Просмотр кода страницы Английская Википедия:American imperialism

{{Английская Википедия/Панель перехода}}
{{Short description|Expansion of American political, economic, cultural, media, and military influence}}
{{Other uses|American Empire (disambiguation){{!}}American Empire}}
{{Redirect|American hegemony|the most relevant time period|Hegemony#21st century}}
[[File:10kMiles.JPG|thumb|right|1898 [[political cartoon]]: "Ten thousand miles from tip to tip." referring to the expansion of American domination (symbolized by a [[Bald eagle#National bird of the United States|bald eagle]]) from [[Captaincy General of Puerto Rico|Puerto Rico]] to the [[Captaincy General of the Philippines|Philippines]] following the [[Spanish–American War]]; the cartoon contrasts this with a map showing the significantly smaller size of the [[United States]] in 1798, exactly 100 years earlier.]]
[[File:American Empire1.PNG|upright=1.5|thumb|Map of the United States and directly controlled territories at its greatest extent from 1898 to 1902, after the [[Spanish–American War]]]] 
{{American imperialism}}

'''American imperialism''' is the expansion of American political, economic, cultural, media, and military influence beyond the boundaries of the [[United States]]. Depending on the commentator, it may include imperialism through outright military conquest; [[gunboat diplomacy]]; unequal treaties; subsidization of preferred factions; [[United States involvement in regime change|regime change]]; or economic penetration through private companies, potentially followed by [[Interventionism (politics)|diplomatic or forceful intervention]] when those interests are threatened.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carson |first1=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q6UYAAAAIAAJ |title=Gale encyclopedia of US economic history |last2=Bonk |first2=Mary |publisher=[[Gale (publisher)|Gale Group]] |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-7876-3888-7 |pages=467–469}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Xypolia |first=Ilia |url=https://link.springer.com/978-3-030-99815-8 |title=Human Rights, Imperialism, and Corruption in US Foreign Policy |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2022 |isbn=978-3-030-99815-8 |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-99815-8|s2cid=248384134}}</ref>

The policies perpetuating American imperialism and expansionism are usually considered to have begun with "[[New Imperialism]]" in the late 19th century,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://theconversation.com/yes-the-us-had-an-empire-and-in-the-virgin-islands-it-still-does-73567|title=Yes, the US has an empire – and in the Virgin Islands, it still does|last=Bryne|first=Alex|website=The Conversation|date=30 March 2017 |language=en|access-date=2019-02-02}}</ref> though some consider [[Territorial evolution of the United States|American territorial expansion]] and [[settler colonialism]] at the expense of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] to be similar enough in nature to be identified with the same term.<ref>{{cite book|last=Immerwahr|first=Daniel|title=How to Hide an Empire : A Short History of the Greater United States|url=https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Daniel_Immerwahr_How_to_Hide_an_Empire?id=GYtbDwAAQBAJ|year=2019|publisher=Vintage Publishing|isbn=978-1-84792-399-8|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=e16RDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT24 24]}}</ref> While the United States has never officially identified itself and its territorial possessions as an empire, some commentators have referred to the country as such, including [[Max Boot]], [[Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.]], and [[Niall Ferguson]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/american-empire-not-if-but-what-kind/|title=American Empire, Not 'If' but 'What Kind'|first=Ivo H. Daalder and James M.|last=Lindsay|date=2001-11-30}}</ref> Other commentators have accused the United States of practicing [[neocolonialism]]—sometimes defined as a modern form of [[hegemony]]—which leverages economic power rather than military force in an [[informal empire]]; the term "neocolonialism" has occasionally been used as a contemporary synonym for [[Theories of imperialism|modern-day imperialism]].

The question of whether the United States should intervene in the affairs of foreign countries has been a much-debated topic in domestic politics for the country's entire history. Opponents of interventionism have pointed to the country's origin as [[American Revolution|a former colony that rebelled against an overseas king]], as well as the American values of democracy, freedom, and independence. Conversely, supporters of interventionism and of American presidents who have been labelled as imperialists—notably [[Andrew Jackson]], [[James K. Polk]], [[William McKinley]], [[Theodore Roosevelt]], and [[William Howard Taft]]—have justified interventions in (or whole seizures of) various countries by citing the necessity of advancing American economic interests, such as trade and debt management; preventing European intervention (colonial or otherwise) in the [[Western Hemisphere]], manifested in the anti-European [[Monroe Doctrine]] of 1823; and the benefits of keeping "good order" around the world.

== History ==

=== Overview ===
[[File:U.S. Territorial Acquisitions.png|thumb|[[Territorial evolution of the United States|U.S. westward expansion]]{{wedash}}portions of each territory were granted statehood since the 18th century.]]
[[File:Mitchell A New Map of Texas, Oregon, and California 1846 UTA.jpg|thumb|''A New Map of Texas, Oregon, and California'', [[Samuel Augustus Mitchell]], 1846]]

Despite periods of peaceful co-existence, [[American Indian Wars|wars with Native Americans]] resulted in substantial territorial gains for American colonists who were expanding into native land. Wars with the Native Americans continued intermittently [[American Revolutionary War|after independence]], and an [[ethnic cleansing]] campaign known as [[Indian removal]] gained for [[European Americans|European American]] [[settler]]s more valuable territory on the western side of the continent.

[[George Washington]] began a policy of [[United States non-interventionism]] which lasted into the 1800s. The United States promulgated the [[Monroe Doctrine]] in 1823, in order to stop further European colonialism and to allow the American colonies to grow further, but desire for territorial expansion to the Pacific Ocean was explicit in the doctrine of [[manifest destiny]]. The giant [[Louisiana Purchase]] was peaceful, but the [[Mexican–American War]] of 1846 resulted in the [[Mexican Cession|annexation of {{convert|525,000|sqmi|km2}} of Mexican territory]].<ref name="lens">{{cite book |last1=Lens|first1=Sidney|author-link1=Sidney Lens|last2=Zinn|first2=Howard |title=The Forging of the American Empire|publisher=Pluto Press|location=London|year=2003|orig-year=1971 |isbn=0-7453-2100-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qvLfIHqkOOAC}}</ref><ref name="Field 644–668">{{cite journal |title=American Imperialism: The Worst Chapter i Almost Any Book |last=Field | first=James A. Jr. |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=83 |issue=3 |date=June 1978 |pages=644–668 |doi=10.2307/1861842 |jstor=1863842}}</ref> Elements attempted to expand pro-U.S. republics or U.S. states in Mexico and Central America, the most notable being [[filibuster (military)|filibuster]] [[William Walker (filibuster)|William Walker]]'s [[Republic of Baja California]] in 1853 and his intervention in Nicaragua in 1855. Senator Sam Houston of Texas even proposed a resolution in the Senate for the "United States to declare and maintain an efficient protectorate over the States of Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and San Salvador." The idea of U.S. expansion into Mexico and the Caribbean was popular among politicians of the slave states, and also among some business tycoons in the Nicaraguan Transit (the semi-overland and main trade route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans before the Panama Canal). President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] attempted to [[Annexation of Santo Domingo|annex the Dominican Republic]] in 1870, but failed to get the support of the Senate.

Non-interventionism was wholly abandoned with the [[Spanish–American War]]. The United States acquired the remaining island colonies of Spain, with President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] defending the acquisition of the [[Philippines]]. The U.S. policed Latin America under [[Roosevelt Corollary]], and sometimes using the military to favor American commercial interests (such as intervention in the [[banana republics]] and the [[annexation of Hawaii]]).  Imperialist foreign policy was controversial with the American public, and domestic opposition allowed Cuban independence, though in the early 20th century the U.S. obtained the [[Panama Canal Zone]] and occupied Haiti and the Dominican Republic.  The United States returned to strong non-interventionist policy after World War I, including with the [[Good Neighbor policy]] for Latin America. After fighting World War II, it administered many Pacific islands captured during the fight against Japan. Partly to prevent the militaries of those countries from growing threateningly large, and partly to contain the Soviet Union, the United States promised to defend Germany (which is also part of [[NATO]]) and Japan (through the [[Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Between the United States and Japan]]), which it had formerly defeated in war and which are now independent democracies. It maintains substantial military bases in both.

The [[Cold War]] reoriented American foreign policy towards opposing communism, and prevailing U.S. foreign policy embraced its role as a nuclear-armed global superpower. Though the [[Truman Doctrine]] and [[Reagan Doctrine]] the United States framed the mission as protecting free peoples against an undemocratic system, anti-Soviet foreign policy became coercive and occasionally covert. [[United States involvement in regime change]] included [[1953 Iranian coup d'état|overthrowing the democratically elected government of Iran]], the [[Bay of Pigs invasion]] in Cuba, occupation of [[Grenada]], and interference in various foreign elections. The long and bloody [[Vietnam War]] led to widespread criticism of an "[[J. William Fulbright#Vietnam War|arrogance of power]]" and [[United States war crimes#Vietnam War|violations of international law]] emerging from an "[[imperial presidency]]," with [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], among others, accusing the US of a [[Martin Luther King Jr.#Opposition to the Vietnam War|new form of colonialism]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/beyond-vietnam|title=Beyond Vietnam|last1=University|first1=© Stanford|last2=Stanford|date=2017-04-25|website=The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute|language=en|access-date=2019-05-09|last3=California 94305}}</ref>

Many saw the post-Cold War 1990–1991 [[Gulf War]] as motivated by U.S. oil interests, though it reversed the hostile invasion of [[Kuwait]]. After the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001, questions of imperialism were raised again as the United States invaded [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|Afghanistan]] to overthrow the [[Taliban]] (which harbored the attackers) and [[2003 Iraq War|Iraq]] in 2003 (which the U.S. incorrectly claimed had [[weapons of mass destruction]]). The invasion led to the collapse of the Iraqi [[Ba'athist Iraq|Ba'athist government]] and its replacement with the [[Coalition Provisional Authority]]. Following the invasion, an insurgency fought against Coalition forces and the newly elected Iraqi government, and a [[Sectarian violence in Iraq#Sectarian violence following the U.S. invasion|sectarian civil war]] occurred. The Iraq War opened the country's oil industry to US firms for the first time in decades<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2013/03/19/opinion/iraq-war-oil-juhasz/index.html|title=Why the war in Iraq was fought for Big Oil|website=CNN|date=19 March 2013|language=en|access-date=2019-05-08}}</ref> and many argued the invasion [[Legality of the Iraq War|violated international law.]] Around 500,000 people were killed in both wars as of 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/11/wars-terror-killed-million-people-study-181109080620011.html|title=US 'war on terror' has killed over half a million people: study|website=www.aljazeera.com|access-date=2019-05-08}}</ref>

In terms of territorial acquisition, the United States has integrated (with voting rights) all of its acquisitions on the North American continent, including the non-contiguous [[Alaska]]. Hawaii has also become a state with equal representation to the mainland, but other island jurisdictions acquired during wartime remain territories, namely [[Guam]], [[Puerto Rico]], the [[United States Virgin Islands]], [[American Samoa]], and the [[Northern Mariana Islands]]. (The federal government officially [[Apology Resolution|apologized for the overthrow of the Hawaiian government]] in 1993.) The remainder of acquired territories have become independent with varying degrees of cooperation, ranging from three [[freely associated states]] which participate in federal government programs in exchange for military basing rights, to Cuba which severed diplomatic relations during the Cold War. The United States was a public advocate for European [[decolonization]] after World War IIII (having started a ten-year independence transition for the Philippines in 1934 with the [[Tydings–McDuffie Act]]).  Even so, the US desire for an informal system of global [[Grand strategy#Primacy|primacy]] in an "[[American Century]]" often brought them into conflict with [[national liberation movements]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ushistory2ay/chapter/decolonization-and-the-global-reach-of-the-american-century-2/|title=Decolonization and the Global Reach of the 'American Century' {{!}} US History II (American Yawp)|website=courses.lumenlearning.com|access-date=2019-04-29}}</ref> The United States has now [[Indian Citizenship Act|granted citizenship to Native Americans]] and recognizes some degree of [[Tribal sovereignty in the United States|tribal sovereignty]].

=== 1700s–1800s: Indian Wars and manifest destiny ===
{{Further|Empire of Liberty|Manifest destiny|Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom}}
[[File:School Begins (Puck Magazine 1-25-1899).jpg|upright=1.2|thumb|Caricature by [[Louis Dalrymple]] showing [[Uncle Sam]] lecturing four children labeled [[Philippines]], Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and [[Cuba]], in front of children holding books labeled with various U.S. states and territories. A black boy is washing windows, a Native American sits separate from the class, and a Chinese boy is outside the door. The caption reads: "School Begins. Uncle Sam (to his new class in Civilization): Now, children, you've got to learn these lessons whether you want to or not! But just take a look at the class ahead of you, and remember that, in a little while, you will feel as glad to be here as they are!"]]

Yale historian [[Paul Kennedy (historian)|Paul Kennedy]] has asserted, "From the time the first settlers arrived in [[Colony of Virginia|Virginia]] from [[Kingdom of England|England]] and started moving westward, this was an imperial nation, a conquering nation."<ref name="Trends 2002">Emily Eakin "Ideas and Trends: All Roads Lead To DC" New York Times, March 31, 2002.</ref> Expanding on George Washington's description of the early United States as an "infant empire",<ref>[http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i9118.pdf Contending with the American Empire  : Introduction].</ref> Benjamin Franklin wrote: "Hence the Prince that acquires new Territory, if he finds it vacant, or removes the Natives to give his own People Room; the Legislator that makes effectual Laws for promoting of Trade, increasing Employment, improving Land by more or better Tillage; providing more Food by Fisheries; securing Property, etc. and the Man that invents new Trades, Arts or Manufactures, or new Improvements in Husbandry, may be properly called Fathers of their Nation, as they are the Cause of the Generation of Multitudes, by the Encouragement they afford to Marriage."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.columbia.edu/~lmg21/ash3002y/earlyac99/documents/observations.html|title=Franklin's "Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind... "|website=www.columbia.edu}}</ref> Thomas Jefferson asserted in 1786 that the United States "must be viewed as the nest from which all America, North & South is to be peopled. [...] The navigation of the Mississippi we must have. This is all we are as yet ready to receive.".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jeffersonswest.unl.edu/archive/view_doc.php?id=jef.00071|title=Envisaging the West: Thomas Jefferson and the Roots of Lewis and Clark|website=jeffersonswest.unl.edu}}</ref> From the left [[Noam Chomsky]] writes that "the United States is the one country that exists, as far as I know, and ever has, that was founded as an empire explicitly".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://chomsky.info/20080424/|title=Modern-Day American Imperialism: Middle East and Beyond|website=chomsky.info}}</ref><ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/7PdJ9TAdTdA Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20111216145412/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PdJ9TAdTdA Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PdJ9TAdTdA|title=Noam Chomsky Lectures on Modern-Day American Imperialism: Middle East and Beyond|last=Boston University|date=7 April 2010|access-date=20 February 2019|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

A national drive for territorial acquisition across the continent was popularized in the 19th century as the ideology of manifest destiny.<ref>"Despite disagreements about Manifest Destiny's validity at the time, O'Sullivan had stumbled on a broadly held national sentiment. Although it became a rallying cry as well as a rationale for the foreign policy that reached its culmination in 1845–46, the attitude behind Manifest Destiny had long been a part of the American experience."{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Manifest-Destiny|title=Manifest Destiny {{!}} History, Examples, & Significance|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2019-09-17}}</ref> The policy of settlement of land was a foundational goal of the United States of America, with one of the driving factors of discontent with British rule originating from the [[Royal Proclamation of 1763]], which barred settlement west of the [[Appalachian Mountains]].{{sfnp|Holton|1999|pages=3–38|loc=[https://archive.org/details/forcedfoundersin00holt/page/3]}} As part of the desire of Manifest Destiny to open up land for American settlement came campaigns in the Great Lakes region which saw the United States fight the [[Northwestern Confederacy]] resulting in the [[Northwest Indian War]]. Subsequent treaties such as the [[Treaty of Greenville]] and the [[Treaty of Fort Wayne (1809)]] resulted in a rise of Anti-American sentiment among the Native Americans in the Great Lakes region, which helped to create [[Tecumseh's Confederacy]] which was defeated by the end of the [[War of 1812]]. The [[Indian Removal Act]] of 1830 culminated in the deportation of 60,000 Native Americans in an event known as the [[Trail of Tears]], where up to 16,700 people died in an act of [[ethnic cleansing]]. The deportation of Natives West of the Mississippi, resulted in significant economic gains for settlers. For example, the [[Arkansas]] firm, Byrd and Belding earned up to $27,000 in two years through supplying food.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Manzo|first1=Joseph|date= 1984 |title= Economic Aspects of Indian Removal|journal=Southeastern Geographer |volume= 24 |issue=2 |pages= 117|doi=10.1353/sgo.1984.0012 |s2cid=129757742 }}</ref> The policy of Manifest Destiny would continue to be realized with the [[Mexican–American War]] of 1846, which resulted in the [[Mexican Cession|cession of {{convert|525,000|sqmi|km2}} of Mexican territory to the United States]], stretching up to the Pacific coast.<ref name="lens"/><ref name="Field 644–668"/>  The [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] strongly opposed this war and expansionism generally.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Spencer Tucker|title=The Encyclopedia of the Mexican-American War: A Political, Social, and Military History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FZVQcZpic-8C&pg=PA514|year=2012|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page=514|isbn=9781851098538}}</ref>

Following the American victory over Mexico, colonization and settlement of California would begin which would soon lead to the [[California genocide]]. Estimates of total deaths in the genocide vary greatly from 2,000<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.newsweek.com/2016/08/26/california-native-americans-genocide-490824.html |title= California Slaughter: The State-Sanctioned Genocide of Native Americans |last=Nazaryan |first=Alexander |date=17 August 2016 |website= Newsweek Magazine |access-date= 16 August 2023 |quote=The foremost of these critics is Gary Clayton Anderson, a professor at the University of Oklahoma. Anderson insists that what happened to Native Americans during colonization was ethnic cleansing, not genocide. "If we get to the point where the mass murder of 50 Indians in California is considered genocide, then genocide has no more meaning," he says. Anderson tells me that, by his estimate, no more than 2,000 Native Americans were killed in California.}}</ref> to 100,000 dead.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nahc.ca.gov/resources/california-indian-history/|title= SHORT OVERVIEW OF CALIFORNIA INDIAN HISTORY |last=Castillo |first=Edward |date=1 June 2019 |access-date=16 August 2023 |archive-date=1 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601001113/http://nahc.ca.gov/resources/california-indian-history/ |url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref> The discovery of Gold in California resulted in an influx of settlers, who formed militias to kill and displace Indigenous peoples.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Gold Rush Impact on Native Tribes |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldrush-value-land/ |access-date=16 August 2023 |publisher=PBS: The American Experience |archive-date=May 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530003136/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldrush-value-land/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The government of California supported expansion and settlement through the passage of the [[Act for the Government and Protection of Indians]] which legalized the enslavement of Native Americans and allowed settlers to capture and force them into labor.<ref>{{cite book |last=Madley |first=Benjamin |date=2016 |chapter=The Yuma Massacres, Western Genocide, and U.S. Colonization of Indigenous Mexico |title=An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846–1873 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8dYTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA147 |location=Yale |publisher=Yale University Press |page=147 |isbn=978-0-19-921140-1 |access-date=16 August 2023 |archive-date=April 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426065805/https://books.google.com/books?id=8dYTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA147 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="PBS-GR">{{cite web |title=The Gold Rush: Act for the Government and Protection of Indians |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldrush-act-for-government-and-protection-of-indians/ |website=PBS: The American Experience |access-date=16 August 2023 |archive-date=June 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605203358/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldrush-act-for-government-and-protection-of-indians/ |url-status=live }}</ref> California further offered and paid bounties for the killing of Native Americans.<ref name="Madley">{{cite journal |last1=Madley |first1=Benjamin |title=California's Yuki Indians: Defining Genocide in Native American History |journal=Western Historical Quarterly |date=Autumn 2008 |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=303–332 |doi=10.1093/whq/39.3.303 |jstor=25443732 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25443732 |access-date=16 August 2023 |archive-date=February 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230211133558/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25443732 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851), the Indian territories.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Indian land as defined by the Treaty of Fort Laramie]]

American expansion in the Great Plains resulted in conflict between many tribes West of the Mississippi and the United States. In 1851, the [[Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851|Treaty of Fort Laramie]] was signed, which gave the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes territory from the North Platte River in present-day Wyoming and Nebraska southward to the Arkansas River in present-day Colorado and Kansas. The land was initially not wanted by White settlers, but following the discovery of gold in the region, settlers began to pour into the territory. In 1861, six chiefs of the Southern Cheyenne and four of the Arapaho signed the [[Treaty of Fort Wise]]  which saw the loss of 90% of their land.<ref name="greene-27">Greene, 2004, p. 27</ref> The refusal of various warriors to recognise the treaty resulted in white settlers starting to believe that war was coming. The subsequent [[Colorado War]] would result in the [[Sand Creek Massacre]] in which up to 600 Cheyenne were killed, most of whom were children and women. In October 14, 1865, the chiefs of what remained of the Southern Cheyennes and Arapahos agreed to live south of the Arkansas, sharing land that belonged to the Kiowas,<ref>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Dee |author-link= |date=1971 |title=Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee |url=https://readerslibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/Bury-My-Heart-at-Wounded-Knee.pdf|page=68 |isbn=}}</ref> and thereby relinquish all claims in the Colorado territory.

