The Emperor Wore Cowboy Boots

Abstract

Why does it matter if the United States is an empire in any objectively definable sense? All this academic and political pundit hand-wringing, over whether the United States should technically be labeled an empire or not, seems oddly out of step with the sorts of egregious foreign policy behaviors the United States engages in on a daily basis. Yet the words we use to describe something do matter a great deal to what we see and how we act in the world. In this paper, I argue that the closer one looks at the debate over the empire designation, the more one begins to see an underlying dynamic of political self-delusion that is endemic to the American power project. America wields enormous power that affects the daily lives of people around the globe, but like a schoolchild on the playground it does not like to be called names. The extent to which political observers participate in this obfuscation is an interesting topic in its own right, as it underscores how name-calling is a political act in itself.

Building an empire or not? Athenian imperialism and the United States in the twenty-first century

“…Doyle also offers an overview of different approaches to imperialism in his work Empires (Doyle 1986a, 19-30). Many contemporary realists provide relevant analyses but avoid focusing on the terminology of empire arguing for a systemic or structural analysis and using terms such as hegemony, primacy, empire or great power interchangeably (Waltz 1979, 19-37;Doyle 1986a, 26-29;Jervis 2003, 83;Sterling-Folker 2008). For a perceptive and balanced comparison between American imperialism and American realism from a realist perspective, see Craig's review article 'American realism versus American imperialism'.…”

The United States, China, and the Politics of Hegemonic Ordering in East Asia

“…This emphasizes the role that ideas play in ensuring a broad measure of consent for hegemony and, in turn, the social conferral and preservation of hegemonic status (Cox 1987). From this perspective, there is a crucial difference between empire and hegemony, where the former refers to a rule by coercion and the latter focuses on the ability to "lead rather than coerce, inspire affection rather than suspicion" (Cox 2005, 28; see also Destradi 2010;Sterling-Folker 2008). Hegemony thus involves legitimation and endorsement.…”