American political history

The use of the term “imperialism” to refer to the United States and how she conducts her foreign policies made its first appearance in the early 1800s by the “American Anti-Imperialist League” as part of its mission of condemning post-war American military excesses and brutalities abroad. It then begs the question as to what constitutes imperialism; where does it start and where does it end? In the context of our contemporary politically-charged international terrain, can the American role of a “global police force” be likened to imperialistic tendencies? If not, who then polices the police? What is the legitimacy of America’s claim to empire status? Is the radical infiltration of American military might and democratic values across the global corridors in tune with contemporary political normative standards? It is in the light of the foregoing questions that the central premise of this essay will be hinged on the relevance or otherwise of the so-called American imperialistic tendencies packaged in an ongoing conservative policy of aggressive militarism across the global frontier.
Nonetheless, another school of thought is of the strong opinion that the persistent abuse of the term “imperialism” has rendered it an ineffective tool for conducting insightful analysis of American role in the international political arena. According to Miller (1982), the United States’ claim of blamelessness amidst the raging debate of its imperialism has rather heated the fracases of the debate. In his view, all the contending issues of the debate cannot be treated in isolation with the historical genesis of the presumed label placed on Uncle Sam. The Spanish-American War of 1898, is a case in point, was fought on the motivation of an insatiable desire for territorial integrity and an extreme motive of territorial annexation. America eventually emerged as the victor of this bitter squabble that witnessed the usage of both diplomatic maneuverings and military might. Without going into the specific details of this war, it can still be strongly established that this war set the right stage for all subsequent developments in American foreign and security policies. It is even interesting to note that some historians argue that early manifestations of American traditional imperialist inclinations predates the period of the American-Spanish War into the forefronts of the early displacement of native Indians.
Domestically, public opinion as to whether America is pursuing a policy of radical isolationism and militarism is sharply fragmented, thus making it difficult to arrive at a conclusion. What is thus observed is summarized below
• Extremely critical Americans are inclined to overstate the nation’s flaws, without placing them in the appropriate historical and global framework.
• The second group represents Americans who are of the opinion that imperialism is akin to aberration.

thesis writing blog