No, America is not an empire.
America is not currently in direct control of extensive territories, which is the definintion of an empire, so no, America is not an empire. We are not subjugating or colonizing other countries at this time, though we are exerting a high degree of influence over many countries and over the global economy. When examining the motives of early 20th century empires in their imperial conquest one will find many similarities between them and current U.S. foregin policy. However, those motives were only the fuel behind imperialism, not characteristics of imperialism itself. I don't think that saying America is an not an empire really comments in either direction on the right or wrongness of the U.S.'s current international affairs, it is simply saying that "Imperialism" is not a correct term to use when addressing those issues.
That's pretty much a summary of my paper, if you're really interested in the history of this issue you can read the whole 5 pages; But I really doubt anyone wants to do that... except maybe my dad... and I already sent it to him...
P.S. I'm interested to know what you mean exactly Janice. The very definition you used was the main element in convincing me that we are not in fact an empire. What territories are you refering to exactly?
I will now leave you with this rather thought provoking political cartoon. I thought it was clever at least.
That's pretty much a summary of my paper, if you're really interested in the history of this issue you can read the whole 5 pages; But I really doubt anyone wants to do that... except maybe my dad... and I already sent it to him...
P.S. I'm interested to know what you mean exactly Janice. The very definition you used was the main element in convincing me that we are not in fact an empire. What territories are you refering to exactly?
I will now leave you with this rather thought provoking political cartoon. I thought it was clever at least.
posted by Pamela Joy at 3:20 PM
6 Comments:
On a lighter note Pam, look at the announcement on my blog!
Long time no talk.... we should fix that soon.
Hey, if you can email it, i'd be interested in reading your paper.
ha love the cartoon...i dunno...i thought america was an empire, but i would consider the united states itself to be territories under the possession of the states. does that make sense? like i wouldn't call a small country an empire. the states are not small, it's a large country. but my brain works funny, so that's just how i see it, doesn't necessarily make sense.
i wouldn't use imperialist as a adj. for the states either. again, i don't know. i'm very contradictory. which is why i don't often put my two cents in to stuff like this cause i come off sounding dumb, which i am when it comes to stuff like this. vicious cycle, and all that.
Yeah sure leslie. I'm not sure if I have your e-mail address...
Hey Jan, I see what you're saying, and that's what I thought... but the states aren't "territories" cuz that means like colonies, and we're like the country proper, not extra countries that our country overtook and made into colonies. But i know what you mean.
And also, I left this out of my paper because I needed to support my thesis in under 5 pages but other people do define imperialism differently so that they can consider the US an empire.
I mean, that's what I thought you were saying, not that I thought that too. Although I can understand thinking that. Just to be clear. ;-)
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