America's Backyard: Difference between revisions

[[File:Monroe doctrine.jpg|thumb|300px|A 1912 newspaper cartoon highlighting America's influence in protecting neighboring countries in its "backyard" from European colonial expansion in the century following the [[Monroe Doctrine]].]]

The term has recently been prominent in popular media with reference to threats to US [[national security]] (including Russian [[military exercises]] and Middle Eastern [[terrorism]]) used to contrast such threats at home with those on traditional fronts in [[Europe]] or the [[Middle East]].

In a less geopolitical context, America's Backyard is also used on occasion to refer to [[national parks]] and public lands in the US, as well as the [[Heartland (United States)|American heartland]] more generally.

| volume = 11 | issue = 1 | pages = 291–298 | last = Jones | first = Matthew | title = America's backyard | journal = Diplomacy & Statecraft | year = 2017| s2cid = 162189149 }}</ref> Conversely, "America's Backyard" is referred to the area within which actions by enemy or competing powers might be feared or seen as provocative.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLH39192920080917 |title= The Russian bear in America's backyard: Bernd Debusmann |accessdate=2010-02-28 |author=Bernd Debusmann |date=2008-09-17 |publisher=[[Reuters]]}}</ref> This has much in common with the Russian [[near abroad]], used primarily in reference to the former Soviet Bloc countries; "near Abroad" signified that "Russia [claimed] rights in the region that transcend traditional diplomatic conventions".<ref name=nyt>{{cite web |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07EED81E39F931A15756C0A962958260 |title= ON LANGUAGE; The Near Abroad |accessdate=2008-04-18 |author=[[William Safire]] |author-link=William Safire |date=1994-05-22 |publisherwork=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

''[[National Geographic Channel|National Geographic]]'' also uses the term 'America's Backyard' referring to the public lands of America. For instance, national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, urban parks, and urban gardens—US public lands. Included in this mix are greenways and river ways, as well as historic landmarks and landscapes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geography-action/lands.html|title=Public Lands--America's Backyard|date=1996–2010|publisher=[[National Geographic Society]]|archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100405225439/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geography-action/lands.html|archivedatearchive-date=5 April 2010 <!--DASHBot-->|deadurlurl-status=nodead|accessdateaccess-date=2010-04-03}}</ref> Public lands or 'America's Backyard' make up approximately one third of the United States.

The idea of America's backyard - a place of security and tranquility, unlike lines of conflict elsewhere - has been used in reference to [[Middle class#Middle America|middle America]]. For example, after the [[Oklahoma City]] bombing]], Americans were outspoken with their shock that this attack took place in a "Middle-American" town rather than one of America's well-known political or economical cities or abroad.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Johnson|first=David|year=1995|title=Intensive International Hunt Is On, But for Whom|journal=New York Times|page=10}}</ref> Many expressed surprise that such [[terrorism]] could happen in the very center of the United States, "deep in America's heartland."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Alter|first=Jonathan|year=1995|title=Jumping to Conclusions|journal=Newsweek|page=55}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://deflem.blogspot.com/1995/05/globalization-of-heartland-terror.html|title=The Globalization Of Heartland Terror: International Dimensions Of The Oklahoma City Bombing.|author=Deflem Mathieu|date=June 1995|publisher=[[Deflem Mathieu]]|accessdate=2010-02-27}}</ref> Furthermore, "America's Backyard" has appeared interchangeably with "heartland" in the writings of a variety of journalists, authors, war veterans and bloggers.

[[File:Tr-bigstick-cartoon.JPG|thumb|[[Theodore Roosevelt]]'s Big Stick policy and bully pulpit tactics, asserting American dominance over the Caribbean region.]]

| issn = 1777-554X | volume = 44 | issue = 3| pages = 165165–168| last = Peretz| first = Pauline

| title = Philippe Droz-Vincent Vertiges de la puissance : le " moment américain " au Moyen-Orient Paris, La Découverte, 2007, 370 pages.| journal = Critique internationaleInternationale| year = 2009| doi-access = free}}</ref>

[[Martin Jacques]] refers to the Middle East as being under the US 'sphere of influence'. However this is being challenged by the presence and growth of [[Iran]], Russia, and [[China]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/883334381|title=When china rules the world : the end of the western world and the birth of a new global order|last=Jacques, Martin.|date=2014|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=9781101151457|oclc=883334381}}</ref> Moreover, the US efforts to expand influence into the Middle East, especially with the [[Syrian Civil War]], [[Iraq War]], and [[Afghanistan War (2001-)|Afghanistan War]], have been failing, with 'disastrous' results.<ref name=":1" />

Both "[[wikt:backyard|backyard]]" and "[[near abroad]]" are increasingly used to refer to the immediate spheres of influence of other major powers, such as [[China]] and [[India]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15393705 |title= China in Central Asia: Riches in the near abroad |accessdateaccess-date=2010-02-28 |author=Almaty |date=2010-01-28 |publisher=[[The Economist]]| archiveurlarchive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100211051428/http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15393705| archivedatearchive-date= 11 February 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurlurl-status= nolive}}</ref>

[[Category:United States–South American relations| ]]