Empire, Imperialism, and Contemporary American Global Power

Abstract

I argue that American global power should not be considered as a case of empire, at least not in the way that we have come to define empires, historically. Rather, because it is consistent with and embedded in a postcolonial organization of political space that rests on upholding the legal-constitutional and political autonomy of states and promoting new sources of capitalist accumulation, the organization and realization of American global power is significantly different from other imperial experiences. The denial of empire, however, does not mean that the United States is not imperial or imperialist. The way in which American global power is organized and the socioeconomic and political relations that flow from it have reproduced enduring patterns of hierarchy, domination and exploitation, all of which highlight the enduring patterns of military power and geopolitical hierarchy.