| Summary/Abstract |
Is the United States an empire? This question is less controversial among Americans than it was even a dozen years ago, but the greater willingness to call the United States an empire does not indicate agreement on its meaning. Those who have called the United States an empire have done so in order to stress the exploitative and violent nature of its policies. They have pointed to the contradiction of U.S. support of imperialism while touting commitments to democracy and self-determination. Other Americans who have adhered to a more exceptionalist vision of the United States cannot accept this interpretation. After all, the United States was established through an anti-colonial struggle. In their view, imperialism cannot exist without colonies, and by ignoring U.S. territories, they argue that the United States cannot be an empire because it has no colonies. But some of those Americans championing U.S. exceptionalism will accept the label of empire. They do so because they define empire to mean superpower and thus argue that their nation, empire or not, is “still a force for good” in the world.
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