[[Image:Siouxreservationmap.png|thumb|350px|Map showing the Great Sioux Reservation and current reservations]]

Following the victory of [[Red Cloud]] in [[Red Cloud's War]] over the United States, the [[Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)]] was signed. This treaty led to the creation of the [[Great Sioux Reservation]]. However, the discovery of gold in the Black Hills resulted in a surge of White settlement in the region. The gold rush was very profitable for the White settlers and the American government, with just one of the Black Hill Mines yielding $500 Million in gold.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Dee |author-link= |date=1971 |title=Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee |url=https://readerslibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/Bury-My-Heart-at-Wounded-Knee.pdf|page=177 |isbn=}}</ref> Attempts to purchase the land failed, and the [[Great Sioux War]] began as a result. Despite initial success by Native Americans in the war's first few battles, most notably the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]], the United States eventually won and ended the reservation, carving it up into smaller reservations. The reservation system did not just serve as a way to facilitate American settlement and expansion of land, but also enriched local merchants and businesses who held significant economic power over the Native tribes. Traders would often accept payment for goods via annuity money from land sales<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.mpm.edu/content/wirp/ICW-146 | title=The Fur Trade &#124; Milwaukee Public Museum }}</ref> contributing to further poverty.

In the South-West, various settlements and communities had been established thanks to profits from the [[American Civil War]]. In order to maintain revenue and profit, settlers often waged war against native tribes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Dee |author-link= |date=1971 |title=Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee |url=https://readerslibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/Bury-My-Heart-at-Wounded-Knee.pdf|page=130|isbn=}}</ref> By 1871, The settlement of [[Tucson]] for example had a population of three thousand, including saloon-keepers, traders and contractors who had made fortunes during the Civil War and were hopeful of continuing their profits with an Indian war. Desire to fight resulted in the [[Camp Grant Massacre]] of 1871 where up to 144 [[Apache]] were killed, most being women and children.  Up to 27 Apache children were captured and sold into slavery in [[Mexico]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Dee |author-link= |date=1971 |title=Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee |url=https://readerslibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/Bury-My-Heart-at-Wounded-Knee.pdf|page=131|isbn=}}</ref> In the 1860s, the [[Navajo]] faced deportation in an attempted act of [[ethnic cleansing]] under the [[Long Walk of the Navajo]]. The "Long Walk" started at the beginning of spring 1864. Bands of Navajo led by the Army were relocated from their traditional lands in eastern Arizona Territory and western New Mexico Territory to Fort Sumner. Around 200 died during the march. During the march, New Mexican slavers, assisted by the Ute often attacked isolated bands, killing the men, taking the women and children captive, and capturing horses and livestock. As part of these raids, a large number of slaves were taken and sold throughout the region.<ref>"Navajos [] were captured en route and sold off throughout New Mexico, Colorado, and northern Mexico." Reséndez, Andrés. The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America (p. 293). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.</ref>

President James Monroe presented his famous [[Monroe Doctrine|doctrine for the western hemisphere]] in 1823. Historians have observed that while the Monroe Doctrine contained a commitment to resist colonialism from Europe, it had some aggressive implications for American policy, since there were no limitations on the US's actions mentioned within it. Historian Jay Sexton notes that the tactics used to implement the doctrine were modeled after those employed by European imperial powers during the 17th and 18th centuries.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tmp4DQAAQBAJ&q=outside+in.+lord+canning&pg=PT35|title=Outside In: The Transnational Circuitry of US History|last1=Preston|first1=Andrew|last2=Rossinow|first2=Doug|date=2016-11-15|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780190459871|language=en}}</ref> From the left historian [[William Appleman Williams]] described it as "imperial anti-colonialism."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u4GVKXN8SWYC&pg=PA5 |title=The Monroe Doctrine: Empire and Nation in Nineteenth-Century America|last=Sexton|first=Jay|date=2011-03-15|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=9781429929288|pages=2–9|language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Wounded Knee aftermath5.jpg|thumb|Big Foot's camp three weeks after [[Wounded Knee Massacre]]; with bodies of four [[Sioux|Lakota Sioux]] wrapped in blankets in the foreground]]
The [[American Indian Wars|Indian Wars]] against the [[indigenous peoples of the Americas]] began in the [[Colonial history of the United States|colonial era]]. Their escalation under the federal republic allowed the US to dominate North America and carve out the 48 [[Contiguous United States|contiguous states]]. This can be considered to be an explicitly colonial process in light of arguments that Native American nations were sovereign entities prior to annexation.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wilkins|first=David E.|title=American Indian Sovereignty and the U.S. Supreme Court: The Masking of Justice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8fmv_pJ-iAC|year=2010|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-77400-1|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8fmv_pJ-iAC&pg=PA19 19]}}</ref> Their sovereignty was systematically undermined by US state policy (usually involving unequal or [[List of United States treaties|broken treaties]]) and [[Settler colonialism|white settler-colonialism]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Williams|first=Walter L.|date=1980|title=United States Indian Policy and the Debate over Philippine Annexation: Implications for the Origins of American Imperialism|jstor=1887638|journal=The Journal of American History|volume=66|issue=4|pages=810–831|doi=10.2307/1887638}}</ref> Furthermore, following the Dawes Act of 1887 native american systems of land tenure and communal ownership were ended, in favour of private property and [[capitalism]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=The Settlement of America: An Encyclopedia of Westward Expansion from Jamestown to the Closing of the Frontier|last=Blansett|first=Kent|publisher=Routledge|year=2015|isbn=9780765619846|editor-last=Crutchfield|editor-first=James A.|pages=161–162|editor-last2=Moutlon|editor-first2=Candy|editor-last3=Del Bene|editor-first3=Terry}}</ref> This resulted in the loss of around 100 Million acres of land from 1887 to 1934.

=== Early 1800s: African colonization ===
Starting in 1820, the [[American Colonization Society]] began subsidizing free black people to colonize the west coast of Africa. In 1822, it declared the colony of [[Liberia]], which became independent in 1847.  By 1857, Liberia had merged with other colonies formed by state societies, including the [[Republic of Maryland]], [[Mississippi-in-Africa]], and [[Kentucky in Africa]].

=== 1800s: Filibustering in Central America ===
In the older historiography [[William Walker (filibuster)|William Walker's filibustering]] represented the high tide of antebellum American imperialism. His brief seizure of Nicaragua in 1855 is typically called a representative expression of [[Manifest destiny]] with the added factor of trying to expand slavery into Central America. Walker failed in all his escapades and never had official U.S. backing. Historian Michel Gobat, however, presents a strongly revisionist interpretation. He argues that Walker was invited in by Nicaraguan liberals who were trying to force economic modernization and political liberalism. Walker's government comprised those liberals, as well as Yankee colonizers, and European radicals. Walker even included some local Catholics as well as indigenous peoples, Cuban revolutionaries, and local peasants. His coalition was much too complex and diverse to survive long, but it was not the attempted projection of American power, concludes Gobat.<ref>{{cite book |first=Michel |last=Gobat |title=Empire by Invitation: William Walker and Manifest Destiny in Central America |url=https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674737495 |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2018 |isbn=9780674737495 }} See  [https://networks.h-net.org/node/28443/discussions/4084046/h-diplo-roundtable-xx-38-empire-invitation-william-walker-and this roundtable evaluation by scholars at H-Diplo.]</ref>

=== 1800s–1900s: New Imperialism and "The White Man's Burden" ===
{{Further|New Imperialism|History of the Philippines (1898–1946)|Philippine–American War|Big stick ideology|Roosevelt Corollary}}
[[File:Victor Gillam A Thing Well Begun Is Half Done 1899 Cornell CUL PJM 1136 01.jpg|upright=1|thumb|This cartoon reflects the view of [[Judge (magazine)|Judge magazine]]n regarding America's imperial ambitions following McKinley's quick victory in the Spanish–American War of 1898.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/ss:3293822|title=A Thing Well Begun Is Half Done|work=Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection|publisher=Cornell University}}</ref> The American flag flies from the Philippines and Hawaii in the Pacific to Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean.]]

A variety of factors converged during the "[[New Imperialism]]" of the late 19th century, when the United States and the other [[great powers]] rapidly expanded their overseas territorial possessions. 
* The prevalence of overt racism, notably [[John Fiske (philosopher)|John Fiske]]'s conception of "[[Anglo-Americans|Anglo-Saxon]]" racial superiority and [[Josiah Strong]]'s call to "civilize and Christianize,"{{snd}}were manifestations of a growing [[Social Darwinism]] and racism in some schools of American political thought.<ref>Thomas Friedman, "The Lexus and the Olive Tree", p. 381</ref><ref>Manfred Steger, "Globalism: The New Market Ideology"</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/flat-note-from-the-pied-piper-of-globalization |title=Flat Note from the Pied Piper of Globalization: Thomas L. Friedman's The World Is Flat| pages= 64–67 |access-date=2020-01-23|first=Jeff |last=Faux |date=Fall 2005|magazine=Dissent}}</ref>
* Early in his career, as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, [[Theodore Roosevelt]] was instrumental in preparing the Navy for the [[Spanish–American War]]<ref>[[H. W. Brands|Brands, Henry William]]. (1997). ''T.R.: The Last Romantic.'' New York: Basic Books. Reprinted 2001, full biography [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/36954615?&ht=edition OCLC 36954615], ch 12</ref> and was an enthusiastic proponent of testing the U.S. military in battle, at one point stating "I should welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one."<ref name="PBS1">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/crucible/tl7.html |title=April 16, 1897: T. Roosevelt Appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy |work=Crucible of Empire—Timeline|publisher=[[PBS Online]]|access-date=July 26, 2007}}</ref><ref name="PBS2">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/crucible/Transcript.txt |title=Transcript For "Crucible Of Empire" |work=Crucible of Empire—Timeline|publisher=PBS Online|access-date=July 26, 2007}}</ref><ref>Tilchin, William N. Theodore Roosevelt and the [[British Empire]]: A Study in Presidential Statecraft (1997)</ref>

Roosevelt claimed that he rejected imperialism, but he embraced the near-identical doctrine of [[expansionism]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Simons |first=Graham M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CQLoDwAAQBAJ&q=The+Secret+US+Plan+to+Overthrow+the+British+Empire%3A+War+Plan+Red |title=The Secret US Plan to Overthrow the British Empire: War Plan Red |date=2020-04-30 |publisher=Frontline Books |isbn=978-1-5267-1205-9 |language=en}}</ref> When [[Rudyard Kipling]] wrote the imperialist poem "[[The White Man's Burden]]" for Roosevelt, the politician told colleagues that it was "rather poor poetry, but good sense from the expansion point of view."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5478/|title="The White Man's Burden": Kipling's Hymn to U.S. Imperialism|website=historymatters.gmu.edu|access-date=2018-01-25}}</ref> Roosevelt proclaimed his own [[Roosevelt Corollary|corollary to the Monroe Doctrine]] as justification,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.americanforeignrelations.com/E-N/Imperialism-The-roosevelt-corollary.html|title=The roosevelt corollary – Imperialism|website=www.americanforeignrelations.com|language=en|access-date=2018-01-27}}</ref> although his ambitions extended even further, into the Far East. Scholars have noted the resemblance between U.S. policies in the Philippines and European actions in their [[Western imperialism in Asia|colonies in Asia]] and [[Colonisation of Africa|Africa]] during this period.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K_Lx0KCui5IC&pg=PA509 |title=The Blood of Government: Race, Empire, the United States, and the Philippines|last=Kramer|first=Paul A.|date=2006-12-13|publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press|isbn=9780807877173|language=en}}</ref>

Industry and trade were two of the most prevalent justifications of imperialism. [[Banana Wars|American intervention in both Latin America and Hawaii]] resulted in multiple industrial investments, including the popular industry of [[Dole Food Company|Dole]] bananas. If the United States was able to annex a territory, in turn they were granted access to the trade and capital of those territories. In 1898, Senator [[Albert Beveridge]] proclaimed that an expansion of markets was absolutely necessary, "American factories are making more than the American people can use; American soil is producing more than they can consume. Fate has written our policy for us; the trade of the world must and shall be ours."<ref>Zinn, Howard. ''A People's History of the United States: 1492–2001''. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. Print.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jVooDgAAQBAJ&q=theodore+roosevelt+imperialism+primary+sources|title=Honor in the Dust: Theodore Roosevelt, War in the Philippines, and the Rise and Fall of America's Imperial Dream|last=Jones|first=Gregg|date=2013|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9780451239181|pages=169–170|language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Editorial cartoon about Jacob Smith's retaliation for Balangiga.PNG|thumb|left|One of the ''New York Journal''{{'}}s most infamous cartoons, depicting [[Philippine–American War]] General [[Jacob H. Smith]]'s order "Kill Everyone over Ten," from the front page on May 5, 1902]]
American rule of ceded Spanish territory was not uncontested. The [[Philippine Revolution]] had begun in August 1896 against Spain, and after the defeat of Spain in the [[Battle of Manila Bay]], began again in earnest, culminating in the [[Philippine Declaration of Independence]] and the establishment of the [[First Philippine Republic]]. The [[Philippine–American War]] ensued, with extensive damage and death, ultimately resulting in the defeat of the Philippine Republic.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Schirmer|first1=Daniel B.|last2=Shalom|first2=Stephen Rosskamm|title=The Philippines Reader: A History of Colonialism, Neocolonialism, Dictatorship, and Resistance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TXE73VWcsEEC|year=1987|publisher=South End Press|isbn=978-0-89608-275-5|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=TXE73VWcsEEC&pg=PA18 18], [https://books.google.com/books?id=TXE73VWcsEEC&pg=PA40-41 40–41]}}</ref><ref>[[s:Secretary Root's Record:"Marked Severities" in Philippine Warfare|Secretary Root's Record: "Marked Severities" in Philippine Warfare]], Wikisource (multiple mentions)</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Zinn|first=Howard|title= A People's History of the United States 1492—Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V_h2BAAAQBAJ|year=2014|publisher=Time Apt. Group|isbn=978-615-5505-13-3|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=V_h2BAAAQBAJ&pg=PT204 unnumbered]}}</ref>

The United States' interests in Hawaii began in the 1800s with the United States becoming concerned that Great Britain or France might have colonial ambitions on the Hawaiian Kingdom. In 1849 the United States and The Kingdom of Hawaii signed a treaty of friendship removing any colonial ambitions Great Britain or France might have had. In 1885, King David Kalākaua, last king of Hawaii, signed a trade reciprocity treaty with the United States allowing for tariff free trade of sugar to the United States. The treaty was renewed in 1887 and with it came the overrunning of Hawaiian politics by rich, white, plantation owners. On July 6, 1887, the Hawaiian League, a non-native political group, threatened the king and forced him to sign a new constitution stripping him of much of his power. King Kalākaua would die in 1891 and be succeeded by his sister Lili'uokalani. In 1893 with support from marines from the USS ''Boston'' Queen Lili'uokalani would be deposed in a bloodless coup. Hawaii has been under US control ever since and became the 50th US state on August 21, 1959 in a joint resolution with Alaska.

The maximum geographical extension of American direct political and military control happened in the [[aftermath of World War II]], in the period after the surrender and occupations of [[Allied-occupied Germany|Germany]] and [[Allied-occupied Austria|Austria]] in May and later [[Occupation of Japan|Japan]] and [[United States Army Military Government in Korea|Korea]] in [[Japanese Instrument of Surrender|September 1945]] and before the independence of the [[Philippines]] in [[Treaty of Manila (1946)|July 1946]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/republic-day/|title=Philippine Republic Day|work=www.gov.ph|access-date=2020-05-22|archive-date=2021-07-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729160345/https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/republic-day/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Benevolent Assimilation (book)|Stuart Creighton Miller]] says that the public's sense of innocence about ''[[Realpolitik]]'' impairs popular recognition of U.S. imperial conduct.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zj6g2ag47TwC&q=to+exercise+future+domination.+mckinley&pg=PA52|title=Benevolent Assimilation: The American Conquest of the Philippines, 1899–1903|last=Miller|first=Stuart Creighton|date=1982|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=030016193X|language=en}}</ref> The resistance to actively occupying foreign territory has led to policies of exerting influence via other means, including governing other countries via surrogates or [[puppet regime]]s, where domestically unpopular governments survive only through U.S. support.<ref>Johnson, Chalmers, ''Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire'' (2000), pp. 72–79</ref>

[[File:GreaterAmericaMap.jpg|thumb|A map of "Greater America" c. 1900, including overseas territories]]
The Philippines is sometimes cited as an example. After Philippine independence, the US continued to direct the country through Central Intelligence Agency operatives like [[Edward Lansdale]]. As [[Raymond Bonner]] and other historians note, Lansdale controlled the career of President [[Ramon Magsaysay]], going so far as to physically beat him when the Philippine leader attempted to reject a speech the CIA had written for him. American agents also drugged sitting President [[Elpidio Quirino]] and prepared to assassinate Senator [[Claro M. Recto|Claro Recto]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/19/world/new-book-on-marcos-says-us-knew-of-his-72-martial-law-plans.html|title=New Book on Marcos Says U.S. Knew of His '72 Martial-Law Plans|last1=Butterfield|first1=Fox|date=1987-04-19|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-01-24|last2=Times|first2=Special to the New York|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ntEJR0FuNmoC&q=magsaysay.+lansdale.+speech&pg=PA33|title=Edward Lansdale's Cold War|last=Nashel|first=Jonathan|date=2005|publisher=Univ of Massachusetts Press|isbn=1558494642|pages=32|language=en}}</ref> Prominent Filipino historian Roland G. Simbulan has called the CIA "US imperialism's [[CIA activities in the Philippines|clandestine apparatus in the Philippines]]".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/filipinas/doc/cia.html|title=Equipo Nizkor – Covert Operations and the CIA's Hidden History in the Philippines|last=Simbulan|first=Roland G.|date=August 18, 2000|website=www.derechos.org|access-date=2018-01-23}} Lecture at the University of the Philippines-Manila, Rizal Hall, Padre Faura, Manila</ref>

The U.S. retained dozens of military bases, including a few major ones. In addition, Philippine independence was qualified by legislation passed by the [[U.S. Congress]]. For example, the [[Bell Trade Act]] provided a mechanism whereby U.S. import quotas might be established on Philippine articles which "are coming, or are likely to come, into substantial competition with like articles the product of the United States". It further required U.S. citizens and corporations be granted equal access to Philippine minerals, forests, and other natural resources.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chanrobles.com/commonwealthactno733.htm|title=Commonwealth Act No. 733|date=April 30, 1946|publisher=Chan Robles Law Library}}</ref> In hearings before the Senate Committee on Finance, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs [[William L. Clayton]] described the law as "clearly inconsistent with the basic foreign economic policy of this country" and "clearly inconsistent with our promise to grant the Philippines genuine independence."<ref>{{cite book|last=Jenkins|first=Shirley|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x4qaAAAAIAAJ|title=American Economic Policy Toward the Philippines|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=0-8047-1139-9|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=x4qaAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA62 62]|year=1954}}</ref>

=== 1918: Wilsonian intervention ===
[[File:American troops in Vladivostok 1918 HD-SN-99-02013.JPEG|thumb|American troops marching in [[Vladivostok]] during the [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War]], August 1918]]

When [[World War I]] broke out in Europe, President [[Woodrow Wilson]] promised American neutrality throughout the war. This promise was broken when the United States entered the war after the [[Zimmermann Telegram]]. This was "a war for empire" to control vast raw materials in Africa and other colonized areas, according to the contemporary historian and civil rights leader [[W. E. B. Du Bois]].<ref>Zinn, Howard. ''A People's History of the United States''. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. p. 363</ref> More recently historian [[Howard Zinn]] argues that Wilson entered the war in order to open international markets to surplus US production. He quotes Wilson's own declaration that
{{blockquote|Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process... the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered down.}}

In a memo to Secretary of State Bryan, the president described his aim as "an [[Open Door Policy|open door]] to the world".<ref>Zinn, pp. 359–376</ref> [[Lloyd Gardner]] notes that Wilson's original avoidance of world war was not motivated by anti-imperialism; his fear was that "[[White supremacy|white civilization and its domination in the world]]" were threatened by "the great white nations" destroying each other in endless battle.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k6x0DgAAQBAJ&q=%22the+first+cold+war%22.+1917&pg=PT194|title=Beyond 1917: The United States and the Global Legacies of the Great War|last1=Zeiler|first1=Thomas W.|last2=Ekbladh|first2=David K.|last3=Garder|first3=Lloyd C.|date=2017-03-27|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780190604035|language=en}}</ref>

Despite President Wilson's official doctrine of [[moral diplomacy]] seeking to "make the world safe for democracy," some of his [[United States occupation of Haiti|activities at the time]] can be viewed as imperialism to stop the advance of democracy in countries such as [[Haiti]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/wilsonianidealis00stei/page/30|title=Wilsonian Idealism in America|last=Steigerwald|first=David|date=1994|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=0801429366|pages=[https://archive.org/details/wilsonianidealis00stei/page/30 30–42]|language=en}}</ref> The United States invaded [[Haiti]] on July 28, 1915, and American rule continued until August 1, 1934. The historian Mary Renda in her book, ''Taking Haiti'', talks about the American invasion of Haiti to bring about political stability through U.S. control. The American government did not believe Haiti was ready for self-government or democracy, according to Renda. In order to bring about political stability in Haiti, the United States secured control and integrated the country into the international capitalist economy, while preventing Haiti from practicing self-governance or democracy. While Haiti had been running their own government for many years before American intervention, the U.S. government regarded Haiti as unfit for self-rule. In order to convince the American public of the justice in intervening, the United States government used [[paternalism|paternalist]] propaganda, depicting the Haitian political process as uncivilized. The Haitian government would come to agree to U.S. terms, including American overseeing of the Haitian economy. This direct supervision of the Haitian economy would reinforce U.S. propaganda and further entrench the perception of Haitians' being incompetent of self-governance.<ref>Renda, "Introduction," in ''Taking Haiti: Military Occupation & the Culture of U.S. Imperialism, 1915–1940'', pp. 10–22, 29–34</ref>

