| ID | 078964 |
| Title Proper | Last empire? From nation-building compulsion to nation-wrecking futility and beyond |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Desai, Radhika |
| Publication | 2007. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | Even as the literature on US imperialism proliferates, US military and political failures in Iraq and Afghanistan have become apparent, and the hollowness of the economic and financial foundations of the US imperial enterprise has been revealed. This article attempts a new interpretation of the more important dynamics of US imperialism from the birth of the republic to its present quagmire in the oil-lands of the East, focusing on its weaknesses. It argues that, while the US state has been expansionist and imperial from its earliest days the reality of its imperial achievement has been shallower than that of any previous empire, prompting the need for qualifiers like 'empire like no other', 'soft power', etc. The article concludes tentatively by pointing to the chief elements in the contemporary conjuncture which lead us to expect the end of empires altogether. |
| `In' analytical Note | Third World Quaterly Vol. 28, No.2; 2007: p435-456 |
| Journal Source | Third World Quaterly Vol. 28, No.2; 2007: p435-456 |
| Key Words | Nation-Building ; Insurgency |