Thread: American Empire

WTF?

free essay if you ever needed to write one

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Novak @ Apr 16 2009, 12:48 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

The United States of America is undoubtedly the most dominant power in human history. Its influences span across the globe and since the collapse of the Soviet Union it is the dominant economic, political, military, and cultural force in the world. But how did the United States reach this pinnacle? What has driven US foreign policy throughout its history? Is it, or does it contain elements of an imperialist power? In this essay I will be looking at these questions by examining the history of US foreign policy and the trends that have driven it, as well as investigating different theories on whether the United States ‘qualifies’ as an imperial power.

Currently, the officially stated goals of the foreign policy of the United States, as mentioned in the Foreign Policy Agenda of the U.S Department of State, are "to create a more secure, democratic, and prosperous world for the benefit of the American people and the international community." (USINFO. STATE. GOV). In addition, the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs states as some of its jurisdictional goals: "export controls, including nonproliferation of nuclear technology and nuclear hardware; measures to foster commercial intercourse with foreign nations and to safeguard American business abroad; International commodity agreements; international education; and protection of American citizens abroad and expatriation." (United States House of Representatives, House Committee on Foreign Affairs). Whether or not the United States does this or not is open to debate. It may be surprising to some that the United States has not always pursued such aggressive foreign policies. Up until World War I, the United States pursued a policy of semi-isolationism, officially known as the Monroe Doctrine. In George Washington’s valedictory address he advocated isolationism and warned against getting the United States involved in foreign matters, especially in what was then the centre of world power, Europe.

The Monroe Doctrine was set forth by President James Monroe in a message he delivered to the Congress of the United States on Dec. 2, 1823. It aimed to guarantee all the independent nations of the Western Hemisphere against European interference "for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny." (World Book 1999) The Monroe Doctrine said also that the American continents were "henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers." (World Book 1999) This statement meant that the United States would not allow new colonies to be created in the Americas, nor would it permit existing colonies to extend their boundaries. The doctrine did not improve relations between the United States and the Latin-American countries. The nations which the doctrine was supposed to protect resented the way the United States assumed its own superiority over them. Besides, they feared "The Colossus of the North" far more than they feared any European nation.

In the early 1900&#39;s, President Theodore Roosevelt gave new life and new meaning to the Monroe Doctrine. He pointed out that weakness or brutal wrongdoing on the part of any of the smaller American nations might tempt European countries to intervene. Roosevelt asserted that the Monroe Doctrine required the United States to prevent such justified intervention by doing the intervening itself. Under this "big stick" policy, the United States sent armed forces into the Dominican Republic in 1905, into Nicaragua in 1912, and into Haiti in 1915. President Woodrow Wilson continued Roosevelt&#39;s policy. But Wilson promised that the United States would "never again seek one additional foot of territory by conquest." (World Book 1999).

In addition to the America’s, the United States held what are now the Philippines as a colonial possession under very ‘European’ circumstances. The concept of the ‘white man’s burden’, where non-European cultures are seen as childlike and that white people consequently have an obligation to rule over, and encourage the cultural development of, people from non Western backgrounds until they can take their place in the world by fully adopting Western ways was developed by Rudyard Kipling’s poem, in response to America’s actions in the Philippines. In the case of the Philippines, the Americans used them to help kick the Spanish out of the Philippines on the promise of gaining independence, and then claimed that the “…United States had a clear duty…to redeem the Filipinos from savage indolence and habits, and set them in the pathway of the world’s best civilization.� (Hunt, 1987 p 81) Eventually, under President Wilson, the first steps to Filipino independence were started, though it wouldn’t be until after the end of the Second World War that the Philippines gained their full independence.

When the United States first came into being, the original 13 states aggressively began expanding west, invading and annexing territory (usually forcibly) from Native Americans, European Powers, Mexico and other small independent states that existed around its borders (most notably Texas). Where it was too weak to invade and annex, the United States sought other means to get land. It made treaties with Native Americans and then ignored them and it purchased land from European Powers (notably the Louisiana Purchase). This was done in the name of ‘Manifest Destiny’, the belief that the United States was ‘destined’ to expand from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean and eventually encompass all of North America, excluding Mexico, as it would mean non Anglo-Saxons would be part of the United States. “The term is most often associated with the territorial expansion of the United States from 1815 to 1860. This era, largely defined the borders of the continental United States as they are today�. (World Book 1999) During this period three competing tendencies emerged in US Foreign Policy. They were: Jeffersonianism, which advocated isolationism and wariness of foreign entanglements as being active in world affairs, would be detrimental to democracy at home; Jacksonianism, which advocated stability and prosperity at home; and Hamiltonianism, which advocated interventionalism, claiming that intervening would build and protect American interests, mainly business interests, which in turn would make America a stronger nation. All three Foreign policies were at one time or another used during this period.

As can be seen, despite the United States official stance of isolationism, it was quite active in regional politics, rapidly expanding its influence and becoming as aggressive as any European power. This enabled it to establish the foundations of turning it into the super power it is today. The United States was hesitant to enter World War I and only did so after a German U-boat sank the British liner Lusitania in 1915 and the British revealed the existence of the Zimmermann Telegram to the Americans. The Zimmermann Telegram was a telegram from the Foreign Secretary of the German Empire, Arthur Zimmermann, to the German ambassador in Mexico, instructing the ambassador to approach the Mexican government with a proposal to form a military alliance against the United States and invade it. World War I ended soon after the US entered the war. After the war, despite the urgings of President Wilson to spread Wilsonianism (for the US to spread democracy and become involved in world affairs), the US chose isolationism again, though during its isolationism it annexed several more island groups in the Pacific. When World War II started, the US was determined not to enter the war in Europe. Ironically it was an attack by Japan, Germany’s ally in Asia on the US Navel Base in Pearl Harbor that led to America’s entry into the European War.

