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Incoherent Empire: A Critique of US Foreign Policy from the Perspective of Comparative and Historical Sociology

The invasion of Iraq in 2003 can be regarded as part of an effort to create what has been called a 'New American Empire'. Amid a supportive intellectual environment in which many commentators argued that the US could achieve empire status, George W. Bush's administration acted. Senior administration figures believed that the US had the power to remake Iraq, restructure the entire Middle East and eliminate terrorism and weapons of mass destruction around the world. However, the new imperialists forgot that effective power requires a combination of ideological, economic, military and political power. They relied overwhelmingly on just one aspect of military power-offensive fire power-in their efforts. This is insufficient to create an empire. In addition, the political and ideological shift globally during the late twentieth-century from imperialism towards nationalism is damaging to any effort to found an empire. This paper explores these issues in depth to argue that America's early-twenty-first century attempt at empire is failing.