Is the United States an empire? There’s a growing coterie of academics and pundits who contend that the United States has indeed entered into an era of global hegemony and that America’s “imperial history” has begun. Typically, those who make this claim have their own tailored definitions of empire that center around multi-nationalism or the multiethnic composition of a state that extends its influence abroad. Inevitably, these definitions of the “E-Word” set the stage for comparisons to the Roman and British Empires. That is the problem with the concept of empire, no matter how innocuous the definition: inevitably, images of fallen empires are employed to support the contention that if, as a fledgling empire, we are to avoid the fate of Athens and Brittania, we should simply accept our new status and ensure that America is a responsible, safe and prudent empire for the ages.
This is a critical leap—and in my mind, a very dangerous one. Accepting this premise—that we are an empire, so we should therefore act like one—leads us further down a path from which it may be impossible to return. As expedient or attractive such a notion may be in this post-Cold War era of globalism, it is fundamentally flawed. For those who wish to see the United States assume the role of “Benevolent Empire,” it would be wise to review the essential defining characteristics of empires.
My own preference is that any discussion about empire start with Webster’s own definition—and it is an extensive one:
em-pire \ …1 a: an extended territory usu. comprising a group of nations, states, or peoples under the control or domination of a single sovereign power: as (1) : a state comprising a dominating conquering people and the conquered people dominated (2) : a state comprising a confederacy in which one strong member dominates its confederates or its confederates, conquests, and colonies (3) : a state that has a great extent of territory and a great variety of peoples under one rule and territory and often has a ruler with the title of emperor b : the territory or peoples under such control or domination …2 a : supreme or absolute power esp. of an emperor : imperial dominion, sway, or sovereignty…b : DOMINATION, CONTROL….
As the definition above makes clear, empires dominate, conquer and control. Does that describe America?
No...at least not yet.
There is an essential difference between unipolarity and empire--unipolar is not a synonym for empire. With few exceptions, as a nation we have historically relied on cooperative security, alliances and mutual defense pacts to project our influence. Even in the instance where regime change and the use of force are required to bolster allies or friends abroad, or to depose a corrupt regime, our occupations are more often than not, brief and subject to the approval of the host government. We do not engage in conquest or subjugation, nor do we have colonies under our rule.
There are those who argue that we should sustain American hegemony and expand our empire by making our four-star combatant commanders, diplomats and ambassadors the modern-day equivalent of proconsuls, viceroys and procurators. This, they argue, will address our demonstrated shortfalls in the practice of conflict termination and war resolution. At best, when history remains a simple footnote, there’s a certain irony in this line of reasoning. Normally, these are the conversations you might hear at cocktail parties in Georgetown, Kalorama and Embassy Row--when you hear it you can chalk it up to ignorance and a few-too-many martinis. But for those who understand well the implications of such an argument, and who are in a position to give these concepts political currency, there is the worst case scenario. ...Since you may already have your dictionary opened to "E," it can be found in the “H” section...no, not under hegemony...keep flipping, until you reach “Hubris.”
Indeed, as soon as we take that fateful step to actually believing we are an empire and go so far as to argue that we should begin collecting all of its traditional accoutrements (and benefits), we may as well begin rallying the legions and mounting our chariots, so that they can take us down that road to perdition in grand style.
