Terminus: Westward Expansion, China, and the End of American Empire

A sweeping narrative of America's imperial history and its long entanglement with China. In Terminus, Stuart Rollo examines the origins and trajectory of American empire in the Asia-Pacific region, focusing on its westward expansion and historic entanglement with China. American foreign and strategic policy in this region, Rollo argues, has always been shaped by broader economic and political concerns centered on China. China's current rise, and the economic and strategic systems that China is developing, represents the most serious challenge to the structure of American empire to date. Rollo paints a sweeping historical narrative of American imperial history and its relationship with China from 1776 to the present. Grounded in archival research, official and personal correspondence, policy documents, declassified intelligence material, and congressional records, Terminus traces the development of American empire building from the pre-independence period to the eve of World War I, arguing that this new empire was primarily driven by commercial interests in China. Rollo explores shifts in global power, resource politics, and international economic structures that led the United States to transition from one of several imperial powers to the world's sole superpower by the last decade of the twentieth century. Finally, he examines the decline of American empire since its brief period of unipolarity in the 1990s, explaining the new pressures and challenges posed by the rise of China. Rollo proposes three scenarios for how the United States might manage its inevitable imperial decline: a vain attempt to shore up and extend the empire, an exploitative hegemony, or a post-imperial foreign policy. This last option would work to repair the damaged fabric of American social and political life, providing a long-term, stable foundation for national security, prosperity, and the well-being of its citizens. All empires eventually end, but with the benefit of hindsight, Rollo urges us to consider how to engineer a softer landing.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction Part I. Westward Expansion and the Commercial Origins of Empire Chapter One. The Long March Westward and Native Dispossession Chapter Two. The China Focus in Westward Expansion Chapter Three. A Colonial Empire Part II. Ascending Power to Unipolarity, 1914–1991 Chapter Four. The 30 Years Crisis Chapter Five. American Hegemony Chapter Six. War with Asia, Recession, and Resurgence Part III. From a Unipolar Global Empire to a Shrinking Exploitative Hegemony Chapter Seven. The Unipolar Moment and Imperial Hubris Chapter Eight. The Sleeper Awakes: China's Rise as a World Historical Moment Chapter Nine. Trump, Biden, and Trouble Ahead Conclusion Notes References Index

About the Author :
Stuart Rollo (SYDNEY, AUS) is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney.

Review :
Stuart Rollo's Terminus: Westward Expansion, China, and the End of American Empire is a richly kaleidoscopic contribution to the ever-burgeoning literature on US-China relations....Terminus is a versatile book that can be read in multiple registers. Rollo's narrative is especially valuable for the way he weaves four distinct narrative threads together. —H-Diplo In Terminus, Stuart Rollo offers a timely, sweeping historical narrative of US westward expansion and United States–east Asia relations that helps us better understand the contemporary challenges that US policy-makers face regarding China....[Terminus] provides a thought-provoking alternative view of the future, at a moment when the world remains deeply unequal, fractured and violent due to the past and present actions of powerful empires, including the US. —International Affairs