The U.S. Empire: The Case of Iraq

The notion of "empire", according to Hardt and Negri (2000), has been in existence for thousands of years. An empire, by definition, consists of an extended amount of territory that is controlled to a large degree by a single nation or state actor. The ancient Roman Empire was a classic example of such a system. Today, with a single global superpower in the form of the United States of America, there are analysts suggesting that another "empire" has been or is being formed (Hardt & Negri, 2000).

This essay will examine the idea that the United States is engaged in building an empire. It will explore this concept with respect to the American-led intervention in Iraq. This is case study of nation-building and of interventionism by one state or states in the internal political affairs of another state.

Despite defeat in the first Gulf War, the Saddam Hussein regime continued to exercise total domination in Iraq (Tripp, 2002). Various United Nations resolutions were ignored or given minimal attention by Saddam's government. Further attacks on dissident groups within Iraq, coupled with a refusal to permit United Nations inspectors searching for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and other sanctioned weaponry to complete their tasks, also characterized the policies of the regime after the first gulf War. Taken together, these actions and the 9/11/2001 terrorist attack on the United States created a new opportun

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tice, with an expanded role for the United States as the last remaining "great power." A booming national economy and the forces of economic globalization in the 1990s helped to bolster this attitude toward America's role in the world. Under the leadership of President George W. Bush, the United States has moved to yet another posture in terms of her foreign policy. Containment is no longer a necessity vis-a-vis the Soviet Union, and a more activist and hegemonic role for the United States has been developed in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on this country. President Bush and the United States government have declared a "War on Terrorism" that has positioned American military services in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world, searching for terrorist and those governments or groups that support terror (Marr, 2004). The United States seems intent on brokering a new "Pax Americana" (like that achieved by the Roman Empire) that will prevent the spread of terror; in this, allies including the British back the U.S. Unilateral decision-making of the kind that was exercised by President Bush in beginning a War on Terrorism seems likely to endure, Bush argued, in effect, that any idea that America could (or

Category: Government - T