Rhetoric and Reality
Corporate America's Perceptions of Southeast Asia, 1950–1961
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9626698 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lodge Gillespie (CFA Institute, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1994 |
| Volume | 68 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 325-363 |
| Publication date | 1994-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Business History Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-6805 • E-ISSN: 2044-768X |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/3117171 |
| OpenAlex | W2119673624 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 22 |
This article challenges both those historians—represented primarily by neo-colonialists and World Systems theorists— who stress economic factors as motivations of U.S. policy in Southeast Asia during the 1950s. Although such analyses provide valuable insights into American foreign policy, neither the desire to secure the markets and raw materials of Southeast Asia for American industry nor the perceived need to preserve a capitalist World System offers an adequate explanation for the American commitment to Southeast Asia. Using the business press and trade journals as primary sources, this article examines the public remarks and activities of the American business community throughout the decade; it concludes that, despite their frequently strong rhetoric, business leaders were generally ambivalent about the proper course of action in Southeast Asia and about the region's importance to American interests. The research presented here suggests that other, non-economic, factors may better explain U.S. policy in that region during the 1950s
Ambivalence · Economics · Economy · Ethnology · Foreign policy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Rhetoric · Sociology · Southeast asia · Asian Studies and History · Australian History and Society · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
The Prize
The domestic context of American foreign policy
U.S. Power and the Multinational Corporation
The tragedy of American diplomacy
A Preponderance of Power
The New Left and the Origins of the Cold War
Vietnam Reconsidered
The Tragedy of American Diplomacy
The Seven Sisters
The Roots of American Foreign Policy
Colonialism and Cold War
Imperial America
Western Enterprise in Indonesia and Malaya
Anatomy of a war
The Path to Vietnam
Confronting the Third World
Corporations and the Cold War
Trade and Aid
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |