Contemporary Empire

            The American government main goal is to expand access to the world’s market using significant economic and political power. The more imperial logic it uses, the more it’s considered a contemporary empire. Weak states do not have the right to being autonomous and sovereign even when the U.S. motto is the world wide spread of democracy. The tactics and characteristics of an empire are obvious to the world; the only defense against it is the spread of free and open markets.

The differences between the Roman and American Empires are that Romans did not have property rights and their territory had no boundaries. The American Empire is similar to the Roman Empire due to the use of intermediate representation in the world, military power, and amount of money spent on security.

The interaction of states is influenced by the significant economic power of the American Empire. In the Third World, the extraction of resources and profits distribution is controlled by the United States. Since the governments are not effective, it’s obvious to the world the American Empire is really in control. Many countries wish to be autonomous and sovereign, but the fear of being alienated from the global market is very likely to happen. The biggest consumer in the world has designed strategies of trade that work in favor of the U.S. national interest. The national interest is not spread economic equality, the main goal is to spread their power and continue to control. Based in the history of the Vietnam War, the United States claimed that Vietnam required help to become a democracy. However, the real reason to interfere in the conflict was to expand the United States market. Vietnam’s right to be autonomous and sovereign did not match with the U.S. national interest. Therefore, Vietnam was divided and a new form of government was implemented. These events are clearly the strategies used by an empire.

The relationship between the use of intermediaries and the distribution of resources describes the American government as an Empire. Intermediaries have to role to promote more business for the United States. The control and power distribution relies in the influence of political members that work to get the desired deals. When countries like Ecuador, Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela formed ALBA, the United States sent the Peruvian president to meet the other leaders in order to convince them against working with socialist governments. The role of the Peruvian president in this occasion was to limit the chance of collective identification working against the American Empire.

The definition of “Empire” is manipulated according to the needs of the American policies. According to Washington, Empires used to kill their own people in order to keep control and expand their boundaries. However, the Contemporary American Empire works informally and directly when required. The American government has a tendency to manipulate definitions to their advantage, words such as genocide, terrorism, and empire.

It’s important to mention the extreme means the United States uses in order to distant itself from being seen as an Empire. During international events such as elections, the United States would give some recommendations and congratulate the exercise of democratic elections. In the event of genocide or the use of mass destruction weapons against civilians, the American government would refer to the United Nations for counseling, and would rather provide humanitarian aid instead of using military intervention.

The definition of the American Empire is a concept that can be critiqued or defended. The imperial logic can lean towards very imperialistic, somewhat imperialistic, or not imperialistic. It all depends on the type of business or resource dependency that can affect the national interest. After all the American government must show some flexibility, and not be stuck in a certain category.