The end of World War II left the United States and the USSR as the sole major powers, they were known as ‘super powers’. “…the United States chose to embrace the world rather than return to the isolationism more typical and familiar to the young nation�. (Fraser, T.G and Murray, D, 2002, pg 300) International organisations such as the UN, along with economic organisations such as the World Bank and IMF were dominated by the US and the USSR. In the period following World War II, known as the Cold War, the US and the USSR directly competed against each other, so fiercely it almost lead to war on several occasions, with both sides knowing war had the very realistic potential of destroying all humanity. The main goal of US Foreign Policy was to contain and eventually defeat Communism, just like the main goals of the USSR were to expand Communism under its control all over the globe. The US and USSR (and to a lesser extent China) were natural enemies, they seemed to be direct opposites at everything, Capitalist Liberal Democracy vs. Soviet Communism. During this period the US participated in the Vietnam and Korean Wars to stop the spread of Communism into Asia and gave hundreds of billions of dollars to other nations under the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan to help them fight Communism.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, America was left as the sole super power, some calling it a ‘Hyperpower’. It continued to involve itself in the Middle East, something it had done during the Cold War, but always in the larger scheme of things. Now the Middle East took centre stage. President George H.W Bush stopped the invasion of Kuwait, President William Clinton backed a peace deal between Israel and the PLO and more recently President George W. Bush invaded Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction/introduce democracy/secure oil supplies.

As the brief look into the history of American Foreign policy shows, the US was undoubtedly An imperial power, driven by the same ambitions and philosophies as those of the traditional (i.e. European) powers. In fact it seems the only pre-requisite that the United States does not meet is that it has no Emperor or alterative hereditary head of state, making it a ‘Republican Colonial Empire’, instead of a monarchical one. The US is not alone in this aspect. The French Republic in its various forms all exercised colonialism. The question of whether the United States is still a colonial empire is less black and white. The US has stopped acquiring foreign territories for itself, for now, though some argue that the land the large number of US military bases across the world can be considered US soil and that “America&#39;s version of the colony is the military base� (Johnson n.d). Also the United States still possesses sovereignty over territories such as Guam and Puerto Rico. Its history of interventionism which it still continues to pursue today is another worrying aspect that points towards imperialism. In a case of history repeating itself, the actions taken in Iraq are almost the same as the actions taken in the Philippines in the late 19th Century, which is the most commonly cited reference towards US Imperialism.

All four tendencies of US Foreign Policy advocate imperialism. Wilsonianism and Hamiltonianism advocate direct interventionism, whether to export US values or US economic interests, either way exporting US interests and influence. Yet the two isolationist views, Jeffersonianism, which was wary of being active in world affairs, saw world affairs as European affairs, everything else such as invading American Indian lands was fair game. Jacksonianism, which supported stability and prosperity at home, implies that foreign entanglements may be necessary to achieve this aim.

In this essay I have examined the history of US Foreign Politics, specifically relating to its imperialist tendencies and how these tendencies helped build the United States into the hyperpower it is today. While examining the history, I included the four historical thoughts on what the aims of US Foreign policy should be whether it be the exporting of US values, or consolidating US interests, namely economic interests, or being prosperous and stable at home, or staying away from world affairs. I have concluded that historically, the US was indeed an unconventional imperialist power, unconventional as it does not have a hereditary head of state and that all four historical currents of US Foreign policy in some way were imperialist. I have also looked at whether today the United States is still an imperial power, and have concluded that it still meets the criteria of an imperialist power, due to its maintaining external territories and its military interventions, including Iraq which may in years to come be seen as the new Philippines.





BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Class Notes

• Daalder, I.H and Lindsay, J.M, 2003, America Unbound, The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy, The Brookings Institute, Washington

• Fraser, T.G and Murray, D, 2002, America and the World since 1945, Palgrave Macmillan, New York

• Hunt, M.H, 1987, Ideology and U.S Foreign Policy, Yale University Press, New Haven and London

• International Information Programs, USINFO. STATE. GOV http://usinfo.state.gov/pub/ejournalusa/fo...npolagenda.html, viewed 10th June 2007

• Johnson, C, n.d, America’s Empire of Bases,
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0115-08.html , viewed 10th June 2007

• United States House of Representatives, House Committee on Foreign Affairs http://www.internationalrelations.house.go...av=jurisdict ion, viewed 10th June 2007

• Weeks, W. E, 1996, Building the Continental Empire: American Expansion from the Revolution to the Civil War. Chicago

• World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia, 1999, San Diego, California, USA[/b]

Interesting.

Lol. "Class Notes" are fillers. Is this for high school?

I&#39;m not going to say much more than this..

The United States of America is undoubtedly the most dominant power in human history

You have to quantify that statement. Who says it&#39;s &#39;undoubtedly&#39; the most dominant power in human history? That&#39;s a gigantic assumption to start off a paper with. Is it really true? It&#39;s certainly doubtful, at the very least. It&#39;s not an unequivocal Fact. If I handed in this paper to my teachers, I&#39;d get it back with an F simply for that first line.

I don&#39;t know if anyone is going to read your paper thoroughly and offer critiques. But you might not want to leave this here because if your professor reads your paper and searches some lines online to make sure you&#39;re not plagiarizing, and he finds this.. well.. wouldn&#39;t be good.