsilber. Merriam-Webster Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts, 1999, pp.408-409)

For more details see Text 11.

2. American century [refers to] the 20th century, in which American influence should work for the good of all.

The term was introduced by Henry Luce, creator of the Time-Life publishing empire, in Life magazine, February 17, 1941:

to accept whole heartedly our duty and our opportunity as the most powerful and vital nation in the world, and in consequence to exert upon the world the full impact of our influence, for such purposes as we see fit and by such means as we see fit. [] The world of the 20th century, if it is to come to life in any nobility of health and vigor, must be to a significant degree an American century.

Luces statement was a powerful call to a country that had not yet entered World War II and still had strong isolationist impulses.

At the end of the war, when the United States supremacy in military and economic strength was clear, it did seem that the American century the PAX AMERICANA had arrived. From the perspective of the post-Vietnam, post-Cold War present, things look different.

The phrase comes up whenever pundits, with the apparently irresistible tendency to take an event (or a pole) and make it emblematic of an era, examine the American state of mind and ever-fluctuating sense of well-being.

(Merriam-Websters Dictionary of Allusions by Elizabeth Webber & Mike Feinsilber. Merriam-Webster Inc.,Massachusetts, 1999, p.p.14-15)

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