In World War I, the US, Britain, and Russia had been allies for seven months, from April 1917 until the [[Bolshevik]]s seized power in Russia in November. Active distrust surfaced immediately, as even before the [[October Revolution]] British officers had been involved in the [[Kornilov Affair]], an attempted ''coup d'état'' by the Russian Army against the Provisional Government.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wbxwAwAAQBAJ&q=general+buchanan,+moscow,+kornilov&pg=PA285|title=Strategy and Supply (RLE The First World War): The Anglo-Russian Alliance 1914–1917|first=Keith|last=Neilson|date=April 24, 2014|publisher=Routledge|via=Google Books|isbn=9781317703457}}</ref> Nonetheless, once the Bolsheviks took Moscow, the British government began talks to try and keep them in the war effort. British diplomat [[R. H. Bruce Lockhart|Bruce Lockhart]] cultivated a relationship with several Soviet officials, including [[Leon Trotsky]], and the latter approved the initial Allied military mission to secure the [[Eastern Front of World War I|Eastern Front]], which was collapsing in the revolutionary upheaval. Ultimately, Soviet head of state [[V.I. Lenin]] decided the Bolsheviks would settle peacefully with the [[Central Powers]] at the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]]. This separate peace led to Allied disdain for the Soviets, since it left the [[Allies of World War I|Western Allies]] to fight Germany without a strong Eastern partner. The [[Secret Intelligence Service]], supported by US diplomat Dewitt C. Poole, sponsored an attempted coup in Moscow involving Bruce Lockhart and [[Sidney Reilly]], which involved an attempted assassination of Lenin. The Bolsheviks proceeded to shut down the British and U.S. embassies.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9X5a1fgKqewC&q=savinkov,+reilly%5C&pg=PT113|title=A Century of Spies: Intelligence in the Twentieth Century|first=Jeffery T.|last=Richelson|date=July 17, 1997|publisher=Oxford University Press|via=Google Books|isbn=9780199880584}}</ref><ref>[[Martin Sixsmith]], "Fanny Kaplan's Attempt to Kill Lenin" in [https://books.google.com/books?id=-L_XDQAAQBAJ&q=much+more+closely+with+Reilly+than+he+had+publicly+indicated&pg=PA192 ''Was Revolution Inevitable?: Turning Points of the Russian Revolution'', edited by Tony Brenton (Oxford University Press, 2017 ), pp. 185–192]</ref>

Tensions between Russia (including its allies) and the West turned intensely ideological. Horrified by mass executions of White forces, land expropriations, and widespread repression, the Allied military expedition now [[North Russia Campaign|assisted]] the anti-Bolshevik Whites in the [[Russian Civil War]], with the US covertly giving support<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/forgotten-doughboys-who-died-fighting-russian-civil-war-180971470/|title=The Forgotten Story of the American Troops Who Got Caught Up in the Russian Civil War|last=Trickey|first=Erick|website=Smithsonian|language=en|access-date=2019-04-05}}</ref> to the autocratic and antisemitic [[Kolchak, Alexander|General Alexander Kolchak]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zArfBAAAQBAJ&q=pogroms.+kolchak&pg=PA187|title=Russia's Frozen Frontier: A History of Siberia and the Russian Far East 1581 – 1991|last=Wood|first=Alan|date=2011-05-15|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=9781849664387|pages=187|language=en}}</ref> [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War|Over 30,000 Western troops]] were deployed in Russia overall.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/firstworldwar/spotlights/allies.htm|title=The National Archives &#124; Exhibitions & Learning online &#124; First World War &#124; Spotlights on history|website=www.nationalarchives.gov.uk}}</ref> This was the first event that made Russian–American relations a matter of major, long-term concern to the leaders in each country. Some historians, including [[William Appleman Williams]] and [[Ronald Powaski]], trace the origins of the [[Cold War]] to this conflict.<ref>Powaski, "The United States and the Bolshevik Revolution, 1917–1933", in ''The Cold War: The United States and the Soviet Union, 1917–1991'', pp. 5–34</ref>

Wilson launched seven armed interventions, more than any other president.<ref>{{Cite journal |journal=White House Studies|volume =10| issue= 4|year=2011|title=The Wilsonian Chimera: Why Debating Wilson's Vision Can't Save American Foreign Relations|first=  Stephen |last=Wertheim|url=http://www.columbia.edu/~saw2156/TheWilsonianChimera.pdf|pages=343–359|issn=1535-4768}}</ref> Looking back on the Wilson era, General [[Smedley Butler]], a leader of the Haiti expedition and the highest-decorated Marine of that time, considered virtually all of the operations to have been economically motivated.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=drU3HlesN5kC&q=smedley.+haiti&pg=PA396|title=Haiti: The Aftershocks of History|last=Dubois|first=Laurent|date=2012-01-03|publisher=Henry Holt and Company|isbn=9780805095623|pages=240–249|language=en}}</ref> In a [[War Is a Racket|1933 speech]] he said:{{blockquote|I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it...I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street&nbsp;... Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fas.org/man/smedley.htm|title=Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC.|website=Federation of American Scientists|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980524133805/http://www.fas.org/man/smedley.htm|archive-date=1998-05-24|url-status=dead}}</ref> }}

=== 1920s–1930s: American Imperialism Between Wars ===

==== America Entering the Middle East ====
Following World War I, the British maintained occupation of the Middle East, most notably Turkey and portions of formerly Ottoman territory following the empire's collapse.<ref name=":0">Quinn, J. W. (2009). ''American imperialism in the Middle East: 1920-1950'' (dissertation). Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC.</ref> The occupation led to rapid industrialization, which resulted in the discovery of crude oil in Persia in 1908, sparking a boom in the Middle Eastern economy.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/24711057 |jstor=24711057 |title=Britain and the Middle East |last1=Woodhouse |first1=C. M. |journal=Pakistan Horizon |year=2009 |volume=62 |issue=1 | pages=81–106}}</ref> The oil industry of the United States began to grow following World War I, causing an increased desire to enter the Middle East. In 1919, US oil companies from New York and New Jersey tried to enter the Mesopotamia-Palestine region but were barred by the [[San Remo conference|San Remo Resolution]], a League of Nations agreement that divided up majority claims of Middle Eastern oil between France and Britain. The following year, the US State Department challenged the resolution using the [[Open Door Policy]], allowing more American oil companies to enter the Middle East. The British resisted the United States' entry into the Middle East but opened the Turkish oil trade to the US to mitigate competition in 1928.

By the 1930s, the United States had cemented itself in the Middle East via a series of acquisitions through the [[Standard Oil of California|Standard Oil of California (SOCAL)]], which saw US control over Saudi oil.<ref name=":0" /> The oil rights were soon transferred to California-Arabian Standard Oil Company (CASOC), a company based out of Delaware, and recorded the acquisition in United States Dollar. This transaction cemented the measure of oil using USD, switching from the British Pound, increasing the United States' influence over the Middle East.

It was clear to the US that further expansion in Middle Eastern oil would not be possible without diplomatic representation. In 1939, CASOC appealed to the US State Department about increasing political relations with [[Saudi Arabia]]. This appeal was ignored until Germany and Japan made similar attempts following the start of [[World War II]].<ref name=":0" /> GRO's influence in the Middle East continued to grow throughout the 1940s, following the United States' entry into WWII and their protection of Saudi Arabian oil.

=== 1941–1945: World War II ===
At the start of [[World War II]], the US had multiple territories in the Pacific. The majority of these territories were military bases like Midway, Guam, Wake Island and Hawaii. Japan's surprise attack on [[Pearl Harbor]] was what ended up bringing the United States into the war. Japan also launched multiple attacks on other American Territories like Guam and Wake Island. By early 1942 Japan also was able to take over the Philippine islands. At the end of the Philippine island campaign the general [[Douglas MacArthur|MacArthur]] stated "I came through and I shall return" in response to the Americans losing the island to the Japanese.<ref>{{Cite web |last=fdrlibrary |date=2015-10-20 |title="I Have Returned!" – General MacArthur and FDR |url=https://fdr.blogs.archives.gov/2015/10/20/i-have-returned-general-macarthur-and-fdr/ |access-date=2022-03-28 |website=Forward with Roosevelt |language=en-US}}</ref> The loss of American territories ended the decisive [[Battle of Midway]]. The Battle of Midway was the American offensive to stop Midway Island from falling into Japanese control. This led to the pushback of American forces and the recapturing of American territories. There were many battles that were fought against the Japanese which retook both allied territory as well as took over Japanese territories. In October 1944 American started their plan to retake the Philippine islands. Japanese troops on the island ended up surrendering in August 1945. After the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945, the United States occupied and reformed Japan up until 1952. The United States granted the Philippines independence on July 4, 1946.

====The Grand Area====
In an October 1940 report to Franklin Roosevelt, Bowman wrote that "the US government is interested in any solution anywhere in the world that affects American trade. In a wide sense, commerce is the mother of all wars." In 1942 this economic globalism was articulated as the "Grand Area" concept in secret documents. The US would have to have control over the "Western Hemisphere, Continental Europe and Mediterranean Basin (excluding Russia), the Pacific Area and the Far East, and the [[British Empire in World War II|British Empire]] (excluding Canada)." The Grand Area encompassed all known major oil-bearing areas outside the Soviet Union, largely at the behest of corporate partners like the Foreign Oil Committee and the Petroleum Industry War Council.<ref>George A. Gonzalez, ''Urban Sprawl, Global Warming, and the Empire of Capital'' (SUNY Press, 2009), p. 69-110</ref> The US thus avoided overt territorial acquisition, like that of the European colonial empires, as being too costly, choosing the cheaper option of forcing countries to open their door to American business interests.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MfhpXT5mQoEC&q=cheaper+alternative+of+forcing+countries+to+open+up+their+economies&pg=PA95|title=Neoliberal Australia and US Imperialism in East Asia|first=Erik|last=Paul|date=October 23, 2012|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|via=Google Books|isbn=9781137272775}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Although the United States was the last major belligerent to join the [[Second World War]], it began planning for the post-war world from the conflict's outset. This postwar vision originated in the [[Council on Foreign Relations]] (CFR), an economic elite-led organization that became integrated into the government leadership. CFR's [[War and Peace Studies]] group offered its services to the State Department in 1939 and a secret partnership for post-war planning developed. CFR leaders [[Hamilton Fish Armstrong]] and Walter H. Mallory saw World War II as a "grand opportunity" for the U.S. to emerge as "the premier power in the world."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/americanempirero0000smit|url-access=registration|quote=grand opportunity.|title=American Empire: Roosevelt's Geographer and the Prelude to Globalization|first=Neil|last=Smith|date=October 29, 2004|publisher=University of California Press|via=Internet Archive|isbn=9780520243385}}</ref>

This vision of empire assumed the necessity of the US to "police the world" in the aftermath of the war. This was not done primarily out of altruism, but out of economic interest. [[Isaiah Bowman]], a key liaison between the CFR and the State Department, proposed an "American economic [[Lebensraum]]." This built upon the ideas of [[Time-Life]] publisher [[Henry Luce]], who (in his "[[American Century]]" essay) wrote, "Tyrannies may require a large amount of living space [but] freedom requires and will require far greater living space than Tyranny." According to Bowman's biographer, [[Neil Smith (geographer)|Neil Smith]]:

{{blockquote|Better than the American Century or the Pax Americana, the notion of an American Lebensraum captures the specific and global historical geography of U.S. ascension to power. After World War II, global power would no longer be measured in terms of colonized land or power over territory. Rather, global power was measured in directly economic terms. Trade and markets now figured as the economic nexuses of global power, a shift confirmed in the 1944 Bretton Woods agreement, which not only inaugurated an international currency system but also established two central banking institutions—the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank—to oversee the global economy. These represented the first planks of the economic infrastructure of the postwar American Lebensraum.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/americanempirero0000smit|url-access=registration|quote=lebensraum.|title=American Empire: Roosevelt's Geographer and the Prelude to Globalization|first=Neil|last=Smith|date=October 29, 2004|publisher=University of California Press|via=Internet Archive|isbn=9780520243385}}</ref> }}

=== 1947–1952: Cold War in Western Europe: "Empire by invitation" ===
[[File:Anti kernwapendemonstratie in Den Haag ( 550 duizend deelnemers ) overzichten, Bestanddeelnr 253-8821.jpg|thumb|Protest against the deployment of [[Pershing II]] missiles in Europe, [[The Hague]], Netherlands, 1983]]

Prior to his death in 1945, President Roosevelt was planning to withdraw all U.S. forces from Europe as soon as possible. Soviet actions in Poland and Czechoslovakia led his successor Harry Truman to reconsider. Heavily influenced by [[George Kennan]], Washington policymakers believed that the Soviet Union was an expansionary dictatorship that threatened American interests. In their theory, Moscow's weakness was that it had to keep expanding to survive; and that, by containing or stopping its growth, stability could be achieved in Europe. The result was the [[Truman Doctrine]] (1947) regarding Greece and Turkey. 

A second equally important consideration was the need to restore the world economy, which required the rebuilding and reorganizing of Europe for growth. This matter, more than the Soviet threat, was the main impetus behind the [[Marshall Plan]] of 1948. 

A third factor was the realization, especially by Britain and the three [[Benelux]] nations, that American military involvement was needed.{{clarify|date=July 2019}} [[Geir Lundestad]] has commented on the importance of "the eagerness with which America's friendship was sought and its leadership welcomed.... In Western Europe, America built an empire 'by invitation'"<ref>{{cite book|author=John Darwin|title=After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400–2000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0z12AiODd8kC&pg=PA470|year=2010|page=470|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=9781596917606}}</ref> 

At the same time, the [[1948 Italian general election|U.S. interfered in Italian]] and French politics in order to [[May 1947 crises|purge elected communist officials]] who might oppose such invitations.<ref>"If this American expansion created what we could call an American empire, this was to a large extent an empire by invitation...In semi-occupied Italy the State Department and Ambassador James Dunn in particular actively encouraged the non-communists to break with the communists and undoubtedly contributed to the latter being thrown out of the government in May 1947. In more normal France the American role was more restrained when the Ramadier government threw out its communists at about the same time. After the communists were out, Washington worked actively, through overt as well as covert activities, to isolate them as well as leftist socialists... US economic assistance was normally given with several strings attached." {{Cite journal |jstor = 423824|title = Empire by Invitation? The United States and Western Europe, 1945–1952|journal = Journal of Peace Research|volume = 23|issue = 3|pages = 263–277|last1 = Lundestad|first1 = Geir|year = 1986|doi = 10.1177/002234338602300305|citeseerx = 10.1.1.689.5556|s2cid = 73345898}}</ref> Eventually the United States would develop [[Operation Gladio]] across multiple nations in Europe. This would see US support provided to far-right organisations in Italy and Turkey during the [[Years of Lead (Italy)]] and the period of [[Political violence in Turkey (1976–1980)]] as part of [[Counter-Guerrilla]].

===1950–1959: Cold War outside Europe===
The end of the Second World War and start of the Cold War saw increased US interest in [[Latin America]]. Since the [[Guatemalan Revolution]], Guatemala saw the expansion of labour rights and [[Decree 900|land reforms]] which granted property to landless peasants.{{sfn|Handy|1994|p=4}} Lobbying by the [[United Fruit Company]], whose profits were affected by these policies, as well as fear of Communist influence in Guatemala culminated in the USA supporting  [[Operation PBFortune]] to overthrow Guatemalan President [[Jacobo Árbenz]] in 1952. The plan involved providing weapons to the exiled Guatemalan military officer [[Carlos Castillo Armas]], who was to lead an invasion from Nicaragua.{{sfn|Moulton|2013|pp=47–49}}
This culminated in the [[1954 Guatemalan coup d'état]]. The subsequent military junta assumed dictatorial powers, banned opposition parties and reversed the social reforms of the revolution. The USA would continue to support Guatemala through the Cold War, including during the [[Guatemalan Genocide]]<ref>{{cite news |first=Elisabeth |last=Malkin |title=Trial on Guatemalan Civil War Carnage Leaves Out U.S. Role |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/world/americas/trial-on-guatemalan-civil-war-carnage-leaves-out-us-role.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=16 May 2013|access-date=July 7, 2023|quote=The U.S. played a very powerful and direct role in the life of this institution, the army, that went on to commit genocide}}</ref> in which up to 200,000 people were killed. After the coup, American enterprises saw a return of influence in the country, in both the public level of government but also in the economy.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Paiz |first1= Alfonso |date= 1970 |title= The "Third Government of the Revolution" and Imperialism in Guatemala |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40401478 |journal= Science & Society |volume= 34 |issue= 2 |pages= 151 |jstor= 40401478 |access-date= 31 July 2023}}</ref>

On the March 15, 1951 the Iranian parliament, passed legislation that was proposed by [[Mohammad Mosaddegh]] to nationalize the [[Anglo-Persian Oil Company]], which gained significant revenues from Iranian oil, more so than the Iranian government itself. Mosaddegh was elected Prime Minister by the Majlis later in 1952. Mosadeggh's support by the [[Tudeh]]  as well as a boycott by various businesses against the nationalised industry resulted in fears by the [[United Kingdom]] and the United States that Iran would turn to Communism. America would officialy remain neutral, but the CIA supported various candidates in the [[1952 Iranian legislative election]].<ref>{{cite interview|last=Abrahamian|first=Ervand|interviewer=Amy Goodman and Juan González|title=Newly Declassified Documents Confirm U.S. Backed 1953 Coup in Iran Over Oil Contracts|url=https://www.democracynow.org/2017/7/24/newly_declassified_documents_confirm_us_backed|publisher=Democracy Now!|date=24 July 2017|access-date=24 July 2017}}</ref>

In late 1952, with Mosaddegh remaining in power, the CIA launched [[Operation Ajax]] with support by the United Kingdom to overthrow Mosaddegh.<ref>''Clandestine Service History: Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran'', Mar. 1954: p. iii.</ref><ref name="CN-IC-01">{{cite book |title=Ends of British Imperialism: The Scramble for Empire, Suez, and Decolonization |year=2007 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |isbn=978-1-84511-347-6 |pages=775 of 1082 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NQnpQNKeKKAC&pg=PA775}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|work=The New York Times|date=2000|title=Secrets of History: The United States in Iran|url=https://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/041600iran-cia-index.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130125113825/http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/041600iran-cia-index.html|archive-date=January 25, 2013|first=James|last=Risen}}</ref> The coup saw an increase in power of the monarchy, which went from a constitutional monarchy to an authoritarian nation. In the aftermath of the coup, the Shah agreed to replace the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company with a consortium—British Petroleum and eight European and American oil companies. In August 2013, the U.S. government formally acknowledged the U.S. role in the coup by releasing a bulk of previously classified government documents that show it was in charge of both the planning and the execution of the coup, including the bribing of Iranian politicians, security and army high-ranking officials, as well as pro-coup propaganda.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB435/ |title=CIA Confirms Role in 1953 Iran Coup|date=19 August 2013 |website=nsarchive2.gwu.edu |publisher=The National Security Archive |access-date=1 August 2023}}</ref>

In 1958, the [[Cuban Revolution]] saw the ouster of the US-backed Cuban dictator [[Fulgencio Batista]]. The United States of America had significant influence over the economy of Cuba. By 1950, US investors owned 44 of the 161 sugar mills in Cuba, and slightly over 47% of total sugar output.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FE479|title=FE479/FE479: Cuban Agriculture Before 1959: The Political and Economic Situations|website=edis.ifas.ufl.edu}}</ref> By 1906, up to 15% of Cuba was owned by American landowners.<ref name="auto">{{cite journal |last1=Hitchman |first1=James |date=January 1970 |title=U. S. Control Over Cuban Sugar Production 1898-1902 |journal=Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs |volume= 1 |pages=97}}</ref> This consisted of 632,000 acres of sugar lands, 225,000 acres of tobacco, 700,000 of fruits and 2,750,000 acres of mining land, along with a quarter of the banking industry.<ref name="auto"/> After [[Fidel Castro]] became president of Cuba, fears of Communist influence in Cuba resulted in the CIA training an army which aimed to invade Cuba, install [[Jose Miro Cardona]] as president, and protect American interests in the region. The subsequent [[Bay of Pigs Invasion]] failed to achieve any of its aims. The failure of America to topple Castro resulted in [[Operation MONGOOSE]] which aimed to overthrow the government of Cuba.<ref>[[Office of the Historian]], [[United States Department of State]], Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–63, Volume X, Cuba, January 1961 – September 1962, "291. Program Review by the Chief of Operations, Operation Mongoose (Lansdale)," January 18, 1962, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d291 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012094731/https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d291|date=October 12, 2017}}</ref> The operation utilised [[economic warfare]] via an [[embargo]] against Cuba, "to induce failure of the Communist regime to supply Cuba's economic needs", a diplomatic initiative to isolate Cuba, and [[psychological operations]] "to turn the peoples' resentment increasingly against the regime."<ref name="history.state.gov2">Office of the Historian, United States Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–63, Volume X, Cuba, January 1961 – September 1962, "291. Program Review by the Chief of Operations, Operation Mongoose (Lansdale)," January 18, 1962, pp. 711–17, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d291 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012094731/https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d291|date=October 12, 2017}}</ref> The embargo against Cuba by the USA continues to this day.

