Channels, Fall 2018

Channels • 2018 • Volume 3 • Number 1 Page 133 In summary, the reviewed literature supports the conception that the realist goal of safeguarding the national economy by means of increased surveillance, and thereby protection of urban centers that by definition serve as economic hubs stands, stands as the paramount policy objective for the USA and the PRC. Case #1: The United States of America The USA, perhaps more so than any other country that could be studied, stands to lose a great deal should it fall from its current position of economic power. As the largest economy in the world with a gross domestic product of over $18.6 trillion (Trading Economics, 2018), the USA has held a position of dominance in the world market since the formation of the newer international system post-World War II. The USA performed instrumental work in and ultimately guided the creation of a number of international economic organizations in the latter part of the 20th century and into the current one, notably the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and a host of trade deals with specific countries or with various blocs, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, and to a degree the Association of South East Asian Nations. In short, the USA succeeded in linking its economic machine to most of the developed and developing world, and has since created for itself a niche at the apex of the world economic system. As such, the USA possesses a notable history of protecting this economic status, even to a degree that might be labelled aggressive, and would most certainly fit the qualifications of a realist approach to international relations. A notable example of this presents itself in the actions of the USA in regard to its oil interests in the Middle East. Crude oil, from whence a host of important products are derived, demonstrates the direct relation of economic influence extending to global power. Crude oil is a primary component in every major economy, as it makes available certain products that are crucial in almost every level of economic activity. As such, U.S. foreign policy in regard to the Middle East, which is historically a major source of oil for the USA and to an extent remains so in the modern era with an estimated 636 million barrels imported each year from the Persian Gulf alone (USEIA, 2018), demonstrates a level of inclination toward protecting access to petroleum resources. One economist explained the comments of an insider oil industry analyst by stating that "Prior to the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq, U.S. and other western oil companies were all but completely shut out of Iraq's oil market, but thanks to the invasion and occupation, the companies are now back inside Iraq and producing oil there for the first time since being forced out of the country in 1973" (MacEwan, 2017). This statement highlights the prevalence of U.S. economic interests, even in the broader mix of complicated Middle Eastern foreign policy. An additional and more extensive example presents itself in the manner in which the USA protected its established sphere of economic influence during the Cold War in the latter half of the 20th century. The Cold War in itself prominently embodies the nature of competitive economic policy in the international system, with the USA actively squaring off against the USSR in a multi- decade struggle to prove the economic supremacy of either capitalism (in the USA) or communism (in the USSR). One aspect of this drawn-out competition manifested in attempts to establish and protect economic zones and partnerships, a goal that often played a major role in the proliferation of proxy wars, conflicts in which the USA and USSR each backed a contender in a foreign conflict in an attempt to institute an allied governing regime that would adopt their sponsor’s propagated system of government and economics, or at the very least act as a partner in preventing the proliferation of the opposing system of government and economics. A number of these proxy wars