The United States of America - Empire?
There is a hot debate going on about whether or not America is an empire. This special edition will cover what I think about this certain topic.
America is
currently the world’s most influential country, and it is deemed the global
hegemon of today’s world. Aside from its power, political and economic
influence, it has a hegemonic hyperpower because of its unilateral military
actions worldwide. America has been successful in
bringing order to the globe and has been able to order the world in favour of
its own state. It has brought western values as an ideal standard to the world,
through its experiences in colonialism, war and civilization. As such,
America has the upper hand in this world and is fully capable of taking control
of the world. But, there has been an immense amount of controversy in whether
America is considered an empire, and whether the current world order is
actually one of American empire. Many critics have carefully analyzed this
topic and have been unable to conclude on a definite position to this argument.
In my view, although America’s influence on the world does not perfectly fit
into the definition of a formal empire, America’s power and impact on the world
makes them an informal empire.
The European
definition of an empire is a contemptuous state, whose primary aim is for power
and status. An empire is a system of governance
forged by military conquest as part of a policy of colonialism. In an empire,
there is an imperial core, and it has the colonies which are the dependencies
on the periphery of the empire. The characteristics of an empire include
substantial inequality, domination and subjugation. As the empire provides the
benefits of military protection and potential citizenship rights to the
colonies, the conquered people within the colonies must offer back the
political allegiance, taxes, financial tributes, local troops to help out with
the protection and defence of the colony as well as natural resources. This
ties into the ideas of imperialism and colonialism which is the authority of an
empire over foreign countries, where one has control over another country,
territory or people. Realistically, America does not fit into this definition
of a formal empire because such characteristics or relationships of dependency
and exploitation do not exist between America and the other countries. America
does have a bit of aspects of a formal empire because they currently operate
700 military bases outside its own borders. But, America does not suck
resources from the colonies, and does not really have such formal relationships
with countries outside its own borders. An empire is perceived to be a cynical,
old-world game played by other people, and it is all about power and status.
But, the US was formed on a non-cynical, optimistic moral vision of a political
community. America was created in 1776 to be a political society that secures
individual rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is
definitely different from the European imperialism and colonialism. There is
also very strong resistance for this view because American schools teach their
citizens that they are not an empire. America justifies this argument by
stating that the term “empire” is seen in a negative light and for that sense,
people are jealous of America’s wealth and power and want to publicize a
pessimistic image to America’s name.
Although
America does not have a formal empire as discussed above, they have an informal
empire. It is true that America has no formal, legally declared links between
core and periphery, nor formal, publicly-declared links of dependency. But,
America can still set up the ground-rules of the world system in its favour.
America chooses not to formally declare that they are an empire, but America
still meets the conditions of being an informal empire. America has the biggest
economy and military as well as the most political influence in the world. On
top of these, America has the biggest consumer base and brings in tons of
population for both foreign investment and immigration. Accordingly, America
meets the criteria of being an imperial core. It is also important to revisit
America’s history as they may have been an imperial project since its founding
in 1620. America claimed land and power from East to West and down to Texas and
Florida. As indicated on a historical map of the growth of America, there is a
clear sign of relentless expansion of territorial control which extended into
Alaska, Hawaii, Germany and Japan as well as into the Middle East.
Moving forward
with the argument that America indeed has an informal empire, there are
definitely advantages and disadvantages for the world. The world lacks a
universal government or entity which protects citizens globally and keeps the
globe in order. And, America is the only country on earth capable of bringing
some order to the globe and preventing an un-governed, chaotic condition of
complete fighting and conflict between various groups, also known as anarchy.
Due to America’s capabilities and high economic status, American empire is a
source of stability which all nations can benefit from. Benefiting from the
values of capitalism and free trade, America can run profitable businesses and
a productive free market economy which has generated more money and a higher
standard of living. America is a prime and ideal country that stands for great
values of human rights, individual freedoms, democracy, free and fair
elections, separation of church and state and the grown of science and
technology. As these values get spread, America does the world a favour by
strengthening these values across the globe. However, many see America’s
informal empire as a bad clause. Noam Chomsky is the leading critic of the
American empire, referring to it as the “ultimate conspiracy theory.” According
to his theory, America was originally formed with respectable ideals, but has
now turned into a corrupt society which is run to benefit the rich and powerful
elites. The government is focused on its own self-interests, which uses the
customary people in securing benefits and only rewarding social peace when
necessary to hold onto society. America primarily uses their military to offer
entertainment from Los Angeles to keep the powerless people happy and
stunned. This view conforms to the
belief that any form of empire is a violation of democracy and forbids people
in the ability to choose their own preferred form of governance. The American empire is one of the worse in
history because Americans are ignorant, know minimal information and do not
care about the rest of the world. Chomsky relates this to a historical analogy
of the Roman Empire, which started out adequately with benefits for its people
but became an empire motivated by power and money due to corruption. In fact,
America may be moving towards the same pact of the Roman Empire in its time.
America holds the biggest power across the globe
and has a large contribution to the success of the world as a whole. As America
contributes to the core of all international relations and the upbringing of
international law, many countries across the world benefit from this single
power. Since America does not officially engage in relationships of dependency
and exploitation, they are not a formal empire. However, America’s enormous
influence on the world coupled with their history of territorial control makes
them an informal empire. American empire can benefit the world by bringing
stability and order and increasing the standards of living. American empire can
also be a dangerous one due to its massive corruption as per Chomsky’s
conspiracy theory. Whether or not America will
declare an empire in the future, America’s supremacy will reign for many
periods to come.