===Post-1954: Korea, Vietnam, and "imperial internationalism"===
Outside of Europe, American imperialism was more distinctly hierarchical "with much fainter liberal characteristics." Cold War policy often found itself opposed to full decolonization, especially in Asia. The United States' decision to colonize some of the Pacific islands (which had formerly been held by the Japanese) in the 1940s ran directly counter to America's rhetoric against imperialism. General Douglas MacArthur described the Pacific as an "Anglo-Saxon lake." At the same time, the U.S. did not claim state control over much mainland territory but cultivated friendly members of the elites of decolonized countries—elites which were often dictatorial, as in South Korea, Taiwan, [[Suharto|Indonesia]], and South Vietnam.

In Korea, the U.S. occupied the Southern half of the peninsula in 1945 and dissolved the Socialist [[People's Republic of Korea]]. After which, the USA quickly allied with [[Syngman Rhee]], leader of the fight against the [[People's Republic of Korea]] that proclaimed a provisional government. There was a lot of opposition to the [[division of Korea]], including rebellions by communists such as the [[Jeju uprising]] in 1948 and further [[Communist partisans in the Korean War]]. The Jeju Uprising was violently suppressed and led to the deaths of 30,000 people, the majority of them civilians. North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950, starting the [[Korean War]].<ref name="Blowback">{{cite book| first = Chalmers| last = Johnson| author-link = Chalmers Johnson| title = Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire| date = January 23, 2001| edition = 2000, rev. 2004| pages = [https://archive.org/details/blowback00chal/page/99 99–101]| publisher = Owl Book| isbn = 0-8050-6239-4| url = https://archive.org/details/blowback00chal/page/99}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1093/ia/iix240 |url=https://www.chathamhouse.org/publication/ia/us-led-liberal-order-imperialism-another-name |title=The US-led liberal order: Imperialism by another name? |year=2018 |last1=Parmar |first1=Inderjeet |journal=International Affairs |volume=94 |pages=151–172 }}</ref> With [[NSC 68|National Security Council document 68]] and the subsequent Korean War, the U.S. adopted a policy of "[[rollback]]" against communism in Asia. [[John Tirman]], an American political theorist has claimed that this policy was heavily influenced by America's imperialistic policy in Asia in the 19th century, with its goals to [[Christianization|Christianize]] and [[Americanization|Americanize]] the peasant masses.<ref>{{cite book |first=John |last=Tirman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x3n3Eq1eiBEC&pg=PA78 |title=The Deaths of Others: The Fate of Civilians in America's Wars |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |pages=78–82 |isbn=9780199831494 }}</ref> In the following conflict, the USA oversaw a large bombing campaign over [[Bombing of North Korea|North Korea]]. A total of 635,000 tons of bombs, including 32,557 tons of napalm, were dropped on Korea.<ref name="Armstrong 2010">{{cite journal|last=Armstrong|first=Charles K.|url=https://apjjf.org/-Charles-K--Armstrong/3460/article.pdf|title=The Destruction and Reconstruction of North Korea, 1950-1960|journal=The Asia-Pacific Journal|volume=8|issue=51|page=1|date=20 December 2010|access-date=13 September 2019}}</ref>

[[Vietnam War|In Vietnam]], the U.S. eschewed its anti-imperialist rhetoric by materially supporting the [[French Union|French Empire]] in a colonial [[counterinsurgency]]. Influenced by the Grand Area policy, the U.S. eventually assumed military and financial support for the South Vietnamese state against the [[Viet Minh|Vietnamese communists]] following the first [[First Indochina war]]. The US and South Vietnam feared [[Ho Chi Minh]] would win nationwide elections. They both refused to sign agreements at the [[1954 Geneva Conference]] arguing that fair elections weren't possible in North Vietnam.<ref>{{cite book |first=Woodruff |last=Mark |url= |title=Unheralded Victory: The Defeat of The Viet Cong and The North Vietnamese. |publisher=Presidio Press |year=2005 |page=6 |isbn=978-0-89141-866-5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.25148/CRCP.2.1.16092111 |title=The Council on Foreign Relations and the Grand Area: Case Studies on the Origins of the IMF and the Vietnam War |journal=Class, Race and Corporate Power |volume=2 |issue=1 |year=2014 |last1=Domhoff |first1=G. William |url=https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://web.archive.org/&httpsredir=1&article=1019&context=classracecorporatepower |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190614140836/https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https%3A%2F%2Fweb.archive.org%2F&httpsredir=1&article=1019&context=classracecorporatepower |archive-date=2019-06-14 |doi-access=free |access-date=2020-06-15 |url-status=live}}</ref> Beginning in 1965, the US sent many combat units to fight [[Viet Cong]] and North Vietnamese soldiers in South Vietnam, with fighting extending to [[North Vietnam]], [[Laos]], and [[Cambodia]]. During the war [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] called the American government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today."<ref>{{cite book |first=Chris J. |last=Magoc |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CMEnCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1233 |title=Imperialism and Expansionism in American History |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2015 |pages=1233, 1278–81 |isbn=9781610694308}}</ref> Initially based on stopping the spread of Communism into South Vietnam, the war and it's motivations slowly began to lose it's momentum in justifying the damage the war was causing to both sides. Particularly on the home front, where by 1970, two thirds of the American public advocated against the war.

The Vietnam War also saw expansion of conflict into neighbouring [[Laos]] and [[Cambodia]]. Both of which saw extensive bombing campaigns under [[Operation Barrel Roll]], which made Laos "the most heavily bombed nation in history",<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bolingbroke-Kent |first=Antonia |date=2023-04-27 |title='I don't want more children to suffer what I did': the 50-year fight to clear US bombs from Laos |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/apr/27/i-dont-want-more-children-to-suffer-what-i-did-the-50-year-fight-to-clear-us-bombs-from-laos |access-date=2023-07-12 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> and [[Operation Menu]] and [[Operation Freedom Deal]].

After the deaths of six generals in the Indonesian Army, which [[Suharto]] blamed on the [[Communist Party of Indonesia]] and a failed coup attempt by the [[30 September Movement]], an Anti-Communist purge began across the country led by Suharto and the army. The subsequent killings resulted in the deaths of up to 1,000,000 people. Though some estimates claim a death toll of 2 or 3 Million. Ethnic Chinese, trade unionists, teachers, activists, artists, ethnic Javanese [[Abangan]], [[Chinese Indonesians|ethnic Chinese]], [[Atheism|atheists]], so-called "[[Kafir|unbelievers]]", and alleged [[Left-wing politics|leftists]] were also among targeted groups in the killings.
Geoffrey B. Robinson, professor of history at [[UCLA]], argued that powerful foreign states, in particular the United States, Great Britain and their allies, were instrumental in facilitating and encouraging the Indonesian Army's campaign of mass killing, and without such support, the killings would not have happened.<ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first= Geoffrey |date= 2018 |title= The Killing Season: A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965-1966}}</ref> The political changes that came with the mass-killings not only resulted in the purge of the Communist Party, but also a shift in Indonesia's foreign policy towards the West and capitalism.<ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first= Geoffrey |date= 2018 |title= The Killing Season: A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965-1966}}</ref> Furthermore, the mass-killings resulted in the expansion of American markets into Indonesia. By 1967, companies such as [[Freeport-McMoRan|Freeport Sulphur]], [[Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company]], [[General Electric]], [[American Express]], [[Caterpillar Inc.]], [[StarKist]], [[Raytheon Technologies]] and [[Lockheed Martin]], began to explore business opportunities in Indonesia.<ref>{{cite book|author=Good, Aaron |title=American Exception|location = New York|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |year=2022|page=290 |isbn=978-1-5107-6913-7}}</ref>
Declassified documents released by the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta in October 2017 stated that the U.S. government had detailed knowledge of the massacres from the start. The documents revealed that the U.S. government actively encouraged and facilitated the Indonesian Army's massacres to further its geopolitical interests in the region.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/indonesia/2017-10-15/indonesia-mass-murder-1965-us-embassy-files |title=U.S. Embassy Tracked Indonesia Mass Murder 1965 |last=Simpson |first=Brad |date=17 October 2017 |website=[[National Security Archive]] |access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref>

According to a US Congressional Report, 80 percent of U.S. military interventions after 1946 took place after the fall of the USSR.<ref>{{cite web |title=Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2022 |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/AD1163645 |language=en}}</ref>

===1970–1989: Operation Condor and Latin America===
From 1968 until 1989, the United States of America supported a campaign of [[political repression]] and [[state terrorism]] involving [[Intelligence (information gathering)|intelligence]] operations, [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]-backed [[coup d'état]]s, and assassinations of [[Left-wing politics|left-wing]] and [[Socialism|socialist]] leaders in [[South America]] as part of [[Operation Condor]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bevins |first1=Vincent |author-link=Vincent Bevins |title=[[The Jakarta Method]]: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World|pages=200–206 |date=2020 |publisher= [[PublicAffairs]] |isbn=978-1-5417-4240-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Good, Aaron |title=American Exception |location=New York |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |year=2022 |pages=231–232, 237 |isbn=978-1510769137}}</ref> It was officially implemented in November 1975 by the [[right-wing dictatorship]]s of the [[Southern Cone]] of South America in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay, and Paraguay with substantial US support.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Conde|first=Arturo|title=New movie explores global complicity in Argentina's 'dirty war'|date=10 September 2021 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/new-movie-explores-global-complicity-argentinas-dirty-war-rcna1964|access-date=2021-10-06|publisher=NBC News|language=en}}</ref>

In 1970, [[Salvador Allende]] of the [[Socialist Party of Chile]] won election against the independent [[Jorge Alessandri]] and [[Christian Democratic Party (Chile)|Christian Democrat]] [[Radomiro Tomic]]. After the inauguration, there was a period of social and political unrest between the [[National Congress of Chile|Congress of Chile]], which was dominated by right-wing parties, and the Chilean left. [[Economic warfare]] was waged by [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]]. U.S. President [[Richard Nixon]] had promised to "prevent Allende from coming to power or to unseat him" via damaging the Chilean economy.<ref name="Kornbluh">{{cite web|url=http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8i.htm|title=Chile and the United States: Declassified Documents Relating to the Military Coup, September 11, 1973|first=Peter|last=Kornbluh|date=September 11, 1998|publisher=[[National Security Archive]]|access-date= August 7, 2023}}</ref>

On 11 September 1973, President Allende was [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|overthrown]] by the [[Chilean Armed Forces]], which brought to power the [[neoliberal]] [[Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–90)|regime]] of [[Augusto Pinochet]]. The United States government funded and supported the coup.<ref>{{cite book |last= Winn |first= Peter |date= 2010 |title= A Century of Revolution |publisher= Duke University Press |pages= 270–271}}</ref> By 1970 the U.S. manufacturing company [[ITT Corporation]] had owned 70% of [[Chitelco]] (the Chilean Telephone Company). During the election the CIA had used ITT to hide the source of United States funding to Allende's opponents.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://foia.state.gov/Reports/HincheyReport.asp#17 |title=U.S. Dept. of State FOIA Electronic Reading Room – Hinchey Report (CIA Activities in Chile)|publisher=Foia.state.gov |access-date= 7 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091020110606/http://foia.state.gov/Reports/HincheyReport.asp#17 |archive-date=20 October 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> A document released by the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) in 2000 revealed that the CIA supported Pinochet and the military junta after Allende's overthrow and that it made many of Pinochet's officers into paid contacts of the CIA or U.S. military.<ref name="NSA-2000-9-19">{{cite web|author=Peter Kornbluh|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20000919/|title=CIA Acknowledges Ties to Pinochet's Repression: Report to Congress Reveals U.S. Accountability in Chile|work=Chile Documentation Project|publisher=National Security Archive|date=19 September 2000|access-date=26 November 2006}}</ref>

Before the coup, more than 300 Chilean and foreign companies had been nationalized without payment by the Allende government. Among these companies, about 40 had American investment.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/20/archives/chile-to-return-seized-companies-to-their-owners-allende-opposed.html | title=Chile to Return Seized Companies to Their Owners | work=The New York Times | date=20 October 1973 }}</ref> By October 1973 Crown Cork and Seal Company was returned to its former management, and within the first two weeks of the coup most companies that had been nationalized were placed back into the hands of their former private managers.

In a [[1976 Argentine coup d'état]], the [[Argentine Armed Forces]] overthrew [[President of Argentina|President]] [[Isabel Perón]], who had been elected in the [[September 1973 Argentine presidential election|1973 presidential election]], thus starting the military dictatorship of General [[Jorge Rafael Videla]]. The coup and the military dictatorship were supported by the U.S. government.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bevins|first1=Vincent|author-link=Vincent Bevins|title=[[The Jakarta Method|The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World]]|date=2020|publisher=[[PublicAffairs]]|page=215|isbn= 978-1541742406}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Blakeley|first=Ruth|date=2009|title=State Terrorism and Neoliberalism: The North in the South|url=http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415462402/|publisher=[[Routledge]]|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=rft8AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA96 96–97]|isbn=978-0-415-68617-4}}</ref> 
In the aftermath of the coup and the ensuing [[Dirty War]], companies like [[Ford Motors]] profited from the military dictatorship through the arrest, torture, and disappearing of up to 30,000 workers and trade unionists.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/27/world/ford-motor-is-linked-to-argentina-s-dirty-war.html#:~:text=The%20prosecutor%20who%20filed%20the,with%20the%20military%20as%20suppliers | title=Ford Motor is Linked to Argentina's 'Dirty War' | work=The New York Times | date=27 November 2002 | last1=Rohter | first1=Larry }}</ref> For example, in 1975 Ford's Argentina subsidiary reported a profit margin of -18%, but by 1977 it was 10%.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://capitalaspower.com/2015/02/profits-and-terror-in-argentina-in-the-1970s/ | title=Profits and Terror in Argentina in the 1970s | date=21 February 2015 }}</ref>

===1990 Onward: War on Terror and Action in the Middle East===
In 1990, Iraq under the Ba'athist government of [[Saddam Hussein]] invaded [[Kuwait]]. Despite reported statements by then US Ambassador, [[April Glaspie]] that "We have no opinion on your Arab-Arab conflicts" and that "the Kuwait issue is not associated with America", the USA following condemnation of Iraq by the United Nations, prepared for military action in the Gulf. Professors [[John Mearsheimer]] and [[Stephen Walt]] argued that Saddam approached the U.S. to find out how it would react to an invasion into Kuwait. They argued that Glaspie's comment that "'[W]e have no opinion on the Arab–Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait' and that the U.S. State Department had earlier told Saddam that Washington had 'no special defense or security commitments to Kuwait.' Resulted in the USA effectively giving Iraq a green light.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=[[John Mearsheimer]] |author2=[[Stephen Walt]] |title=An unnecessary war |journal=[[Foreign Policy]] |issue=134 |page=54 |date=Jan–Feb 2003}}</ref>

The subsequent [[Gulf War]] saw no further fighting for over five months after Iraq annexed Kuwait. During this interim period there was a build-up 
of American, French and British troops in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile a series of United Nations resolutions first demanded an Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait, then imposed economic sanctions on Iraq, and finally set a deadline for Iraqi withdrawal pending military action. 3,664 Iraqi civilians were killed during the war<ref name=Wagesofwar>{{cite web |url=http://www.comw.org/pda/0310rm8ap2.html#1.%20Iraqi%20civilian%20fatalities%20in%20the%201991%20Gulf |title=The Wages of War: Iraqi Combatant and Noncombatant Fatalities in the 2003 Conflict|access-date=9 May 2009 |publisher=Project on Defense Alternatives}}</ref> with up to 1,500 of whom died in the [[Amiriyah shelter bombing]]. Overall civilian fatalities in Iraq caused by damage to infrastructure and access to food and water due to United States bombing campaigns reached 100,000.
Another source of controversy within the Gulf War was the [[Highway of Death]]. During the American-led coalition offensive in the war, American, Canadian, British and French aircraft and ground forces attacked retreating Iraqi military personnel attempting to leave Kuwait on the night of February 26–27, 1991 in compliance with the original [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 660|UN Resolution 660]] of August 2, 1990, and that the column included Kuwaiti [[hostage]]s and refugees<ref name=time>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,972526,00.html |title=Death Highway, Revisited|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=March 18, 1991|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201192905/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,972526,00.html|archive-date=2008-12-01|url-status=dead}}</ref> Former [[United States Attorney General]] [[Ramsey Clark]] argued that these attacks violated the [[Third Geneva Convention]], Common Article 3, which outlaws the killing of soldiers who "are out of combat".<ref>{{cite news|first=Elaine|last=Sciolino|author-link=Elaine Sciolino|title=The World: Theater of War; The New Face of Battle Wears Greasepaint|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 22, 1998|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E4DA1E3FF931A15751C0A96E958260|access-date=2008-12-21}}</ref>

Professor George Klay Kieh Jr. argued that part of the motivation for the Gulf War was derived from a desire to distract from the various crisis' in America at the time, such as the [[Keating Five]], national debt rising to $3 Trillion, an increasing trade deficit, unemployment, rising crime and growing wealth inequality.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kieh |first1=George |title=Western Imperialism in the Middle East: The Case of the United States' Military Intervention in the Persian Gulf |date=1992 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41858004 |journal=Arab Studies Quarterly |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=7–8|jstor=41858004 |access-date=26 August 2023}}</ref> He also argued that other very significant motivating factors for the war were strategic factors, such as a fear of subsequent invasion of [[Saudi Arabia]] and other Pro-American monarchies in Arabia.<ref name="jstor.org">{{cite journal |last1=Kieh |first1=George |title=Western Imperialism in the Middle East: The Case of the United States' Military Intervention in the Persian Gulf |date=1992 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41858004 |journal=Arab Studies Quarterly |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=10|jstor=41858004 |access-date=26 August 2023}}</ref> Iraqi control over the Gulf region was also feared to harm access to the United States to a major corridor of international trade. Professor Kieh also argued for various economic factors behind the invasion. The Bush Administration calculated that Iraq's annexation of Kuwait would result in it controlling up to 45% of global oil production<ref name="jstor.org"/> and since major banks such as [[Bank of America]] had significant stakes in the oil industry (various Gulf states saved more than $75 Billion in American banks), there were fears of a potential economic crisis due to the annexation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kieh |first1=George |title=Western Imperialism in the Middle East: The Case of the United States' Military Intervention in the Persian Gulf |date=1992 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41858004 |journal=Arab Studies Quarterly |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=11|jstor=41858004 |access-date=26 August 2023}}</ref>

In 2003, the United States under the leadership of [[George W. Bush]] [[Iraq War|invaded Iraq]]. A large part of the rationale for the invasion came from allegations of Iraq possessing Weapons of Mass Destruction, as well as a [[Saddam–al-Qaeda conspiracy theory|conspiracy theory]] that Iraq supported [[Al-Qaeda]]. The [[9/11 Commission]] concluded there was no evidence of any relationship between Saddam's regime and al-Qaeda.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/dec/14/dick-cheney/cheney-torture-report-saddam-hussein-had-10-year-r/|title=Cheney on torture report: Saddam Hussein 'had a 10-year relationship with al-Qaida'|website=@politifact|language=en|access-date=26 August 2023}}</ref> No stockpiles of WMDs or active WMD program were ever found in Iraq.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/22/iraq-war-wmds-an-intelligence-failure-or-white-house-spin/|title=The Iraq War and WMDs: An intelligence failure or White House spin?|date=2019|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> Estimates of how many died as a result of the war vary, ranging from 151,000 to more than 1 Million.
The Iraq War was successful in ousting Saddam Hussein and the end of the Ba'athist government, but quickly collapsed into a [[Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011)|period of insurgency]]. Though the war officially ended in 2011, the [[Iraqi insurgency (2011–2013)|insurgency continued]] culminating in the rise of the [[ISIS|Islamic State]] in both Syria and Iraq. The Iraq War and the subsequent sectarian conflict and instability has been credited as a reason for the rise of ISIS in the 2010s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/iraq-war-created-isis-concedes-david-miliband-1460557 |title=Iraq War Created Isis, Concedes David Miliband |last=Porter |first= Tom |date= 2014 |website=International Business Times |access-date=26 August 2023}}</ref>

American companies benefited from the war in Iraq. Indicted defense contractor [[Brent R. Wilkes]] was reported to be ecstatic when hearing that the United States was going to go to war with Iraq. "He and some of his top executives were really gung-ho about the war," said a former employee. "Brent said this would create new opportunities for the company. He was really excited about doing business in the Middle East."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20070215-9999-1n15contract.html|title=Politics Case shines light on how war contracts are awarded|access-date=26 August 2023}}</ref> One of the top profiteers from the [[Iraq War]] was oil field services corporation, [[Halliburton]]. Halliburton gained $39.5 billion in "federal contracts related to the Iraq war".<ref>{{Cite news|title=Contractors reap $138bn from Iraq war|url=https://www.ft.com/content/7f435f04-8c05-11e2-b001-00144feabdc0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/7f435f04-8c05-11e2-b001-00144feabdc0 |archive-date=2022-12-10 |url-access=subscription|url-status=live|access-date=2017-02-24|website=Financial Times|date=18 March 2013|language=en-GB}}</ref> Furthermore, of the $14 Trillion spent by the Pentagon after the start of the War on Terror, between a third and a half went to defence contractors.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/papers/2021/ProfitsOfWar |title=PROFITS OF WAR: CORPORATE BENEFICIARIES OF THE POST-9/11 PENTAGON SPENDING SURGE |last=Hartung |first=William |date=2021 |access-date= 26 August 2023}}</ref> By 2013, contractors in Iraq had reaped $130 Billion in profits.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/19/business/iraq-war-contractors/index.html |title=Contractors reap $138B from Iraq war |last=Fifield |first=Anna |date=2013 |website=CNN Business|access-date=26 August 2023}}</ref>

