WHAT MAKES AN EMPIRE AN EMPIRE?• You say “empire,” I say “hegemony”… what’s the

difference? What makes an empire?:• Multi-ethnic blocs of territory brought together by

force • Hierarchy and unequal status• Maintained by force as a last resort: economic

dependence through monopoly, divide & conquer, & institutions

• Mobilizing at home: Missions of cultural, racial, and religious superiority

• Intl. aggression & dual standards: Claims of manifest destiny and obligations to spread “civilization”

IS AMERICA AN EMPIRE? THE CASE AGAINST

• Is this another one of those conservative vs. liberal things?• Do we have imperialistic ideology? We don’t even like our

own government• Isn’t the US is institutionally-designed to limit imperialist

urges.• Are any of “our” territories held against their will?• Pax Americana: Is there such a thing as a noble empire?• Did our empire slipped away with Vietnam and then

disappear with the collapse of USSR as a counter empire? (look at how we behave in Iraq)

• Globalization subjects all states to the same forces, and the US is a “consensual” leader among almost equals

• What is the true nature of America’s hold on power? Soft, sticky, or hard?

IS AMERICA AN EMPIRE? MAYBE• The range of US interventions, 1945-2003:

-More than 40 coup attempts-More than 30 mvts. put down-25 countries bombed-750 foreign bases in 130 countries

• Washington’s hawks are a constant: From the Cold Warriors to the NeoCons

• A constant war economy: More than half of global defense spending• A formal insistence in superiority in all dimensions of force and a stated

commitment to remain as such with capability on multiple dyads• Is globalization centrally linked to the perpetual supremacy of the

American economy, culture, technology and ideology? A key fact: the US is richer, more innovative, and more powerful relative to other great powers than was the case in 1991

• Is there a new “White man’s burden”? Our continued obsession with telling the Middle East and Asia how they should live… What does everyone else think about this?

• Institutionalization of American goals through IGOs

EVEN IF THE US IS AN EMPIRE, IS THAT ALL BAD?

• Why do empires fall and what happens next?• Would the world be better off without us? What’s

the alternative for leadership? If not us, then who will lead the world?: Europe, China, India, a Caliphate?

• How about no leader at all… Thinking about democratization of the state as an example.– Would apolarity or multipolarity be better?

Probably not because no empire creates a power vacuum

• Ikenberry’s defense of American hegemony on its own merits

LOOKING AHEAD: IS THE US FALLING BEHIND?

• Overall quality of life measures: #10 and falling; Life expectancy: 27th; ; Infant mortality: 33rd; Deaths of children under 5: 37th

• Math and Science: 15 yr olds rank 25th and 17th

• College graduation?: 12th in the world and this was before the collapse.• Research and development spending? #11 and very inefficient (politics);

there are particular collective action issues with basic science (the time-line and public goods problem that lies with relying on both VC and political disbursements)

• Tax rates: lowest in the industrial world along with Japan (this may be good news, but it reflects a more profound attitudinal issue)

• Inequality, lawyers per capita, incarceration rates, executions, and hand-gun deaths: At least we’re number 1 at something (although we’re still #2 at carbon consumption)

• Enough founder worship already: Why is our political system so weak at dealing with this? American exceptionalism, 2-party systems, and veto points (And campaign finance means things will get worse)