In his book, Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire, Chalmers Johnson argues that through its Cold War policies, the US has created a de facto empire, unspoken of by the government, and for the most part, unbeknownst to the American public. Such a course of action has affected not only foreign countries and their people, but US citizens as well, all of whom pay the costs of the empire.

Johnson represents the potential outcomes with the word "blowback," a term first used by the Central Intelligence Agency to describe "the unintended consequences of policies that were kept secret from the American people." In this way, US foreign policy fuels the growing resentment that leads to retaliation - blowback - directed against either the US military or US citizens abroad.

Johnson contends that during the Cold War, despite the US's efforts to promote itself as the USSR's polar opposite, the two countries engaged in strikingly similar policies. While the Soviet Union created a system of satellites in Eastern Europe, the US's mirror network was not NATO, but a system of dependent states in East Asia, which at one time, included Japan, South Korea, Thailand, South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Taiwan. In exchange for military support, these countries received favorable trade agreements, among other benefits.

Although the Cold War has ended, the US military position has changed little. What was once a desire to dominate militarily has now become an issue of economic control, increasingly referred to as globalization. Furthermore, economic challenges are now considered foreign policy challenges. To illustrate his point, Johnson describes the US’s relationships with individual East Asian countries and explores the potential for blowback in each. Johnson contends that there was no real "winner" of the Cold War because the US is now paying dearly for its role in East Asia. Just as the Soviet Union was the unintentional architect of its own demise, it is arrogant of the US to assume it can behave similarly, yet escape the same consequences. Therefore, Johnson strenuously pushes for a reevaluation of US foreign policies, which now emphasize military thinking over diplomacy.

One weakness with Blowback is that while Johnson argues for the removal of US bases in Okinawa and highlights their negative effects, his statements elsewhere suggest a solution not mentioned in book. In May 1998, in a letter to President Bill Clinton, Defense Secretary William Cohen, and Congress, Johnson urged the US to retain "the 31st MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) of approximately 2,000 personnel in Okinawa and move the other Marine units to Hawai'i or Guam." It is unclear whether Johnson simply changed his mind between this letter and the publication of Blowback in 2000, or if the discussion was beyond the scope of the book. While Johnson recognizes the harmful effects the bases have on Okinawans, the transfer he argues for suggests he does not believe such impacts are inherent characteristics of military bases. If this is true, Johnson is also ignoring the already existing anti-base movements in places such as Hawai'i.

Overall however, Johnson's argument is useful in several respects. First, he explains how seemingly isolated incidents are in reality blowback for US policies in East Asia. For example, in exchange for housing US troops, Japan received invaluable technological information developed in the US. This directly challenged US technological developments and cost US jobs, but it also allowed Japan to advance far beyond other Asian countries economically. In response, other East Asian countries shifted their economies to cater to US markets in order to be more competitive with Japan. Ultimately, this led to the global economic crisis that began in Thailand in 1997. Second, Johnson uses both overt and covert examples of US actions to demonstrate how either fuel blowback. The military bases in Okinawa are overt while the US government’s involvement in the Kwanju massacre in South Korea in 1980 was more covert. Third, Blowback is well researched and provides extensive footnotes and a recommended reading section. Finally, it is a useful springboard for discussion purposes, including how US foreign, military and economic policies are intertwined, how globalization is a new manifestation of Cold War policies, and how there is a need for a better awareness about these issues among the general public in the US.

Johnson, Chalmers. Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2000.

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