The invasion of Iraq and subsequent [[Coalition Provisional Authority]] began to [[Economic reform of Iraq|dismantle Iraq's Centrally Planned Economy]]. [[Paul Bremer]], chief executive  the [[Coalition Provisional Authority]] of Iraq, planned to restructure Iraq's state owned economy with [[free market]] thinking.
Bremer dropped the [[corporate tax]] rate from around 45% to a flat tax rate of 15% and allowed foreign corporations to [[economic repatriation|repatriate]] all profits earned in Iraq. Opposition from senior Iraqi officials, together with the poor security situation, meant that Bremer's privatization plan was not implemented during his tenure,<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/05/world/struggle-for-iraq-northern-region-kurdish-region-northern-iraq-will-get-keep.html?scp=3&sq=privatization&st=nyt | work=The New York Times | title=THE STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ: NORTHERN REGION; Kurdish Region in Northern Iraq Will Get to Keep Special Status | first=Steven R. | last=Weisman | date=2004-01-05}}</ref> though his orders remained in place.
CPA Order 39 laid out the framework for full privatization in Iraq and permitted 100% foreign ownership of Iraqi assets and strengthened the positions of foreign businesses and investors. Critics like [[Naomi Klein]] argued that CPA Order 39 was designed to create as favorable an environment for foreign investors as possible, which would allow American corporations to dominate Iraq's economy.<ref name="shock">[[The Shock Doctrine]], [[Naomi Klein]]</ref>

Also controversial was [[CPA Order 17]] which granted all foreign contractors operating in Iraq [[Immunity from prosecution|immunity]] from "Iraqi [[legal process]]," effectively granting immunity from any kind of suit, civil or criminal, for actions the contractors engaged in within Iraq.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.iraqcoalition.org/regulations/20040627_CPAORD_17_Status_of_Coalition__Rev__with_Annex_A.pdf |title=iraqcoalition.org/~Status_of_Coalition_Rev_with_Annex_A.pdf |access-date=26 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040701202703/http://iraqcoalition.org/regulations/20040627_CPAORD_17_Status_of_Coalition__Rev__with_Annex_A.pdf |archive-date=2004-07-01 |url-status=dead}}</ref> CPA Order 49 also provided significant [[tax cut]]s for corporations operating within Iraq by reducing the rate from a maximum of 40% to a maximum of just 15% on income. Furthermore, corporations who collaborated with the CPA were [[tax exemption|exempted]] from having to pay any tax.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iraqcoalition.org/regulations/20040220_CPAORD_49_Tax_Strategy_of_2004_with_Annex_and_Ex_Note.pdf |title=iraqcoalition.org/~Tax_Strategy_of_2004_with_Annex_and_Ex_Note.pdf |access-date=26 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303165636/http://www.iraqcoalition.org/regulations/20040220_CPAORD_49_Tax_Strategy_of_2004_with_Annex_and_Ex_Note.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-03 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Access to Iraqi oil has been credited as a significant motivating factor behind the war, with Iraq claiming that $150 Billion of oil was stolen from Iraq after the war.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/23/middleeast/iraq-oil-money-us-invastion-intl/index.html |title=
Iraq estimates that $150 billion of its oil money has been stolen from the country since the US-led invasion of 2003 |last=Tawfeeq |first=Mohammed |date= 23 May 2021 |website=CNN |access-date= 26 August 2023|quote=}}</ref> General [[John Abizaid]], [[United States Central Command|CENTCOM]] commander from 2003 to 2007, said of the Iraq war: "first of all I think it's really important to understand the dynamics that are going on in the Middle East, and of course it's about oil, it's very much about oil and we can't really deny that".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/10/15/abizaid-of-course-its-abo_n_68568.html |work=Huffington Post |title=Abizaid: "Of Course It's About Oil, We Can't Really Deny That" |date=October 15, 2007 |first=Think |last=Progress |access-date=26 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104171803/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/10/15/abizaid-of-course-its-abo_n_68568.html |archive-date=January 4, 2014 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/19/opinion/iraq-war-oil-juhasz/index.html |title=Why the war in Iraq was fought for Big Oil |last=Juhasz |first=Antonia |date=2015 |website=CNN |access-date=26 August 2023 |quote=}}</ref> However, oil as a rationale for the war has been criticised by various commentators such as Economist [[Gary S. Becker]] who stated in 2003 that "if oil were the driving force behind the Bush Administration’s hard line on Iraq, avoiding war would be the most appropriate policy".<ref>{{cite news |last=Becker |first=Gary S. |date=2003-03-17 |title=Why War with Iraq Is Not about the Oil |language=en |work=[[Bloomberg News]] |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2003-03-16/why-war-with-iraq-is-not-about-the-oil |access-date=2022-05-15}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite book |last=Ahmad |first=Muhammad Idrees |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J1mrBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 |title=Road to Iraq: The Making of a Neoconservative War |date=2014-06-30 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-9304-7 |pages=24–25 |language=en}}</ref>

In 2001, following [[9/11]] the United States led a multinational invasion of [[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)|Taliban-ruled Afghanistan]]. The stated goal was to dismantle [[al-Qaeda]], which had executed the attacks under the leadership of [[Osama bin Laden]], and to deny [[List of Islamist terrorist attacks|Islamist militants]] a safe base of operations in Afghanistan by toppling the Taliban government. Before the invasion, in an address to a joint session of the US Congress on September 20, 2001, [[George W. Bush]] demanded that the [[Taliban]] deliver Osama bin Laden and destroy bases of al-Qaeda. 
Following a period of airstrikes on Afghanistan, the Taliban offered to surrender Osama bin Laden to a neutral state if proof of his involvement was given and if airstrikes on Afghanistan ceased.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/oct/14/afghanistan.terrorism5 | title=Bush rejects Taliban offer to hand Bin Laden over | newspaper=The Guardian | date=14 October 2001 }}</ref> Despite these offers, US military action began soon after, and the War started officially on 7 October 2001 as part of [[Operation Enduring Freedom]]. The invasion made rapid gain for the next two months, and the coalition captured [[Kabul]] on November 13 and toppled the Taliban by December 17. However, the Taliban continued to fight an insurgency over the next 20 years. In 2021, the Taliban recaptured Kabul and won in Afghanistan.

Private military contractors gained significant profits from the war in Afghanistan. By 2020, the United States had 22,562 contract personnel in Afghanistan which was almost twice the number of American troops.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/11/us-afghanistan-iraq-defense-spending | title=Where did the $5tn spent on Afghanistan and Iraq go? Here's where | newspaper=The Guardian | date=11 September 2021 }}</ref>

In 2011, as part of the wider [[Arab Spring]], protests erupted in [[History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi|Libya]] against [[Muammar Gaddafi]], which soon spiralled into a civil war. In the ensuing conflict, a NATO-led coalition began a military intervention in Libya to implement [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973]]. While the effort was initially largely led by [[France]] and the [[United Kingdom]], command was shared with the United States, as part of [[Operation Odyssey Dawn]]. According to the Libyan Health Ministry, the attacks saw 114 civilians killed and 445 civilians wounded.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/9436749.stm|title=Mid-East crisis as it happened: 25 March|date=25 March 2011|work=BBC News|access-date=26 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110327143813/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/9436749.stm|archive-date=27 March 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

Scholars like Matteo Capasso have argued that the intervention was the final conclusion in a wider war on Libya since the 1970s via '[[gunboat diplomacy]], [[1986 United States bombing of Libya|military bombings]], international sanctions and arbitrary use of international law'.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Capasso |first1=Matteo |date= 2020|title=The war and the economy: the gradual destruction of Libya|journal=Review of African Political Economy|pages=15}}</ref> Capasso argued that the war in Libya acted to strip Libya of its autonomy and resources and the 'overall weakening and fragmentation of the African and Arab political position, and the cheapening and/or direct annihilation of human lives in Third World countries'.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Capasso |first1=Matteo |date= 2020|title=The war and the economy: the gradual destruction of Libya|journal=Review of African Political Economy|pages=16}}</ref>

==American exceptionalism==
{{Main|American exceptionalism}}
[[File:Puck cover2.jpg|upright|thumb|On the cover of ''[[Puck (magazine)|Puck]]'' published on April 6, 1901, in the wake of gainful victory in the [[Spanish–American War]], [[Columbia (name)|Columbia]]—the [[National personification]] of the U.S.—preens herself with an [[Easter bonnet]] in the form of a warship bearing the words "World Power" and the word "Expansion" on the smoke coming out of its stack.]]

[[American exceptionalism]] is the notion that the United States occupies a special position among the nations of the world<ref name="sagehistory.net">Frederick Jackson Turner, {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521064528/http://www.sagehistory.net/gildedage/documents/TurnerFT.html |date=May 21, 2008 |title=Significance of the Frontier }}, sagehistory.net (archived from [http://www.sagehistory.net/gildedage/documents/TurnerFT.html the original] on May 21, 2008).</ref> in terms of its national [[credo]], historical evolution, and political and religious institutions and origins.

Philosopher [[Douglas Kellner]] traces the identification of American exceptionalism as a distinct phenomenon back to 19th-century French observer [[Alexis de Tocqueville]], who concluded by agreeing that the U.S., uniquely, was "proceeding along a path to which no limit can be perceived".<ref>{{cite web | author=Kellner, Douglas | url=http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/courses/ed253a/american-exceptionalism.htm | title=American Exceptionalism | date=April 25, 2003 | access-date=February 20, 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060217113947/http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/courses/ed253a/american-exceptionalism.htm |archive-date = February 17, 2006}}</ref>

As a ''[[Monthly Review]]'' editorial opines on the phenomenon, "In Britain, empire was justified as a benevolent [[The White Man's Burden|'white man's burden.']] And in the United States, empire does not even exist; 'we' are merely protecting the causes of freedom, democracy and justice worldwide."<ref>{{cite journal| first =Harry| last =Magdoff|author2=John Bellamy Foster|date=November 2001 | title =After the Attack ... The War on Terrorism| journal=[[Monthly Review]]| volume =53| issue =6| page =7| url =https://monthlyreview.org/2001/11/01/after-the-attack-the-war-on-terrorism  |access-date=October 8, 2009}}</ref>

==Views of American imperialism==
[[File:Go Away Little Man Charles Green Bush.jpg|thumb|upright|1903 cartoon, ''"Go Away, Little Man, and Don't Bother Me"'', depicts President [[Theodore Roosevelt|Roosevelt]] intimidating Colombia to acquire the [[Panama Canal Zone]].]]

A conservative, anti-interventionist view as expressed by American journalist [[John T. Flynn]]:

{{blockquote|The enemy aggressor is always pursuing a course of larceny, murder, rapine and barbarism. We are always moving forward with high mission, a destiny imposed by the [[Deity]] to regenerate our victims, while incidentally capturing their markets; to civilise savage and senile and paranoid peoples, while blundering accidentally into their oil wells.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mises.org/books/aswegomarching.pdf|title=Books|work=Mises Institute|date=2014-08-18}}</ref>}}

[[File:1899BalanceCartoon.jpg|thumb|left|upright|In 1899, Uncle Sam balances his new possessions which are depicted as savage children. The figures are [[Puerto Rico]], Hawaii, [[Cuba]], [[Philippines]] and "Ladrone Island" (Guam, largest of the [[Mariana Islands]], which were formerly known as the Ladrones Islands).]]

A "[[social-democratic]]" theory says that imperialistic U.S. policies are the products of the excessive influence of certain sectors of U.S. business and government—the [[arms industry]] in alliance with military and political bureaucracies and sometimes other industries such as oil and finance, a combination often referred to as the "[[military–industrial complex]]." The complex is said to benefit from [[war profiteering]] and looting [[natural resource]]s, often at the expense of the public interest.<ref>[[C. Wright Mills]], ''The Causes of World War Three'', Simon and Schuster, 1958, pp. 52, 111</ref> The proposed solution is typically unceasing popular vigilance in order to apply counter-pressure.<ref>Flynn, John T. (1944) ''As We Go Marching.''</ref> [[Chalmers Johnson]] holds a version of this view.<ref>{{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Chalmers |title=The sorrows of empire: Militarism, secrecy, and the end of the republic |url=https://archive.org/details/sorrowsofempirem00john_0 |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Metropolitan Books |year=2004|isbn=9780805070040 }}</ref>

[[Alfred Thayer Mahan]], who served as an officer in the [[U.S. Navy]] during the late 19th century, supported the notion of American imperialism in his 1890 book titled ''[[The Influence of Sea Power upon History]].'' Mahan argued that modern industrial nations must secure foreign markets for the purpose of exchanging goods and, consequently, they must maintain a maritime force that is capable of protecting these [[trade routes]].<ref>{{ws|{{cite book |year=1890 |first=Alfred Thayer |last=Mahan |title=The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783 |location=Boston, MA |publisher=Little, Brown, and Company |oclc=2553178 |at=[[s:The Influence of Sea Power upon History/Chapter I|Chapter I: Discussion of the Elements of Sea Power]]|title-link=s:The Influence of Sea Power upon History }}}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 26396746|last1 = Sumida|first1 = Jon Tetsuro|title = Geography, technology, and British naval strategy in the ''dreadnought'' era|journal = Naval War College Review|volume = 59|issue = 3|pages = 89–102|year = 2006|url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a573630.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305122735/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a573630.pdf|url-status=live|archive-date=March 5, 2014}}</ref>

A theory of "super-imperialism" argues that imperialistic U.S. policies are not driven solely by the interests of American businesses, but also by the interests of a larger apparatus of a global alliance among the economic elite in developed countries. The argument asserts that [[capitalism]] in the [[North–South divide in the World|Global North]] (Europe, Japan, Canada, and the U.S.) has become too entangled to permit military or geopolitical conflict between these countries, and the central conflict in modern imperialism is between the Global North (also referred to as the [[core countries|global core]]) and the Global South (also referred to as the [[Third World|global periphery]]), rather than between the imperialist powers.

=== American Expansion through Artistic Expression ===
America's imperial mission was the subject of much critique and praise to the contemporary American, and this is evident through the art and media which emerged in the 1800s as a result of this expansion. The disparities in the art produced in this period show the differences in public opinion, thus allowing us to identify how different social spheres responded to America's imperial endeavors.
[[File:A View to the River - 1861.jpg|left|thumb|Landscape painting by Edward D. Nelson - A View to the River, 1861]]
The [[Hudson River School]], a romantic-inspired art movement which emerged in 1826 at the height of nineteenth-century American expansion depicted [[Sublime (philosophy)|sublime]] landscapes and grand natural scenes. These paintings which admired the marvels of unexplored American territory emphasized this idea of America as a promised land.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cusack |first=Tricia |date=2021-09-30 |title=The Chosen People: The Hudson River School and the Construction of American Identity |journal=Review of International American Studies |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=107–152 |doi=10.31261/rias.11804 |issn=1991-2773|doi-access=free }}</ref> Common themes explored among paintings within the Hudson River School include: discovery; exploration; settlement and promise.

These themes were recurrent in other displays of artistic expression at this time. [[John Gast (painter)|John Gast]], famously known for his 1872 painting titled [[American Progress]] similarly displays themes of discovery and the hopeful prospects of American expansion.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Weems |first=Jason |date=March 2011 |title=Looking Up, Looking Down, Looking Out |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/660024 |journal=American Art |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=2–10 |doi=10.1086/660024 |s2cid=188656106 |issn=1073-9300}}</ref> Notions of [[manifest destiny]] is also emulated in art created in this time, with art often used to justify this belief that the White Man was inevitably destined to spread across the American continent.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wiggins |first1=J. Russell |last2=Merk |first2=Frederick |last3=Merk |first3=Lois Bannister |date=December 1963 |title=Manifest Destiny and Mission in American History: A Reinterpretation |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/363114 |journal=The New England Quarterly |volume=36 |issue=4 |pages=528 |doi=10.2307/363114 |jstor=363114 |issn=0028-4866}}</ref>

===Political debate after September 11, 2001===
[[File:Nebel_Mexican_War_12_Scott_in_Mexico_City.jpg|thumb|American occupation of [[Mexico City]] in 1847]]
[[File:Raising of American flag at Iolani Palace with US Marines in the foreground (detailed).jpg|thumb|Ceremonies during the [[Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii#Annexation|annexation of the Republic of Hawaii]], 1898]]

Following the [[United States invasion of Afghanistan|invasion of Afghanistan]] in 2001, the idea of American imperialism was re-examined. In November 2001, jubilant marines hoisted an American flag over Kandahar and in a stage display referred to the moment as the third after those on [[Battle of San Juan Hill|San Juan Hill]] and [[Battle of Iwo Jima|Iwo Jima]]. All moments, writes [[Neil Smith (geographer)|Neil Smith]], express U.S. global ambition. "Labelled a [[War on Terror]]ism, the new war represents an unprecedented quickening of the American Empire, a third chance at global power."<ref>Neil Smith, ''American Empire: Roosevelt's Geographer and the Prelude to Globalization'', (Berkeley & Los Angeles & London: University of California Press, 2003), p XI-XII.</ref>

On October 15, 2001, the cover of [[Bill Kristol]]'s ''[[Weekly Standard]]'' carried the headline, "The Case for American Empire".<ref>[[Max Boot]], "[http://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith/courses01/rrtw/boot.htm The Case for American Empire]," ''Weekly Standard'' 7/5, (October 15, 2001)</ref> [[Rich Lowry]], editor in chief of the [[National Review]], called for "a kind of low-grade [[colonialism]]" to topple dangerous regimes beyond Afghanistan.<ref>Nina J. Easton, "Thunder on the Right," American Journalism Review 23 (December 2001), 320.</ref> The columnist [[Charles Krauthammer]] declared that, given complete U.S. domination "culturally, economically, technologically and militarily", people were "now coming out of the closet on the word 'empire{{'"}}.<ref name="Trends 2002" /> The ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' Sunday magazine cover for January 5, 2003, read "American Empire: Get Used To It". The phrase "American empire" appeared more than 1000 times in news stories during November 2002 – April 2003.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1162/isec.2007.32.1.47|title = Escape from the State of Nature: Authority and Hierarchy in World Politics|journal = International Security|volume = 32|pages = 47–79|year = 2007|last1 = Lake|first1 = David A.|s2cid = 57572519}}</ref>

===Academic debates after September 11, 2001===
In 2001–2010, numerous scholars debated the "America as Empire" issue.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1017/S1740022807002343|title = Comparing British and American empires|journal = Journal of Global History|volume = 2|issue = 3|pages = 395–404|year = 2007|last1 = Hopkins|first1 = A. G.|s2cid = 162871393}}</ref>
Harvard historian [[Charles S. Maier]] states:
{{blockquote|
Since September 11, 2001&nbsp;... if not earlier, the idea of American empire is back&nbsp;... Now&nbsp;... for the first time since the early Twentieth century, it has become acceptable to ask whether the United States has become or is becoming an empire in some classic sense."<ref>[[Charles S. Maier]], ''Among Empires: American Ascendancy and Its Predecessors'', (Massachusetts & London: Harvard University Press, 2006), p 2-24.</ref>}}
Harvard professor [[Niall Ferguson]] states: 
{{blockquote|
It used to be that only the critics of American foreign policy referred to the American empire&nbsp;... In the past three or four years [2001–2004], however, a growing number of commentators have begun to use the term American empire less pejoratively, if still ambivalently, and in some cases with genuine enthusiasm.<ref>[[Niall Ferguson]], ''Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire'', (New York: Penguin Books, 2005), pp. 3–4.</ref>}}

French political scientist Philip Golub argues:
{{blockquote|
U.S. historians have generally considered the late 19th century imperialist urge as an aberration in an otherwise smooth democratic trajectory&nbsp;... Yet a century later, as the U.S. empire engages in a new period of global expansion, Rome is once more a distant but essential mirror for American elites&nbsp;... Now, with military mobilisation on an exceptional scale after September 2001, the United States is openly affirming and parading its imperial power. For the first time since the 1890s, the naked display of force is backed by explicitly imperialist discourse.<ref>Philip S. Golub, "[http://mondediplo.com/2002/09/03westward Westward the Course of Empire]", ''Le Monde Diplomatique'', (September 2002)</ref>}}

A leading spokesman for America-as-Empire is British historian [[A. G. Hopkins]].<ref>A. G. Hopkins, ''American Empire: a Global History'' (2019).</ref>  He argues that by the 21st century traditional economic imperialism was no longer in play, noting that the oil companies opposed the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. Instead, anxieties about the negative impact of globalization on rural and rust-belt America were at work, says Hopkins:
{{blockquote|
These anxieties prepared the way for a conservative revival based on family, faith and flag that enabled the neo-conservatives to transform conservative patriotism into assertive nationalism after 9/11. In the short term, the invasion of Iraq was a manifestation of national unity. Placed in a longer perspective, it reveals a growing divergence between new globalised interests, which rely on cross-border negotiation, and insular nationalist interests, which seek to rebuild fortress America.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1080/03086530601143412|title = Capitalism, Nationalism and the New American Empire|journal = The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History|volume = 35|issue=1|pages = 95–117|year = 2007|last1 = Hopkins|first1 = A. G.|s2cid = 143521756}} Quoting page 95.</ref>}}

