Blog Series: Pax Americana

One of the big promises of Pax Americana was that free trade would keep the peace.

This idea, often called liberal peace theory, says that countries tied together by economic interdependence are less likely to go to war. Why? Because war is bad for business—and countries with shared markets, supply chains, and investments have too much to lose.

And for decades, it seemed to hold up:

• No world wars since 1945.

• A massive drop in direct conflicts between major powers.

• Trade grew exponentially. So did global GDP.

But now, more than 75 years later, the cracks are showing.
So it’s worth asking: Did trade really prevent war—or just change the way conflict happens?

By the late 20th century, U.S. trade policy had evolved into more than a tool for prosperity. It became a litmus test for political alignment.

If you played by Washington’s rules, you got access to the world’s largest consumer market, investment, and economic growth.

If you didn’t, you faced sanctions, embargoes, and exclusion.

Let’s look at how different countries experienced the American-led trade order—not just as economic participants, but as players in a larger geopolitical game.

When we talk about Pax Americana, we often focus on the military alliances, trade deals, and financial systems that kept the world in orbit around the U.S.

But just as important—maybe more—was something subtler, shinier, and often shrink-wrapped.

America didn’t just export products. It exported a way of life.

From Big Macs to microchips, from blockbuster movies to business software, the U.S. used trade not only to sell goods, but to spread influence, values, and identity.

Trade became diplomacy by other means—and American corporations became its ambassadors.

If Pax Americana was a global game, then the U.S. helped write the rulebook—and one of the biggest chapters was trade.

From the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947 to the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, the U.S. didn’t just participate in global trade.
It shaped how it worked, who got to play, and what the rules would be.

And while it was pitched as a win-win system of free trade for all, the reality was more complicated.

After the bombs stopped falling in 1945, Europe was in ruins—physically, politically, and economically.

But the war left behind more than rubble. It created a void—and the United States filled it, not with troops or tanks, but with cash.

The Marshall Plan, launched in 1948, wasn’t just a recovery package. It was a strategy. A strategy to stop the spread of communism, rebuild friendly nations, and lock in U.S. economic dominance for a generation.

If Pax Americana had a blueprint, it was drawn in 1944 at a quiet resort in New Hampshire.

There, while World War II was still raging, representatives from 44 Allied nations met to answer a big question:

How do we keep the global economy from collapsing again—like it did in the 1930s?

Their answer was the Bretton Woods system. And it changed the world.

We tend to think of power in terms of armies, alliances, or nuclear weapons.

But in Pax Americana, one of the United States’ most powerful tools wasn’t loud—it was economic.
Trade wasn’t just about business. It was a strategic weapon, a way to shape the world without firing a shot.

For nearly 80 years, Pax Americana has defined how the world works.

It shaped borders, trade routes, alliances, and even the stories we tell ourselves about peace and power. Whether you were born in Kansas or Kenya, chances are your life has been shaped in some way by the world America built after WWII.

It wasn’t perfect. Far from it.
But for a long time, it felt permanent.

Now, that era may be fading.
So before we move forward, let’s pause and ask: What did Pax Americana actually give us—and what did it take?

Not everyone wanted to live under Pax Americana.
But once the U.S. built its global order—military, economic, and cultural—most of the world had to decide: join, resist, or try to balance both.

Some countries became true allies. Others played along for the benefits. And a few stood apart, resisting or challenging American influence outright.

Let’s take a look at the winners, the reluctant participants, and the rivals that made Pax Americana anything but simple.

You’ve probably heard the phrase: “Follow the money.”

Well, if you follow it far enough across the 20th and 21st centuries, it almost always leads back to the United States.

Pax Americana wasn’t just about military might or cultural influence—it was also about monetary power. In fact, much of the global system the U.S. built after WWII rests on a single, simple truth:

The world runs on the U.S. dollar.

Let’s unpack how that happened—and why it still matters today.

When you think about American power, it’s easy to picture tanks, military bases, or the White House. But some of the most influential tools the U.S. ever used didn’t come from a Pentagon briefing—they came from a movie studio, a soda fountain, or a Levi’s store.

During Pax Americana, the U.S. didn’t just export weapons and dollars. It exported something even more powerful: culture.

When people think of peace, they don’t usually think of tanks, fighter jets, or missile silos.

But when it comes to Pax Americana—the era of global order built by the United States after WWII—military power was the steel frame holding it all together. It wasn’t about conquest, but it was about control.

The U.S. didn’t just promise peace.
It made sure everyone knew it had the firepower to enforce it.

When World War II ended in 1945, much of the world lay in ruins.

Cities across Europe and Asia were bombed-out husks. Millions were dead or displaced. Economies had collapsed. The old powers—Britain, France, Germany, Japan—were broken, bankrupt, or discredited.

But not the United States.

In fact, America came out of the war stronger than ever—economically, militarily, and politically. And with the rest of the world in chaos, the U.S. made a choice: it would help rebuild the world, but on its own terms.

This wasn’t about taking over in the old imperial way. It was about building a new kind of global order—with the U.S. at the center of it.

After World War II, the world looked to the United States for leadership—and the U.S. stepped up in a big way. What followed was something historians later called Pax Americana, Latin for “American Peace.”

But what does that actually mean? And why should you care in 2025?

Let’s break it down.

For most of the last 80 years, the United States didn’t just lead the world—it built the system the world runs on.

We called it Pax Americana—Latin for “American Peace.”

It promised prosperity, order, and stability—at home and abroad.

And for a while, it delivered.

But today, the cracks are impossible to ignore…

Over the past few months, Exploring Division has been about one thing: understanding the deep political rifts tearing through the U.S.—how we got here, what’s fueling the fire, and whether anything can truly bring us back from the brink.

That work’s not done yet.

There are still threads to follow, voices to include, and chapters to finish.

But as that series begins to wind down—and before it fully catches up to the latest headlines—I’m launching something new.

Something narrower in scope, but deeply tied to the moment we’re in right now.

It’s called: Pax Americana.