American Empire and the Western Way of War

Abstract

Abstract : Since the end of the Cold War, America has enjoyed a degree of world supremacy unknown to any other world power for more than a century. American military, political and economic influence is spreading throughout the globe. Scholars and foreign policy elites now regularly debate the once taboo subject of American empire and its impact on national and global affairs. In today's world, the predominance of an empire is no longer measured solely by its territorial reach or holdings. Apart from military capacity, American empire stems from supremacy in the control of economic networks, financial flows, technical innovation, trade and many other areas, visible and invisible. In this sense, no other country influences world affairs as completely as America does. Andy Basevich argues in his book, American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U.S. Diplomacy, that the American empire is no accident; that it is the product of a concerted effort arising from a vision that dates back to the Founding Fathers. Basevich credits American historians Charles Beard and William Appleman Williams with identifying the strategy of openness which propagated American global economic influence in the 20th century and ultimately became responsible for American global economic dominance in the 21st century. If America enjoys any sort of empire today, it is in no small way due to its superior military capacity, since at least the mid 20th century, to wage decisive war globally. America's military capability to conduct war today, embraces all the tenets of the Western way of war as presented by Victor Davis Hanson in Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power. Hanson argues that the West's among them the development of vibrant markets, empirical energy, and technological innovation, all of which have been basic to the Western way of war.