[[File:CIA Secret Prisons.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|The [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s [[extraordinary rendition]] and detention program – countries involved in the Program, according to the 2013 Open Society Foundation's report on [[torture]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/projects/globalizing-torture|title=CIA Secret Detention and Torture|publisher=opensocietyfoundations.org|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130220112418/http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/projects/globalizing-torture|archive-date=February 20, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref>]]

Harvard professor Niall Ferguson concludes that worldwide military and economic power have combined to make the U.S. the most powerful empire in history. It is a good idea he thinks, because like the successful [[British Empire]] in the 19th century it works to globalize free markets, enhance the rule of law and promote representative government. He fears, however, that Americans lack the long-term commitment in manpower and money to keep the Empire operating.<ref>Niall Ferguson, ''Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire'' (2004), [https://www.amazon.com/Colossus-Rise-Fall-American-Empire/dp/0143034790 excerpt]</ref>

The U.S. dollar is the ''de facto'' [[world currency]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schulmeister|first=Stephan|s2cid=59022899|date=March 2000|title=Globalization without Global Money: The Double Role of the Dollar as National Currency and World Currency|journal=Journal of Post Keynesian Economics|volume=22|issue=3|pages=365–395|doi=10.1080/01603477.2000.11490246|issn=0160-3477}}</ref> The term [[petrodollar warfare]] refers to the alleged motivation of U.S. foreign policy as preserving by force the status of the United States dollar as the world's dominant [[reserve currency]] and as the currency in which [[Petroleum|oil]] is priced.  The term was coined by William R. Clark, who has written a book with the same title. The phrase ''oil [[currency war]]'' is sometimes used with the same meaning.<ref>Clark, William R. ''Petrodollar Warfare: Oil, Iraq and the Future of the Dollar'', New Society Publishers, 2005, Canada, {{ISBN|0-86571-514-9}}</ref>

Many{{snd}}perhaps most{{snd}}scholars{{who|date=April 2021}} have decided that the United States lacks the key essentials of an empire. For example, while there are American military bases around the world, the American soldiers do not rule over the local people, and the United States government does not send out governors or permanent settlers like all the historic empires did.<ref>Nugent, ''Habits of Empire'' p 287.</ref>  Harvard historian [[Charles S. Maier]] has examined the America-as-Empire issue at length.  He says the traditional understanding of the word "empire" does not apply, because the United States does not exert formal control over other nations or engage in systematic conquest. The best term is that the United States is a "hegemon." Its enormous influence through high technology, economic power, and impact on popular culture gives it an international outreach that stands in sharp contrast to the inward direction of historic empires.<ref>Charles S. Maier, ''Among Empires: American Ascendancy and Its Predecessors'' (2006).</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.3138/cjh.42.2.259 |title = The Anglo-American Global Imperial Legacy: Is There a Better Way?|journal = Canadian Journal of History|volume = 42|issue = 2|pages = 259–270|year = 2007|last1 = Vuoto|first1 = Grace}}</ref>

World historian [[Anthony Pagden]] asks, Is the United States really an empire? 
{{blockquote|
I think if we look at the history of the European empires, the answer must be no. It is often assumed that because America possesses the military capability to become an empire, any overseas interest it does have must necessarily be imperial.&nbsp;...In a number of crucial respects, the United States is, indeed, very un-imperial.... America bears not the slightest resemblance to ancient Rome. Unlike all previous European empires, it has no significant overseas settler populations in any of its formal dependencies and no obvious desire to acquire any.&nbsp;...It exercises no direct rule anywhere outside these areas, and it has always attempted to extricate itself as swiftly as possible from anything that looks as if it were about to develop into even indirect rule.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1162/0011526053887301|title = Imperialism, liberalism & the quest for perpetual peace|journal = Daedalus|volume = 134|issue = 2|pages = 46–57|year = 2005|last1 = Pagden|first1 = Anthony|s2cid = 57564158| url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249559701|doi-access = free}} Quoting pp 52–53.</ref>}}

[[File:US Navy 030402-N-5362A-004 U.S. Army Sgt. Mark Phiffer stands guard duty near a burning oil well in the Rumaylah Oil Fields in Southern Iraq.jpg|thumb|A U.S. soldier stands guard duty near a burning oil well in the [[Rumaila oil field]], [[Iraq]], April 2003.]]
In the book ''[[Empire (Negri and Hardt book)|Empire]]'' (2000), [[Michael Hardt]] and [[Antonio Negri]] argue that "the decline of Empire has begun".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/jul/15/globalisation.highereducation |title=Empire hits back |work=[[The Observer]] |date=July 15, 2001 |access-date=April 6, 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.evnreport.com/politics/the-2020-artsakh-war-what-the-world-lacks-now-is-leadership |first1=Daniel|last1=Tahmazyan|title=The 2020 Artsakh War: What the World Lacks Now Is Leadership -- evnreport.com|website=evnreport.com|date=30 November 2020 |access-date=5 January 2021}}</ref> Hardt says the [[Iraq War]] is a classically imperialist war and is the last gasp of a doomed strategy.<ref>{{cite journal | first=Michael | last=Hardt | date=July 13, 2006 | title=From Imperialism to Empire | journal=[[The Nation]] | url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/imperialism-empire/ }}</ref> They expand on this, claiming that in the new era of imperialism, the classical imperialists retain a colonizing power of sorts, but the strategy shifts from military occupation of economies based on physical goods to a networked [[biopower]] based on an informational and [[Affect (philosophy)|affective]] economies. They go on to say that the U.S. is central to the development of this new regime of [[Power in international relations|international power]] and [[sovereignty]], termed "Empire", but that it is decentralized and global, and not ruled by one sovereign state: "The United States does indeed occupy a privileged position in Empire, but this privilege derives not from its similarities to the old European imperialist powers, but from its differences."<ref>{{cite book | author=Negri, Antonio | author2=Hardt, Michael | year=2000 | title=Empire | publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] | url=https://archive.org/details/empire0000hard | isbn=0-674-00671-2 | access-date=October 8, 2009 | url-access=registration }} p. xiii–xiv.</ref>  Hardt and Negri draw on the theories of [[Baruch Spinoza]], [[Michel Foucault]], [[Gilles Deleuze]], and Italian [[Autonomism|Autonomist Marxists]].<ref>Michael Hardt, ''[[Gilles Deleuze]]: an Apprenticeship in Philosophy'', {{ISBN|0-8166-2161-6}}</ref><ref>[[Autonomism#Italian autonomism]]</ref>

Geographer [[David Harvey (geographer)|David Harvey]] says there has emerged a new type of imperialism due to geographical distinctions as well as unequal rates of development.<ref>{{cite book|last=Harvey|first=David|title=The new imperialism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N3VZWhA-OhoC|year=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-927808-4|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=N3VZWhA–OhoC&pg=PA101 101]}}</ref> He says there have emerged three new global economic and political blocs: the United States, the [[European Union]], and Asia centered on China and Russia.<ref>{{harvnb|Harvey|2005|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=N3VZWhA-OhoC&pg=PA31 31]}}.</ref>{{Verify source|date=February 2013|reason=The edit at http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_imperialism&curid=215140&diff=539849336&oldid=539669263 changed "East Asia centered around China and Japan" to "Asia centered around China and Russia" with no explanatory edit summary. The cited supporting source is not previewable online.}} He says there are tensions between the three major blocs over resources and economic power, citing the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]], the motive of which, he argues, was to prevent rival blocs from controlling oil.<ref>{{harvnb|Harvey|2005|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=N3VZWhA-OhoC&pg=PA77 77–78]}}.</ref> Furthermore, Harvey argues that there can arise conflict within the major blocs between business interests and the politicians due to their sometimes incongruent economic interests.<ref>{{harvnb|Harvey|2005|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=N3VZWhA-OhoC&pg=PA187 187]}}.</ref> Politicians live in geographically fixed locations and are, in the U.S. and Europe,{{Verify source|date=September 2016|reason=can't see the book so I'm not sure he said this. This is a very 'imperialist' view (only U.S. and Europe democratic) which would appear to be a departure from the rest of his analysis}} accountable to an electorate. The 'new' imperialism, then, has led to an alignment of the interests of capitalists and politicians in order to prevent the rise and expansion of possible economic and political rivals from challenging America's dominance.<ref>{{Harvnb|Harvey|2005|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=N3VZWhA-OhoC&pg=PA76 76–78]}}</ref>

[[File:USS Salt Lake City (SSN-716) and USS Frank Cable (AS-40) at Apra Harbor, Guam, on 23 May 2002 (6640652).jpg|thumb|left|[[Naval Base Guam]] in the U.S. territory of [[Guam]]]]
Classics professor and war historian [[Victor Davis Hanson]] dismisses the notion of an American Empire altogether, with a mocking comparison to historical empires: "We do not send out proconsuls to reside over client states, which in turn impose taxes on coerced subjects to pay for the legions. Instead, American bases are predicated on contractual obligations&nbsp;— costly to us and profitable to their hosts. We do not see any profits in Korea, but instead accept the risk of losing almost 40,000 of our youth to ensure that Kias can flood our shores and that shaggy students can protest outside our embassy in Seoul."<ref name=Hanson2002>{{cite journal | last=Hanson|first= Victor Davis |date=November 2002 | title = A Funny Sort of Empire | journal=National Review | url = http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson112702.asp | access-date =October 8, 2009|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080511233845/http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson112702.asp |archive-date= 2008-05-11 }}</ref>

The existence of "proconsuls", however, has been recognized by many since the early Cold War. In 1957, French Historian [[Amaury de Riencourt]] associated the American "proconsul" with "the Roman of our time."<ref>Cited in [[Geir Lundestad]], ''The United States and Western Europe since 1945: From 'Empire' by Invitation to Transatlantic Drift'', (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), p 112.</ref> Expert on recent American history, [[Arthur M. Schlesinger]], detected several contemporary imperial features, including "proconsuls." Washington does not directly run many parts of the world. Rather, its "informal empire" was one "richly equipped with imperial paraphernalia: troops, ships, planes, bases, proconsuls, local collaborators, all spread wide around the luckless planet."<ref>Schlesinger, Arthur Meier. ''The Cycles of American History'', (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986), p 141. {{OCLC|13455179}}</ref> "The [[Supreme Allied Commander]], always an American, was an appropriate title for the American proconsul whose reputation and influence outweighed those of European premiers, presidents, and chancellors."<ref>[[Lawrence Kaplan]], "Western Europe in 'The American Century{{'"}}, ''Diplomatic History'', 6/2, (1982): p 115.</ref> U.S. "combatant commanders&nbsp;... have served as its proconsuls. Their standing in their regions has usually dwarfed that of ambassadors and assistant secretaries of state."<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 20034046|title = History and the Hyperpower|journal = Foreign Affairs|volume = 83|issue = 4|pages = 49–63|last1 = Cohen|first1 = Eliot A.|year = 2004|doi = 10.2307/20034046|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2004-07-01/history-and-hyperpower|author-link1=Eliot A. Cohen}} pp. 60-61</ref>

[[File:History of NATO enlargement.svg|thumb|[[Enlargement of NATO]]]]
Harvard professor Niall Ferguson calls [[Unified Combatant Command|the regional combatant commanders]], among whom the whole globe is divided, the "pro-consuls" of this "imperium."<ref>Niall Ferguson, ''Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire'', (New York: Penguin Books, 2005), p 17.</ref> [[Günter Bischof]] calls them "the all powerful proconsuls of the new American empire. Like the proconsuls of Rome they were supposed to bring order and law to the unruly and anarchical world."<ref>Günter Bischof, "[http://www.beigewum.at/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009_2_014-23.pdf Empire Discourses: The 'American Empire' in Decline?]" ''Kurswechsel'', 2, (2009): p 18</ref> In September 2000, ''Washington Post'' reporter [[Dana Priest]] published a series of articles whose central premise was Combatant Commanders' inordinate amount of political influence within the countries in their areas of responsibility. They "had evolved into the modern-day equivalent of the Roman Empire's proconsuls—well-funded, semi-autonomous, unconventional centers of U.S. foreign policy."<ref>Cited in Andrew Feickert, "[https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R42077.pdf The Unified Command Plan and Combatant Commands: Background and Issues for Congress]", (Congressional Research Service, Washington: White House, 2013), p 59</ref> The Romans often preferred to exercise power through friendly client regimes, rather than direct rule: "Until Jay Garner and L. Paul Bremer became U.S. proconsuls in Baghdad, that was the American method, too".<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2007/06/14/bushs-amazing-achievement/ |url-status=live |title=Bush's Amazing Achievement |last=Freedland |first=Jonathan |date=June 14, 2007 |language=en |issn=0028-7504|magazine=The New York Review of Books|author-link1=Jonathan Freedland|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210200739/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2007/06/14/bushs-amazing-achievement/ |archive-date=2015-12-10 }}</ref>

Another distinction of [[Victor Davis Hanson]]—that US bases, contrary to the legions, are costly to America and profitable for their hosts—expresses the American view. The hosts express a diametrically opposite view. Japan pays for 25,000 Japanese working on US bases. 20% of those workers provide entertainment: a list drawn up by the Japanese Ministry of Defense included 76 bartenders, 48 vending machine personnel, 47 golf course maintenance personnel, 25 club managers, 20 commercial artists, 9 leisure-boat operators, 6 theater directors, 5 cake decorators, 4 bowling alley clerks, 3 tour guides and 1 animal caretaker. Shu Watanabe of the [[Democratic Party of Japan]] asks: "Why does Japan need to pay the costs for US service members' entertainment on their holidays?"<ref>Cited in {{Cite journal |jstor = 20699853|title = The United States–Japan Security Treaty at 50: Still a Grand Bargain?|journal = Foreign Affairs|volume = 89|issue = 2|pages = 92–103|last1 = Packard|first1 = George R.|year = 2010|url=https://documents.pub/amp/document/the-united-statesjapan-security-treaty-at-50-still-a-grand-bargain.html}} pp. 98–99</ref> One research on host nations support concludes:
[[File:Us troops in syria.jpg|thumb|right|A convoy of U.S. soldiers during the [[American intervention in the Syrian civil war]], December 2018]]
{{Blockquote|
At an alliance-level analysis, case studies of South Korea and Japan show that the necessity of the alliance relationship with the U.S. and their relative capabilities to achieve security purposes lead them to increase the size of direct economic investment to support the U.S. forces stationed in their territories, as well as to facilitate the US global defense posture. In addition, these two countries have increased their political and economic contribution to the U.S.-led military operations beyond the geographic scope of the alliance in the post-Cold War period&nbsp;... Behavioral changes among the U.S. allies in response to demands for sharing alliance burdens directly indicate the changed nature of unipolar alliances. In order to maintain its power preponderance and primacy, the unipole has imposed greater pressure on its allies to devote much of their resources and energy to contributing to its global defense posture&nbsp;... [It] is expected that the systemic properties of unipolarity–non-structural threat and a power preponderance of the unipole–gradually increase the political and economic burdens of the allies in need of maintaining alliance relationships with the unipole.<ref>Sung Woo Kim, "[https://iro.uiowa.edu/esploro/outputs/doctoral/System-polarities-and-alliance-politics/9983777286802771 System Polarities and Alliance Politics]", (PhD thesis, University of Iowa, 2012), pp. 149–151</ref>}}

Increasing the "economic burdens of the allies" was one of the major priorities of former President [[Donald Trump]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2016/03/aipac-and-foreign-policy |title=AIPAC and foreign policy |newspaper=The Economist |date=March 22, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/politics/donald-trump-issues.html |title=Donald Trump Sets Conditions for Defending NATO Allies Against Attack |last1=Sanger |first1=David E. |date=July 20, 2016 |last2=Haberman |first2=Maggie |newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331|access-date=July 31, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.factcheck.org/2016/05/whats-trumps-position-on-nato/ |first= D'Angelo |last=Gore |title=What's Trump's Position on NATO? |publisher=factcheck.org|access-date=July 31, 2016|date=2016-05-11 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2016/03/29/full-rush-transcript-donald-trump-cnn-milwaukee-republican-presidential-town-hall/ |title=Full Rush Transcript: Donald Trump, CNN Milwaukee Republican Presidential Town Hall |publisher=CNN |access-date=June 26, 2016}}</ref> Classicist Eric Adler notes that Hanson earlier had written about the decline of the classical studies in the United States and insufficient attention devoted to the classical experience. "When writing about American foreign policy for a lay audience, however, Hanson himself chose to castigate Roman imperialism in order to portray the modern United States as different from—and superior to—the Roman state."<ref name=Adler2008>{{Cite journal |jstor = 25691268|title = Post-9/11 Views of Rome and the Nature of "Defensive Imperialism"|journal = International Journal of the Classical Tradition|volume = 15|issue = 4|pages = 587–610|last1 = Adler|first1 = Eric|s2cid = 143223136|year = 2008|doi = 10.1007/s12138-009-0069-7|url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/1442670/IJCT.15.4.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DPost-9_11_Views_of_Rome_and_the_Nature.pdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A%2F20200121%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20200121T193424Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=092808f15515bd339c803262e576ae506c9dd7f25b0e800c45f34a52ae21b66f|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200121193546/https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/1442670/IJCT.15.4.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DPost-9_11_Views_of_Rome_and_the_Nature.pdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A%2F20200121%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20200121T193424Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=092808f15515bd339c803262e576ae506c9dd7f25b0e800c45f34a52ae21b66f|archive-date = 2020-01-21}} Quoting p. 593.</ref> As a supporter of a hawkish unilateral American foreign policy, Hanson's "distinctly negative view of Roman imperialism is particularly noteworthy, since it demonstrates the importance a contemporary supporter of a hawkish American foreign policy places on criticizing Rome."<ref name=Adler2008/>

==Role of Gender in American Imperialism==
Within the United States, women played a crucial role in advocating for American imperialism. Women's organisations and prominent figures actively supported and promoted the expansion of American influence overseas and saw imperialism as an opportunity to extend American values, culture, and civilization to other nations. These women believed in the superiority of American ideals and saw it as their duty to uplift and educate what they often perceived as 'lesser' peoples. By endorsing imperialist policies, women aimed to spread democracy, [[Christianity]], and Western progress to territories beyond American borders: their domestic advocacy created a narrative that framed imperialism as a mission of benevolence, wherein the United States had a responsibility to guide and shape the destiny of other nations.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoganson |first=Kristin L. |title=Fighting for American Manhood: How Gender Politics Provoked the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2001}}</ref>

During the era of American imperialism, women played a significant role in [[missionary]] work. Missionary societies sent women to various parts of the world, particularly in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, with the aim of spreading Christianity and Western values. These women saw themselves as agents of cultural and religious transformation, seeking to "civilize" and "Christianize" indigenous populations. Their missionary efforts involved establishing schools, churches, hospitals, and orphanages in imperial territories; through these institutions, women aimed to improve the lives of local people, provide education, healthcare, and social services. Their work intertwined religious and imperialistic motives, as they believed that the spread of Christianity and Western values would uplift and transform the "heathen" populations they encountered.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Choi |first=Hyaeweol |title=Gender and Mission Encounters in Korea: New Women, Old Ways |publisher=University of California Press |year=2009}}</ref>

Women played a crucial role in educational and social reform initiatives within imperial territories during the era of American imperialism. They established schools, hospitals, and orphanages, aiming to improve the lives of indigenous populations – initiatives reflecting a belief in the superiority of [[East–West dichotomy|Western values]] and a desire to assimilate native cultures into American norms. Women also sought to provide education, healthcare, and social services that aligned with American ideals of progress and civilisation, and by promoting Western education and introducing social reforms, they hoped to shape the lives and future of the people they encountered in imperial territories. These efforts often entailed the imposition of Western cultural norms, as women saw themselves as agents of transformation and viewed [[Indigenous peoples|indigenous]] practices as in need of improvement and "upliftment".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bashford |first=Alison |title=Imperial Hygiene: A Critical History of Colonialism, Nationalism, and Public Health |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan London |year=2004}}</ref>

Women also played important roles as nurses and medical practitioners during the era of American imperialism. Particularly during the Spanish–American War and subsequent American occupations, women provided healthcare services to soldiers, both American and local, and worked to improve public health conditions in occupied territories. These women played a vital role in caring for the wounded, preventing the spread of diseases, and providing medical assistance to communities affected by the conflicts. Their work as nurses and medical practitioners contributed to the establishment of healthcare infrastructure and the improvement of public health in imperial territories. These women worked tirelessly in often challenging conditions, dedicating themselves to the well-being and recovery of those affected by the conflicts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brewster |first=Claire |date=2005 |title=Women and the Spanish-American Wars of Independence: An Overview. |journal=Feminist Review |volume=79 |pages=20–35|doi=10.1057/palgrave.fr.9400200 |s2cid=154141760 }}</ref>

While some women supported American imperialism, others actively participated in anti-imperialist movements and expressed opposition to expansionist policies. Women, including suffragettes and progressive activists, were critical of the imperialist practices of the United States. They challenged the notion that spreading [[democracy]] and civilization abroad could be achieved through the [[oppression]] and [[colonization]] of other peoples. These women believed in the principles of self-determination, sovereignty, and equality for all nations. They argued that true progress and justice could not be achieved through the subjugation of others, emphasising the need for cooperation and respect among nations. By raising their voices against imperialism, these women sought to promote a vision of [[global justice]] and equality.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Burgin |first=SN |date=2016 |title=White Women, Anti-Imperialist Feminism and the Story of Race within the US Women's Liberation Movement |journal=Women's History Review |volume=25 |issue=5 |pages=756–770|doi=10.1080/09612025.2015.1132980 |s2cid=146480559 |url=http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/89616/2/BURGIN%20WHR%20Special%20Issue%20Aug%202015.pdf }}</ref>

Ultimately women's activism played a significant role in challenging and shaping American imperialism. Throughout history, women activists have been at the forefront of anti-imperialist movements, questioning the motives and consequences of U.S. expansionism. Women's organisations and prominent figures raised their voices against the injustices of imperialism, advocating for peace, human rights, and the self-determination of colonised peoples. They criticized the exploitation and oppression inherent in imperialistic practices, highlighting the disproportionate impact on marginalised communities. Women activists collaborated across borders, forging transnational alliances to challenge American dominance and promote global solidarity. By engaging in social and political activism, women contributed to a more nuanced understanding of imperialism, exposing its complexities and fostering dialogue on the ethical implications of empire.

