Empire And Imperialism Essay

Words: 436
Pages: 2

Finally, we will analyse the economic link to empire and imperialism in the US. The debate of the imperial status of the United States often centres around its vast economic power. The US has dominated the global economy since 1945, through it is not as present as it was back then, it is still very much the main engine of global growth. In this, we will focus on the case of globalisation. Whilst it has not always historically been the case that all empires were ‘empire of trade’, a comparison between the present economic system and that of the 19th century is useful when attempting to find connections to imperial rule and the current system. In contemporary terms, there are three ways in which we can overlap empire and globalisation: in terms of ideology of …show more content…
According to both proponents and critics, the role of globalisation is no different to this. This then brings us to our second point: the blurring of national borders. Through globalisation there has been an increment in transnational social forms, increasing multi-layer global governance and conditions and interdependence have made the distinction between inside and outside of the state increasingly difficult. These levels of interconnection have clear parallels with empire, as Doyle states: ‘empires seem to combine aspects of both domestic and international politics, despite there being distinct political entities within an empire’. The US is all at the centre of this, bringing us to our third point. It cannot be denied that hierarchies of authority within the international system have appeared because of globalisation, and this in itself resonates with ‘empire’. Ikenberey describes the post-world war II international order as ‘an extended system that blurred domestic and international politics as it created an elaborate transnational and transgovernmental political system with the United States at its