Translated by Mohammad Memarian, the book was released by Amirkabir Publications.
Parmar reveals the complex interrelations, shared mindsets and collaborative efforts of influential public and private organizations in the building of American hegemony.
Focusing on the involvement of the Ford, Rockefeller and Carnegie foundations in U.S. foreign affairs, Parmar traces the transformation of America from an “isolationist” nation into the world’s only superpower, all in the name of benevolent stewardship.
Parmar begins in the 1920s with the establishment of these foundations and their system of top-down, elitist, scientific giving, which focused more on managing social, political and economic change than on solving modern society's structural problems.
Consulting rare documents and other archival materials, he recounts how the American intellectuals, academics and policymakers affiliated with these organizations institutionalized such elitism, which then bled into the machinery of U.S. foreign policy and became regarded as the essence of modernity.
America hoped to replace Britain in the role of global hegemon and created the necessary political, ideological, military and institutional capacity to do so, yet far from being objective, the Ford, Rockefeller and Carnegie foundations often advanced U.S. interests at the expense of other nations.
Incorporating case studies of American philanthropy in Nigeria, Chile and Indonesia, Parmar boldly exposes the knowledge networks underwriting American dominance in the twentieth century.
Parmar is a professor of international politics and head of the Department of International Politics at City University London.
Source: Tehran Times