Moreover, sexuality and attitudes towards gender roles and behaviour played an important role in American expansionism. Regarding the war in Vietnam, the idea of American 'manliness' entered the conscience of those in support of ground involvement, pushing ideas of gender roles and that manly, American men shouldn't avoid conflict. These ideas of sexuality extended as far as President Johnson, who wanted to be presented as a 'hero statesman' to his people, highlighting further the affect of gender roles on both American domestic attitudes as well as foreign policy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dean |first1=Robert |title=A Companion to the Vietnam War |date=2002 |location=Malden, MA |pages=367-383}}</ref>

==U.S. foreign policy debate==
{{further|Military history of the United States|Overseas interventions of the United States}}
{{Cleanup rewrite|2=section|date=January 2014}}

[[Annexation]] is a crucial instrument in the expansion of a nation, due to the fact that once a territory is annexed it must act within the confines of its superior counterpart. The United States Congress' ability to annex a foreign territory is explained in a report from the Congressional Committee on Foreign Relations, "If, in the judgment of Congress, such a measure is supported by a safe and wise policy, or is based upon a natural duty that we owe to the people of Hawaii, or is necessary for our national development and security, that is enough to justify annexation, with the consent of the recognized government of the country to be annexed."<ref>United States. Cong. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations. Annexation of Hawaii. Comp. Davis. 55th Cong., 2nd sess. S. Rept. 681. Washington, D.C.: G.P.O., 1898. Print.</ref>

Prior to annexing a territory, the American government still held immense power through the various legislations passed in the late 1800s. The [[Platt Amendment]] was utilized to prevent Cuba from entering into any agreement with foreign nations and also granted the Americans the right to build naval stations on their soil.<ref name="Pérez, Louis A 1998">Pérez, Louis A. ''The War of 1898: The United States and Cuba in History and Historiography''. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1998. Print.</ref> Executive officials in the American government began to determine themselves the supreme authority in matters regarding the recognition or restriction of independence.<ref name="Pérez, Louis A 1998" />

When asked on April 28, 2003, on [[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al Jazeera]] whether the United States was "empire building," Secretary of Defense [[Donald Rumsfeld]] replied, "We don't seek empires. We're not imperialistic. We never have been."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2003-05-05-boot_x.htm|title= American imperialism? No need to run away from label|work=USA Today |first1=Max |last1=Boot |date=May 5, 2003 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231118114033/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2003-05-05-boot_x.htm |archive-date= Nov 18, 2023 }}</ref>

However, historian [[Donald W. Meinig]] says imperial behavior by the United States dates at least to the [[Louisiana Purchase]], which he describes as an "imperial acquisition—imperial in the sense of the aggressive encroachment of one people upon the territory of another, resulting in the subjugation of that people to alien rule." The U.S. policies towards the Native Americans, he said, were "designed to remold them into a people more appropriately conformed to imperial desires."<ref>{{cite book |last= Meinig |first= Donald W. |author-link= Donald W. Meinig|title= The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History, Volume 2: Continental America, 1800–1867 |year= 1993 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn= 0-300-05658-3 |pages= 22–23, 170–196, 516–517}}</ref>

[[File:BigStickinLAmerica.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|A map of Central America, showing the places affected by [[Theodore Roosevelt]]'s [[Big Stick ideology|Big Stick policy]]]]
Writers and academics of the early 20th century, like [[Charles A. Beard]], in support of [[non-interventionism]] (sometimes referred to as "[[American isolationism|isolationism]]"), discussed American policy as being driven by self-interested expansionism going back as far as the writing of the Constitution. Many politicians today do not agree. [[Pat Buchanan]] claims that the modern United States' drive to empire is "far removed from what the Founding Fathers had intended the young Republic to become."<ref>{{cite book | author=Buchanan, Pat |author-link=Pat Buchanan| title=A Republic, Not an Empire: Reclaiming America's Destiny| publisher=Regnery Publishing|location=Washington, DC | year=1999 | isbn=0-89526-272-X|title-link=A Republic, Not an Empire: Reclaiming America's Destiny |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=eJSJw6GT5VYC&pg=PA165 165] }}</ref>

[[Andrew Bacevich]] argues that the U.S. did not fundamentally change its [[Foreign policy of the United States|foreign policy]] after the [[Cold War]], and remains focused on an effort to expand its control across the world.<ref>{{cite book| author=Bacevich, Andrew | title=American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U.S. Diplomacy | publisher=Harvard University Press | year=2004 | isbn=0-674-01375-1 | url=https://archive.org/details/americanempire00andr }}</ref> As the surviving superpower at the end of the Cold War, the U.S. could focus its assets in new directions, the future being "up for grabs," according to former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy [[Paul Wolfowitz]] in 1991.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/23/us/washington-at-work-ex-cold-warrior-sees-the-future-as-up-for-grabs.html |title=Washington at Work; Ex-Cold Warrior Sees the Future as 'Up for Grabs' |last=Schmitt |first=Eric |date=1991-12-23 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2020-01-22 |language=en-US }}</ref> Head of the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University, [[Stephen Peter Rosen]], maintains: 
{{blockquote|
A political unit that has overwhelming superiority in military power, and uses that power to influence the internal behavior of other states, is called an empire. Because the United States does not seek to control territory or govern the overseas citizens of the empire, we are an indirect empire, to be sure, but an empire nonetheless. If this is correct, our goal is not combating a rival, but maintaining our imperial position and maintaining imperial order.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Rosen |first=Stephen Peter |date=May–June 2002 |title=The Future of War and the American Military: Demography, technology, and the politics of modern empire |url=https://harvardmagazine.com/2002/05/the-future-of-war-and-th.html |language=en|magazine=Harvard Magazine|access-date=2020-01-22}}</ref>}}
In ''[[Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media]]'', the political activist [[Noam Chomsky]] argues that exceptionalism and the denials of imperialism are the result of a systematic strategy of propaganda, to "manufacture opinion" as the process has long been described in other countries.<ref>Edward Hallett Carr, ''The Twenty Years' Crisis 1919–1939: An Introduction to the Study of International Relations'', 1939.</ref>

Thorton wrote that "[...] imperialism is more often the name of the emotion that reacts to a series of events than a definition of the events themselves. Where colonization finds analysts and analogies, imperialism must contend with crusaders for and against."<ref name="thor">{{cite book | author=Thornton, Archibald Paton| title= Imperialism in the Twentieth Century | publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |date=September 1978| isbn=0-333-24848-1}}</ref>  Political theorist [[Michael Walzer]] argues that the term [[hegemony]] is better than empire to describe the U.S.'s role in the world.<ref>{{cite web| author=Walzer, Michael | title =Is There an American Empire?| work=www.freeindiamedia.com| url =http://www.freeindiamedia.com/america/5_jan_04_america2.htm| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20061021013321/http://www.freeindiamedia.com/america/5_jan_04_america2.htm| archive-date =October 21, 2006| access-date=June 10, 2006}}</ref> Political scientist [[Robert Keohane]] agrees saying, a "balanced and nuanced analysis is not aided&nbsp;... by the use of the word 'empire' to describe United States hegemony, since 'empire' obscures rather than illuminates the differences in form of governance between the United States and other Great Powers, such as [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Great Britain]] in the 19th century or the [[Soviet Union]] in the twentieth".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Keohane |first=Robert O. |date=1991 |title=The United States and the Postwar Order: Empire or Hegemony? |journal=Journal of Peace Research |language=en |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=435–439 |doi=10.1177/0022343391028004010|jstor=424129|s2cid=108760853 }} Page 435.</ref>

Since 2001,<ref>Emmanuel Todd, ''After the Empire. The Breakdown of the American Order'', 2001, (tr. Delogu, C. Jon, New York: Columbia University Press, 2003).</ref> [[Emmanuel Todd]] assumes the U.S. cannot hold for long the status of mondial hegemonic power, due to limited resources. Instead, the U.S. is going to become just one of the major regional powers along with European Union, China, Russia, etc. Reviewing Todd's ''[[After the Empire]]'', [[G. John Ikenberry]] found that it had been written in "a fit of French wishful thinking."<ref name=Ikenberry2004>{{Cite journal |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/cfr/international/20040301fareviewessay_v83n2_ikenberry.html |title=Illusions of Empire: Defining the New American Order |access-date=2020-01-22|last=Ikenberry|first= G. John| date=2004 | journal=Foreign Affairs|volume=83|issue=2 |jstor = 20033908|doi = 10.2307/20033908|pages = 144–154}}</ref>

Other political scientists, such as Daniel Nexon and Thomas Wright, argue that neither term exclusively describes [[foreign relations of the United States]]. The U.S. can be, and has been, simultaneously an empire and a hegemonic power. They claim that the general trend in U.S. foreign relations has been away from imperial modes of control.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1017/S0003055407070220| title=What's at Stake in the American Empire Debate| journal=American Political Science Review| volume=101| issue=2| pages=253–271| year=2007| last1=Nexon| first1=Daniel H.| last2=Wright| first2=Thomas| s2cid=17910808}} Pages 266–267.</ref>

== American media and cultural imperialism ==
[[File:McDonalds in St Petersburg 2004.JPG|thumb|McDonald's in [[Saint Petersburg]], Russia]]
American imperialism has long had a media dimension ([[media imperialism]]) and cultural dimension ([[cultural imperialism]]).

In ''Mass Communication and American Empire'', [[Herbert Schiller|Herbert I. Schiller]] emphasized the significance of the mass media and [[Culture industry|cultural industry]] to American imperialism,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mirrlees |first=Tanner |date=2015 |title=U.S. Empire and Communications Today: Revisiting Herbert I. Schiller |url=http://www.polecom.org/index.php/polecom/article/view/56 |journal=The Political Economy of Communication |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=3–27}}</ref> arguing that "each new electronic development widens the perimeter of American influence," and declaring that "American power, expressed industrially, militarily and culturally has become the most potent force on earth and communications have become a decisive element in the extension of United States world power."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schiller |first=Herbert |title=Mass Communication and American Empire |publisher=Beacon Press |year=1969 |edition=1st |location=Boston |pages=206–207}}</ref>

In ''Communication and Cultural Domination'', Schiller presented the premier definition of cultural imperialism as{{blockquote|the sum processes by which a society is brought into the modern [U.S.-centered] world system and how its dominating stratum is attracted, pressured, forced, and sometimes bribed into shaping social institutions to correspond to, or even promote, the values and structures of the dominating centres of the system.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schiller |first=Herbert |title=Communication and Cultural Domination |publisher=M. E. Sharp |year=1969 |isbn=9780807061756 |location=Boston |pages=9}}</ref> }}In Schiller's formulation of the concept, cultural imperialism refers to the American Empire's "coercive and persuasive agencies, and their capacity to promote and universalize an American 'way of life' in other countries without any reciprocation of influence."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mirrlees |first=Tanner |date=2015 |title=U.S. Empire and Communications Today: Revisiting Herbert I. Schiller |url=http://www.polecom.org/index.php/polecom/article/view/56 |journal=The Political Economy of Communication |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=6}}</ref> According to Schiller, cultural imperialism "pressured, forced and bribed" societies to integrate with the U.S.'s expansive capitalist model but also incorporated them with attraction and persuasion by winning "the mutual consent, even solicitation of the indigenous rulers."

Newer research on cultural imperialism sheds light on how the US national security state partners with media corporations to spread US foreign policy and military-promoting media goods around the world. In ''Hearts and Mines: The US Empire's Culture Industry'', Tanner Mirrlees builds upon the work of [[Herbert Schiller|Herbert I. Schiller]] to argue that the US government and media corporations pursue different interests on the world stage (the former, national security, and the latter, profit), but structural alliances and the synergistic relationships between them support the co-production and global flow of Empire-extolling cultural and entertainment goods.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mirrlees |first=Tanner |title=Hearts and Mines: The US Empire's Culture Industry |publisher=University of British Columbia Press |year=2016 |isbn=9780774830157 |edition=1st |location=Vancouver}}</ref>

Some researchers argue that military and [[cultural imperialism]] are interdependent. Every war of Empire has relied upon a culture or "way of life" that supports  it, and most often, with the idea that a country has a unique or special mission to spread its way of life around the world. [[Edward Said]], one of the founders of [[post-colonialism|post-colonial theory]], said,

{{blockquote|...&nbsp;so influential has been the discourse insisting on American specialness, altruism and opportunity, that imperialism in the United States as a word or ideology has turned up only rarely and recently in accounts of the United States culture, politics and history. But the connection between imperial politics and culture in North America, and in particular in the United States, is astonishingly direct.<ref name="Said">Said, Edward. {{cite web|url=http://www.zmag.org/zmag/articles/barsaid.htm |title=Culture and Imperialism, speech at York University, Toronto, February&nbsp;10,&nbsp;1993. |access-date=2006-02-23 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20010917140537/http://www.zmag.org/zmag/articles/barsaid.htm |archive-date=2001-09-17 |url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

International relations scholar David Rothkopf disagrees with the notion that cultural imperialism is an intentional political or military process, and instead argues that it is the innocent result of economic [[globalization]], which allows access to numerous U.S. and Western ideas and products that many non-U.S. and non-Western consumers across the world voluntarily choose to consume.<ref>Rothkopf, David [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/protected/rothkopf.html In Praise of Cultural Imperialism?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119145355/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/protected/rothkopf.html |date=2012-01-19 }} Foreign Policy, Number 107, Summer 1997, pp. 38–53</ref> In a similar analysis, [[Matthew Fraser (journalist)|Matthew Fraser]] argues that the American "soft power" and American global cultural influence is a good thing for other countries, and good for the world as a whole.<ref>{{cite book | author=Fraser, Matthew | title=Weapons of Mass Distraction: Soft Power and American Empire | year=2005 | publisher=St. Martin's Press}}</ref> Tanner Mirrlees argues that the discourse of "soft power" used by Matthew Fraser and others to promote American global cultural influence represents an "apologia" for cultural imperialism, a way of rationalizing it (while denying it).<ref>Mirrlees, Tanner. 2006. American Soft Power or American Cultural Imperialism. In Colin Mooers (ed.), The New Imperialists: Ideologies of Empire. Oxford: One World Press. 198-228,</ref>

Louis A. Perez Jr. provides an example of propaganda used during the war of 1898, "We are coming, Cuba, coming; we are bound to set you free! We are coming from the mountains, from the plains and inland sea! We are coming with the wrath of God to make the Spaniards flee! We are coming, Cuba, coming; coming now!"<ref name="Pérez, Louis A 1998" />

In contrast, many other countries with American brands have incorporated these into their own local culture. {{non sequitur|date=March 2022}}An example of this would be the self-styled "Maccas," an Australian derivation of "McDonald's" with a tinge of Australian culture.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mcdonalds.com.au/about-maccas/maccas-story|title=Our Story {{!}} About Macca's {{!}} McDonald's AU|website=mcdonalds.com.au|access-date=2016-11-10}}</ref>

== U.S. military bases ==
[[File:US military bases in the world 2007.svg|thumb|upright=2|U.S. military presence around the world in 2007. {{as of|2013}}, the U.S. had many [[List of United States military bases|bases and troops stationed globally]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.acq.osd.mil/ie/download/bsr/Base%20Structure%20Report%202013_Baseline%2030%20Sept%202012%20Submission.pdf|title=Base Structure Report : FY 2013 Baseline|publisher=United States Department of Defense|access-date=2017-04-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150221030636/http://www.acq.osd.mil/ie/download/bsr/Base%20Structure%20Report%202013_Baseline%2030%20Sept%202012%20Submission.pdf|archive-date=2015-02-21|url-status=dead}}</ref> Their presence has generated controversy and opposition.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.vice.com/article/protesters-accuse-us-of-imperialism-as-obama-rekindles-military-deal-with-philippines|title=Protesters Accuse US of 'Imperialism' as Obama Rekindles Military Deal With Philippines|work=VICE News|date=2014-04-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.popularresistance.org/anti-us-base-candidate-wins-okinawa-governor-race/|title=Anti-US Base Candidate Wins Okinawa Governor Race|work=PopularResistance.Org|date=17 November 2014}}</ref>
{{legend|#0000ff|More than 1,000 U.S. troops}}
{{legend|#9ccbe1|100–1,000 U.S. troops}}
{{legend|#f7931d|Use of military facilities}}]]
{{further|List of United States military bases}}
[[File:Combined Air Operations Center 151007-F-MS415-022.jpg|thumb|Combined [[Air and Space Operations Center]] (CAOC) at [[Al Udeid Air Base]] in Qatar, 2015]]
[[Chalmers Johnson]] argued in 2004 that America's version of the colony is the military base.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.tomdispatch.com/post/1181/chalmers_johnson_on_garrisoning_the_planet |title=America's Empire of Bases| website=TomDispatch |access-date=2020-01-23|first=Chalmers |last=Johnson|date=January 15, 2004}}</ref> [[Chip Pitts]] argued similarly in 2006 that enduring U.S. bases in [[Iraq]] suggested a vision of "[[Iraq War#Iraqi opinion|Iraq as a colony]]."<ref>{{cite news | author=Pitts, Chip | title=The Election on Empire | url=https://nationalinterest.org/commentary/the-election-on-empire-1280 |publisher=The National Interest | date =November 8, 2006 | access-date =October 8, 2009}}</ref>

While territories such as [[Guam]], the [[United States Virgin Islands]], the [[Northern Mariana Islands]], [[American Samoa]], and [[Puerto Rico]] remain under U.S. control, the U.S. allowed many of its overseas territories or occupations to gain independence after [[World War II]]. Examples include the [[Philippines]] (1946), the [[Panama Canal Zone]] (1979), [[Palau]] (1981), the [[Federated States of Micronesia]] (1986), and the [[Marshall Islands]] (1986). Most of them still have U.S. bases within their territories. In the case of [[Okinawa]], which came under U.S. administration after the [[Battle of Okinawa]] during the Second World War, this happened despite local popular opinion on the island.<ref>Patrick Smith, [http://www.iht.com/articles/1998/03/06/edsmith.t_0.php<!-- also at https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/06/opinion/06iht-edsmith.t_0.html --> Pay Attention to Okinawans and Close the U.S. Bases], International Herald Tribune (Opinion section), March 6, 1998.</ref> In 2003, a [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] distribution found the United States had bases in over 36 countries worldwide,<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun2003/basestructure2003.pdf
|title = Base Structure Report
|access-date =January 23, 2007
|year=2003
|publisher=USA Department of Defense| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070110080620/http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun2003/basestructure2003.pdf| archive-date= January 10, 2007 | url-status= dead }}</ref> including the [[Camp Bondsteel]] base in the disputed territory of [[Kosovo]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Clandestine Camps in Europe: "Everyone Knew What Was Going On in Bondsteel"|date=5 December 2005 |work=[[Der Spiegel]] |location=Hamburg |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/clandestine-camps-in-europe-everyone-knew-what-was-going-on-in-bondsteel-a-388556.html  }}</ref> Since 1959, [[Cuba]] has regarded the U.S. presence in [[Guantanamo Bay Naval Base|Guantánamo Bay]] as illegal.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-31059030 |title=US rejects Cuba demand to hand back Guantanamo Bay base |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207183342/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-31059030 |archive-date=7 December 2016 |work=BBC News |date=30 January 2015 }}</ref>

By 1970,{{update inline|date=May 2018}} the United States had more than one million soldiers in 30 countries,{{citation needed|date=April 2020}} was a member of four regional defense alliances and an active participant in a fifth, had mutual defense treaties with 42 nations, was a member of 53 international organizations, and was furnishing military or economic aid to nearly 100 nations across the face of the globe.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pax Americana|last=Steel|first=Ronald|author-link=Ronald Steel|publisher=Viking Press|year=1967|isbn=978-0670544769|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780670544769/page/254 254]|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780670544769/page/254}}</ref> In 2015 the Department of Defense reported the number of bases that had any military or civilians stationed or employed was 587. This includes land only (where no facilities are present), facility or facilities only (where there the underlying land is neither owned nor controlled by the government), and land with facilities (where both are present).<ref>{{
cite web|url=https://www.acq.osd.mil/eie/Downloads/BSI/Base%20Structure%20Report%20FY15.pdf|title=Department of Defense, Base Structure Report FY 2015 Baseline|access-date=2017-09-04|work=[[Office of the Secretary of Defense]]}}</ref>

