AMERICAN STUDIES Spring 1988 Vol. 2, No. 1 CONTENTS SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF POST-WAR U. S. DIPLOMACY Zi Zhongyun (7) A discussion of some salient features of U. S. post-war diplomacy as distinguished from that of other powers as well as pre-war United States. The three parts are: (1)the evolution of U. S. - Soviet rivalry and the Yalta framework; (2)ideology and national interests; and(3)special instruments used by the United States in dealing with other countries in an environment characterized by the overwhelmingly powerful U. S. economic strength and the possession of huge nuclear arms stockpiles by the two superpowers. NUCLEAR DETERRENCE Wu Zhan ( 35) A perspective of the U. S. nuclear deterrence policy, Soviet reactions to it and the nuclear policies of other nuclear powers. The author contends that, thanks to nuclear deterrence, a nuclear war between the two superpowers is unlikely in the foreseeable future, and that the interdependence among countries will promote mutual understanding and exchanges, which may eventually help to build a stabilized peace in the world. ART, HISTORY, SOCIETY -- ON THE ART OF U. S. A. Zhu Shida ( 50) This article deals with the pros and cons of the literary experimentation in the trilogy U. S. A. by John Dos Passos. One of Dos Passos's important contributions to the genre is, according to the author, to pioneer the introduction of journalism into fiction writing, a step that has had great impacts on the writers of the later generations. THE DISTRIBUTION AND MOVEMENT OF U. S. POPULATION AND THE REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT -- A COMMENT ON REGIONAL DIVERSITY: GROWTH IN THE U. S. Mao Yushi ( 67) An examination of the relationship between population movement within the U. S. and the regional economic growth rate. A static model is established which requires that the difference in per capita income among regions would diminish, as population moves from low income region to high income region. But historical data shows that such difference continues for decades while the rates of increase in per capita income for different regions tend to be equal. The author then constructs a dynamic model based on the assumption that the movement of households is a behavior that has a longterm effect, and that such behavior is directed by expectation. U. S. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DURING ITS ACCELERATING INDUSTRIALIZATION PERIOD: A PRELIMINARY STUDY Fan Kang, He Liping ( 84) U. S. economic growth accelerated in the period of 1870-1913. Apart from the economic causes,government policies also made a major contribution to the acceleration. This has useful implications for the present reforms in China. U. S. TRADE PROTECTIONISM: A HISTORICAL ANALYSIS Zhang Xiaoqing (106) In a comprehensive survey of U. S. trade protectionism from the period of the Founding Fathers to the 1980s, the author examines the major factors that jointly determined the course of development of trade protectionism in the U. S. foreign trade policy. DEVELOPMENT OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN THE U. S. IN THE 1980s Sun Haishun (125) A noticeable phenomenon in the world economy today is the sharp increase of foreign direct investment in the United States since 1980. This essay looks at the characteristics of and the factors that affect this investment. It is argued that on the whole the inflow of foreign capital is beneficial to the U. S. economy. ORIGINS OF THE PARTY SYSTEM IN THE U. S. Shi Fengyan (146) While nowhere in the Constitution can one find a single reference to party and none of the Founding Fathers had any sympathy with it, modern political parties were created in America almost immediately after the constitutional government was established. After examining the reasons why that was so, the author concludes that the party system was inevitable and indispensible for governing American polity. AMERICAN STUDIES, a quarterly, is published jointly by the Chinese Association for American Studies, and the Institute of American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The content of the articles in this journal should not be construed as reflecting the views either of the Association or the Institute.