Foreign Policy on the Home Front

In the age of mass warfare, US engagement in foreign wars was an important force for state development. In particular, American wars spurred state growth, public capacities, regulatory oversight, and social reforms. These changes expanded government’s sphere of operations and recast American political, economic, and social life. Many of these changes were focused directly on veterans and the social problems that emerged in the aftermath of wars. Yet some of the changes were more broadly based and paved the way for future developments of the American welfare state. This war-based story complements the more familiar, domestic-based accounts of American state development. Notably, and in contrast with many European states, these changes were instituted in the USA even though there was very little war-wrought domestic destruction and no war-induced regime changes or social policy changes ordered by occupying powers.

Development economics · Economics · Foreign policy · Front (military) · Geography · Government (linguistics) · Home front · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science) · Welfare state · World War II · Australian History and Society · Defense, Military, and Policy Studies · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies