US Imperialism Today? – Our Modern Empire

US Imperialism Today? – Our Modern Empire




Our Modern Empire

Is there really limit to power?


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US Imperialism Today?
U.S. troops in Iraq.

Remember those good old days in history classes in high school when we learn about imperialism? Probably the most important ones I remember were the French in Hong Kong or the British imperializing India which was what sparked the Gandhi peaceful protest to make India an independent country again. During imperialism, there would be one country which naturally already has a lot of wealth and power, decides to go to another smaller country but usually with more natural resources to go take control. This means that the powerful country has access to cheaper resources which can lead to more wealth in that country.

But recently in my class, I’ve been reading a book called “Waiting for the Barbarians” by J.M. Cortezee which doesn’t really have a specific setting or place. What I do know is that there’s a place called Empire where the head of it is called the Capital. However, the novel takes place in a place on the outskirts of the Empire which is referred to as the frontier. But further into the frontier and away from the Empire’s rule are people who are known as just as barabrians but they ahve no real knowledge of them. Without any real real knowledge of these barbarians, the Empire still wanted to control and dominate these people and imperialize them which was why they sent an army to the unknown frontier to try to control them before they start trying to take over or destroy the Empire.

Now let’s go back to the very beginning and ask ourselves what really is imperialism? According to one of my professors, imperialism is defined as “exerting control over areas through military, diplomacy, econ. processes, culture, etc.” So in the novel, the Empire was trying to exert its control through military on the barbarians. Is there any examples that this is happening in today’s world? Yes there is actually! In today’s world I think the United States is trying to exert force in the middle east specifically in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This may sound strange because this is the 21st century and when we talk about imperialism, we think about the world about 300-500 years ago when people were just learning to explore outside their own country by traveling through long voyages on ships. However, this idea of the United States imperializing Iraq and Afghanistan fits in the more modern definition which is taking control of another area through military or even economic process in this situation.

This idea of the United States imperializing those middle east countries were even more apparent after the September 11, 2001 incident which led to the United States stocking more in arms and spending almost twice the amount of money on its military. Since that terrorist attack, the United States had named the ongoing fight the War on Terror because of the conflicts with those terrorist groups. To prevent or stabilize these attacks, the United States has put in more soldiers and other resources into Iraq. In order to protect this country, Bush sent in more soldiers to control the situation and prevent any more terrorist attacks from attacking but at the same time this is a way for the United States to show their force to Iraq through military rule. The United States has directly tried to gain control over Iraq without actually wanting to take over its government which was what imperialistic countries did in history.


Another way the United States exerts its imperialistic power in the middle east is through economics. In the middle east, there was a war already happening to show how to strategically divide the oil they have. After the 9/11 terrorist attack, the United States also sent in more troops into Afghanistan to add to security to the United States because they would know what will be happening in the middle east countries before their plan reaches the United States. However, it is not exactly known still whether the oil was one of the reasons wanted to exert its power in the middle east. There had been rumors that the reason of the war in Iraq was for the oil because of the investment from wealthy oil investors. The war would’ve doubled their investments.

So in a way, the United states is still trying to show its force to the rest of the world by using imperialism. However, unlike the examples we would think of in history class, the imperialism today doesn’t involve the eventual total control of one nation from another nation. The example of United States imperialism is having soldiers present in another country so show its power and try to maintain control through this.