Also in 2015, David Vine's book Base Nation, found 800 U.S. military bases located outside of the U.S., including 174 bases in Germany, 113 in Japan, and 83 in [[South Korea]]. The total cost was estimated at $100 billion a year.<ref>Vine, David. 2015. [https://books.google.com/books?id=6Ww5BgAAQBAJ&q=%22%24100+billion%22 Base Nation]. Published by Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, New York.</ref>

According to ''[[The Huffington Post]],'' "The 45 nations and territories with little or no democratic rule represent more than half of the roughly 80 countries now hosting U.S. bases. ... Research by political scientist [[Kent E. Calder|Kent Calder]] confirms what's come to be known as the "dictatorship hypothesis": The United States tends to support dictators [and other undemocratic regimes] in nations where it enjoys basing facilities."<ref>{{cite news |title=How U.S. Military Bases Back Dictators, Autocrats, And Military Regimes |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-us-military-bases-back-dictators-autocrats-and-military-regimes_us_591b229ae4b05dd15f0ba8e6 |work=[[The Huffington Post]] |date=16 May 2017}}</ref>

== Support ==
{{Main|Neoconservatism|Monroe Doctrine}}
[[File:Roosevelt monroe Doctrine cartoon.jpg|thumb|upright|Political cartoon depicting [[Theodore Roosevelt]] using the [[Monroe Doctrine]] to keep European powers out of the [[Dominican Republic]]]]

One of the earliest historians of American Empire, [[William Appleman Williams]], wrote, "The routine lust for land, markets or security became justifications for noble rhetoric about prosperity, liberty and security."<ref>William Appleman Williams, "Empire as a Way of Life: An Essay on the Causes and Character of America's Present Predicament Along with a Few Thoughts About an Alternative" (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996), S1.</ref>

[[Max Boot]] defends U.S. imperialism, writing, "U.S. imperialism has been the greatest force for good in the world during the past century. It has defeated communism and Nazism and has intervened against the Taliban and Serbian ethnic cleansing."<ref name="maxboot_2003-05-06">{{cite news |author=Max Boot |url=http://www.cfr.org/iraq/american-imperialism-no-need-run-away-label/p5934 |title=American Imperialism? No Need to Run Away from Label |newspaper=USA Today |date=May 6, 2003 |department=Op-Ed |via=Council on Foreign Relations |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110404232140/http://www.cfr.org/iraq/american-imperialism-no-need-run-away-label/p5934 |archive-date=2011-04-04}}</ref> Boot used "imperialism" to describe United States policy, not only in the early 20th century but "since at least 1803."<ref name="maxboot_2003-05-06" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/bush/boot.htm |title=Max Boot, "Neither New nor Nefarious: The Liberal Empire Strikes Back," November 2003 |work=mtholyoke.edu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515133938/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/bush/boot.htm |archive-date=2008-05-15 }}</ref> This embrace of empire is made by other [[neoconservatism|neoconservatives]], including British historian [[Paul Johnson (writer)|Paul Johnson]], and writers [[Dinesh D'Souza]] and [[Mark Steyn]]. It is also made by some [[liberal hawk]]s, such as political scientists [[Zbigniew Brzezinski]] and [[Michael Ignatieff]].<ref>{{cite news | last=Heer|first= Jeet | title=Operation Anglosphere: Today's most ardent American imperialists weren't born in the USA |work=Boston Globe | url=http://www.jeetheer.com/politics/anglosphere.htm| date=March 23, 2003|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060507104216/http://www.jeetheer.com/politics/anglosphere.htm |archive-date= 2006-05-07 }}</ref>

Scottish-American historian [[Niall Ferguson]] argues that the United States is an empire and believes that this is a good thing: "What is not allowed is to say that the United States is an empire and that this might not be wholly bad."<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1162/0011526053887419 | title=The unconscious colossus: Limits of (& alternatives to) American empire| journal=Daedalus| volume=134| issue=2| pages=18–33| year=2005| last1=Ferguson| first1=Niall| s2cid=57571709|url=https://www.amacad.org/publication/unconscious-colossus-limits-alternatives-american-empire| doi-access=free}} Quoting p 21.</ref> Ferguson has drawn parallels between the [[British Empire]] and the global role of the United States in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, though he describes the United States' political and social structures as more like those of the [[Roman Empire]] than of the British. Ferguson argues that all of these empires have had both positive and negative aspects, but that the positive aspects of the U.S. empire will, if it learns from history and its mistakes, greatly outweigh its negative aspects.<ref>Niall Ferguson, ''Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire'' (2005) pp 286–301</ref>

Another point of view implies that United States expansion overseas has indeed been imperialistic, but that this imperialism is only a temporary phenomenon, a corruption of American ideals, or the relic of a past era. Historian [[Samuel Flagg Bemis]] argues that [[Spanish–American War]] expansionism was a short-lived imperialistic impulse and "a great aberration in American history," a very different form of territorial growth than that of earlier American history.<ref name="miller">{{cite book | last=Miller |first=Stuart Creighton | title="Benevolent Assimilation" The American Conquest of the Philippines, 1899–1903 | publisher=Yale University Press | year=1982 | isbn=0-300-02697-8 | url=http://www.livejournal.com/users/bailey83221/4300.html#miller }} p. 3.</ref>  Historian [[Walter LaFeber]] sees the Spanish–American War expansionism not as an aberration, but as a culmination of United States expansion westward.<ref>{{cite book| author=Lafeber, Walter| title=The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion, 1860–1898| publisher=Cornell University Press| isbn=0-8014-9048-0| year=1975| url=https://archive.org/details/newempireinterpr00lafe_0}}</ref>

Historian [[Victor Davis Hanson]] argues that the U.S. does not pursue [[Hegemony|world domination]], but maintains worldwide influence by a system of mutually beneficial exchanges.<ref name=Hanson2002/> On the other hand, Filipino revolutionary General [[Emilio Aguinaldo]] felt as though American involvement in the Philippines was destructive: "The Filipinos fighting for Liberty, the American people fighting them to give them liberty. The two peoples are fighting on parallel lines for the same object."<ref>{{cite journal | author=Aguinaldo, Emilio |date=September 1899 | title=Aguinaldo's Case Against the United States | journal=North American Review | url= http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/gilded/empire/text9/filipino.pdf }}</ref> American influence worldwide and the effects it has on other nations have multiple interpretations.

[[Neoliberalism in international relations|Liberal internationalists]] argue that even though the present world order is dominated by the United States, the form taken by that dominance is not imperial. International relations scholar [[John Ikenberry]] argues that international institutions have taken the place of empire.<ref name=Ikenberry2004/>

International relations scholar [[Joseph Nye]] argues that U.S. power is more and more based on "[[soft power]]," which comes from [[cultural hegemony]] rather than raw military or economic force. This includes such factors as the widespread desire to emigrate to the United States, the prestige and corresponding high proportion of foreign students at U.S. universities, and the spread of U.S. styles of popular music and cinema. Mass immigration into America may justify this theory, but it is hard to know whether the United States would still maintain its prestige without its military and economic superiority.,<ref>Joseph S. Nye Jr, ''Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics'' (2004), pp. 33–72.</ref>  In terms of soft power, [[Giles Scott-Smith]], argues that American universities:<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1163/187119007X240532 | title=The Ties that Bind: Dutch-American Relations, US Public Diplomacy and the Promotion of American Studies since the Second World War| journal=The Hague Journal of Diplomacy| volume=2| issue=3| pages=283–305| year=2007| last1=Scott-Smith| first1=Giles|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228653861}}</ref>
: acted as magnets for attracting up-and-coming elites, who were keen to acquire the skills, qualifications and prestige that came with the 'Made in the USA' trademark. This is a subtle, long-term form of 'soft power' that has required only limited intervention by the US government to function successfully. It conforms to [[Samuel P. Huntington|Samuel Huntington]]'s view that American power rarely sought to acquire foreign territories, preferring instead to penetrate them — culturally, economically and politically — in such a way as to secure acquiescence for US interests.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 2010115|title = Transnational Organizations in World Politics|journal = World Politics|volume = 25|issue = 3|pages = 333–368|last1 = Huntington|first1 = Samuel P.|year = 1973|doi = 10.2307/2010115| s2cid=154553877 |url=https://www.usna.edu/NAFAC/_files/round_tables/opferman/Transnational%20Organizations%20in%20World%20Politics.pdf}} p. 344.</ref><ref>See also Liping Bu, ''Making The World Like Us: Education, Cultural Expansion, and the American Century'' (2003).</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|United States}}
<!--please keep the list in alphabetical order-->
{{colbegin}}
* [[Americanization]]
* [[Anti-Americanism]]
* ''[[A People's History of American Empire]]'' – 2008 book by [[Howard Zinn]], et al.
* [[Foreign interventions by the United States]]
* [[Manifest destiny]]
* [[Neocolonialism]]
* [[New Imperialism]]
* [[Territorial evolution of the United States]]
* [[Territories of the United States]]
* [[United States involvement in regime change]]
* [[United States involvement in regime change in Latin America]]
{{colend}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last=Handy |first=Jim |year=1994 |title=Revolution in the Countryside: Rural Conflict and Agrarian Reform in Guatemala, 1944–1954 |location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina |publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |isbn=978-0-8078-4438-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Holton|first=Woody|author-link=Woody Holton |title=Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fV_qCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA3|year=1999|publisher=UNC Press Books|isbn=978-0-8078-9986-1|pages=3–38|chapter=Land Speculators versus Indians and the Privy Council }}
* {{cite journal|last=Moulton|first=Aaron Coy|title="Amplies Ayuda Externa" Contra "La Gangrena Comunista": Las Fuerzas Regionales Anticomunistas y la Finalizacion de la Operacion PBFortune, Octobre de 1952|trans-title="Extend External Assistance" Against "The Communist Gangrene": The Regional Anti-Communist Forces and the Finalization of Operation PBFortune, October 1952|journal=Revista de Historia de América|date=July 2013|issue=149|pages=45–58|doi=10.35424/rha.149.2013.406 |language=es|jstor=44732841|s2cid=257442076 |doi-access=free}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book|last=Bacevich|first=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Bacevich|year=2008|title=The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-0-8050-8815-1}}
* [[Andrew J. Bacevich|Bacevich, Andrew J.]], "The Old Normal: Why we can't beat our addiction to war", ''[[Harper's Magazine]]'', vol. 340, no. 2038 (March 2020), pp.&nbsp;25–32. "In 2010, Admiral [[Michael Mullen]], chairman of the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]], declared that the [[U.S. national debt|national debt]], the prime expression of American profligacy, had become 'the most significant threat to our national security.' In 2017, General [[Paul Selva]], Joint Chiefs vice chair, stated bluntly that 'the dynamics that are happening in our [[climate change|climate]] will drive uncertainty and will drive conflict." (p.&nbsp;31.)
* [[Andrew J. Bacevich|Bacevich, Andrew J.]], "The Reckoning That Wasn't: Why America Remains Trapped by False Dreams of Hegemony", ''[[Foreign Affairs]]'', vol. 102, no. 2 (March/April 2023), pp.&nbsp;6–10, 12, 14, 16–21. "Washington... needs to... avoid needless war... and provide ordinary citizens with the prospect of a decent life.... The chimera of another righteous military triumph cannot fix what ails the United States." (p.&nbsp;21.)
* {{cite book|last=Boot|first=Max|author-link=Max Boot|year=2002|title=The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=0-465-00721-X}}
* {{cite book |last=Brown |first=Seyom |title=Faces of Power: Constancy and Change in United States Foreign Policy from Truman to Clinton |year=1994 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |location=New York |isbn=0-231-09669-0 }}
* {{cite book |last=Burton |first=David H. |author-link = David H. Burton|title=Theodore Roosevelt: Confident Imperialist |year=1968 |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]] |location=Philadelphia |asin=B0007GMSSY }}
* {{cite book |last=Callahan |first=Patrick |title=Logics of American Foreign Policy: Theories of America's World Role |year=2003 |publisher=Longman |location=New York |isbn=0-321-08848-4 }}
* {{cite book|last=Daalder |first=Ivo H. |title=America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy |author-link=Ivo Daalder |author2=James M. Lindsay |year=2003 |publisher=Brookings Institution |location=Washington, DC |isbn=0-8157-1688-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/americaunboundbu00daal }}
* {{cite book| last =Fulbright | first =J. William | author-link =J. William Fulbright | author2 =Seth P. Tillman | year =1989 | title =The Price of Empire | publisher =Pantheon Books | isbn =0-394-57224-6 | url =https://archive.org/details/priceofempire00fulb }}
* {{cite book |last=Gaddis |first=John Lewis |title=Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of Postwar American National Security Policy |author-link=John Lewis Gaddis |year=2005 |edition=2nd  |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=0-19-517447-X }}
* {{cite book |last1=Hampf |first1=Michaela |title=Empire of Liberty |date=2019 |publisher=De Gruyter Oldenbourg |isbn=978-3-11-065774-6 |language=de}}
* [[Suzy Hansen|Hansen, Suzy]], "Twenty Years of Outsourced War" (review of [[Phil Klay]], ''Uncertain Ground: Citizenship in an Age of Endless, Invisible War'', Penguin Press, 2022, 252 pp.; and [[Phil Klay]], ''Missionaries'', Penguin, 2020, 407 pp.), ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', vol. LXX, no. 16 (19 October 2023), pp.&nbsp;26–28. "Klay remains transfixed by the idea that in [[Iraq]] and [[Afghanistan]], and in all contemporary [[American wars]], there have been not only no definable diplomatic or political objectives, but also no definable ''military'' objectives. No one has any clue what they're fighting for or even 'clear benchmarks of success.' That means that there is no obvious enemy, or that one's perception of the enemy keeps shifting. 'If you think the mission your country keeps sending you on is pointless or impossible and that you're only deploying to protect your brothers and sisters in arms from danger,' Klay writes, 'then it's not the [[Taliban]] or [[al-Qaeda]] or [[ISIS]] that's trying to kill you, it's America.'" (p.&nbsp;28.) 
* {{cite book |last=Hardt |first=Michael |title=Empire |author-link=Michael Hardt |author2=Antonio Negri  |year=2001 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, MA |isbn=0-674-00671-2  |author2-link=Antonio Negri |title-link=Empire (Negri and Hardt book) }} [https://web.archive.org/web/20080409064117/http://www.infoshop.org/texts/empire.pdf online]
* {{cite book |last=Hudson |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Hudson (economist) |date=2021 |title=Super Imperialism. The Economic Strategy of American Empire |location= |publisher=Islet  |isbn=978-3981826098|edition=Third }}
* [[Daniel Immerwahr|Immerwahr, Daniel]], "Fort Everywhere: How did the United States become entangled in a cycle of endless war?" (review of David Vine, ''The United States of War: A Global History of America's Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State'', University of California Press, 2020, 464 pp.), ''[[The Nation]]'', 14 /21 December 2020, pp.&nbsp;34–37.
* {{cite book|last=Immerwahr |first=Daniel |title=How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-374-17214-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Chalmers|author-link=Chalmers Johnson|title=Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire|year=2000|isbn=0-8050-6239-4|publisher=Holt|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/blowback00chal}}
* {{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Chalmers|author-link=Chalmers Johnson|year=2004|title=The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic|isbn=0-8050-7004-4|publisher=Metropolitan Books|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/sorrowsofempirem00john_0}}
* {{cite book |last=Kerry |first=Richard J. |title=The Star-Spangled Mirror: America's Image of Itself and the World |author-link= Richard J. Kerry |year=1990 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |location=Savage, MD |isbn=0-8476-7649-8 }}
* [[Paul Krugman|Krugman, Paul]], "The American Way of Economic war: Is Washington Overusing Its Most Powerful Weapons?" (review of [[Henry Farrell (political scientist)|Henry Farrell]] and [[Abraham L. Newman|Abraham Newman]], ''Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy'', Henry Holt, 2023, 288 pp.), ''[[Foreign Affairs]]'', vol. 103, no. 1 (January/February 2024), pp.&nbsp;150–156. "The [U.S.] dollar is one of the few currencies that almost all major banks will accept, and... the most widely used... As a result, the dollar is the currency that many companies must use... to do international business." (p.&nbsp;150.) "[L]ocal banks facilitating that trade... normally... buy U.S. dollars and then use dollars to buy [another local currency]. To do so, however, the banks must have access to the U.S. financial system and... follow rules laid out by Washington." (pp.&nbsp;151–152.) "But there is another, lesser-known reason why the [U.S.] commands overwhelming economic power. Most of the world's [[fiber-optic cables]], which carry data and messages around the planet, travel through the United States." (p.&nbsp;152.) "[T]he U.S. government has installed 'splitters': [[prism (optics)|prism]]s that divide the beams of light carrying information into two streams. One... goes on to the intended recipients, ... the other goes to the [[National Security Administration|National Security Agency]], which then uses high-powered [[computation]] to analyze the data. As a result, the [U.S.] can monitor almost all international communication." (p.&nbsp;154) This has allowed the U.S. "to effectively cut [[Iran]] out of the world financial system... Iran's economy stagnated... Eventually, Tehran agreed to cut back its [[nuclear reactor|nuclear]] programs in exchange for relief." (pp.&nbsp;153–154.) "[A] few years ago, American officials... were in a panic about [the Chinese company] [[Huawei]]... which... seemed poised to supply [[5G]] equipment to much of the planet [thereby possibly] giv[ing] China the power to eavesdrop on the rest of the world – just as the [U.S.] has done.... The [U.S.] learned that Huawei had been dealing surreptitiously with Iran – and therefore violating U.S. sanctions. Then, it... used its special access to information on international bank data to [show] that [Huawei]'s [[chief financial officer]], [[Meng Wanzhou]] (... the founder's daughter), had committed [[bank fraud]] by falsely telling the British [[financial services company]] [[HSBC]] that her company was not doing business with Iran. Canadian authorities, acting on a U.S. request, arrested her... in December 2018. After... almost three years under house arrest... Meng... was allowed to return to China... But by [then] the prospects for Chinese dominance of 5G had vanished..." (pp.&nbsp;154–155.) Farrell and Newman, writes Krugman, "are worried about the possibility of [U.S. ''Underground Empire''] overreach. [I]f the [U.S.] weaponizes the dollar against too many countries, they might... band together and adopt alternative methods of international payment. If countries become deeply worried about U.S. spying, they could lay fiber-optic cables that bypass the [U.S.]. And if Washington puts too many restrictions on American exports, foreign firms might turn away from U.S. technology." (p.&nbsp;155.)
* [[Jackson Lears|Lears, Jackson]], "The Forgotten Crime of War Itself" (review of [[Samuel Moyn]], ''Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War'', Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021, 400 pp.), ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', vol. LXIX, no. 7 (April 21, 2022), pp.&nbsp;40–42. "After September 11 [2001] no politician asked whether the proper response to a [[terrorist attack]] should be a US war or an international police action. [...] Debating [[torture]] or other abuses, while indisputably valuable, has diverted Americans from 'deliberating on the deeper choice they were making to ignore constraints on starting war in the first place.' [W]ar itself causes far more suffering than violations of its rules." (p.&nbsp;40.)
* {{cite book |last=Lundestad |first=Geir |title=Empire by Integration: The United States and European Integration, 1945–1997 |author-link=Geir Lundestad |year=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=0-19-878212-8 }}
* {{cite book|last=Odom|first=William|author-link=William Eldridge Odom|author2=Robert Dujarric|year=2004|title=America's Inadvertent Empire|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0-300-10069-8|url=https://archive.org/details/americasinadvert00will_0}}
* {{cite book |last=Todd |first=Emmanuel |author-link=Emmanuel Todd |title=After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-231-13103-2 |url=http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-13102-5/after-the-empire}}
* [[Adam Tooze|Tooze, Adam]], "Is This the End of the American Century?", ''[[London Review of Books]]'', vol. 41, no. 7 (4 April 2019), pp.&nbsp;3, 5–7.
* {{cite book| last =Tremblay| first =Rodrigue | author-link =Rodrigue Tremblay| year =2004| title =The New American Empire | publisher=Infinity Pub| location =Haverford, PA| isbn =0-7414-1887-8| title-link =The New American Empire }}
* [[Stephen Wertheim|Wertheim, Stephen]], "Iraq and the Pathologies of Primacy: The Flawed Logic That Produced the War Is Alive and Well", ''[[Foreign Affairs]]'', vol. 102, no. 3 (May/June 2023), pp.&nbsp;136–52. "Washington is still in thrall to primacy and caught in a doom loop, lurching from self-inflicted problems to even bigger self-inflicted problems, holding up the latter while covering up the former. In this sense, the [[Iraq war]] remains unfinished business for the United States." (p.&nbsp;152.)
* {{cite book| last =Zepezauer| first =Mark| year =2002| title =Boomerang!: How Our Covert Wars Have Created Enemies Across the Middle East and Brought Terror to America| publisher =Common Courage Press| location =Monroe, Maine| isbn =1-56751-222-4| url-access =registration| url =https://archive.org/details/boomeranghowourc0000zepe}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote|American imperialism}}
{{Wikiquote|American benevolence}}
{{Library resources box}}

{{United States topics}}
{{North America topics}}
{{Globalization}}

[[Category:American imperialism| ]]
[[Category:Criticism of the United States]]
[[Category:Empires]]
[[Category:History of the foreign relations of the United States]]
[[Category:History of United States expansionism|01]]
[[Category:Imperialism]]
[[Category:Overseas empires]]

[[de:Imperialismus#Vereinigte Staaten]]
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[[Категория:Википедия]]
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[[Категория:Статья из Английской Википедии]]