Is United States Foreign Policy “Imperialist” or “Imperial”?

Abstract

For most of postwar period dominant scholarly consensus on United States role in international politics closely paralleled image that policy makers themselves held: United States was a defensive, status-quo power seeking to contain revolutionary or simply imperialist expansionism of Soviet-led communism. The dominant critique of United States foreign policy operated well within this framework of assumptions; one common argument was that United States had a tendency to overreach itself, to undertake commitments that excessively taxed its military and economic capabilities. The focus was on limits of American power; critics never tired of quoting Sir Denis Brogan on the illusions of American omnipotence.