America-Empire?

[Imperator Romani]

Should America be considered an empire?

[CtrlAltDe1337]

No. If America was an empire, we would have made territories or states out of all of Mexico, the Philippines (we gave them freedom), South Korea, and most of Europe.

[Thanatos]

You're not really an empire if you conquer places, and then.... rebuild them and leave them.

[hellheaven1987]

You're not really an empire if you conquer places, and then.... rebuild them and leave them.

Ya, and create puppet state...

[motiv-8]

Ya, and create puppet state...

Since when did a democratically elected government fit under the definition of "puppet state?"

[RomanSoldier9001]

Since when did a democratically elected government fit under the definition of "puppet state?"

Since always
And for me the asnwer is yes USA is a empire.
Please just see the Iraqui Invasion USA is trully a empire tougth it doesnt has pronvinces world wide it has pupet states or companies.
USA has economical control on world.
Not your traditional empire like Roman Empire for example but still it can be considered a empire.

[swabian]

The word "empire" has a multitude of meanings and it's not necessarily refering to the classical figure of a kingdom rising to power over neigbouring kingdoms.
As for this classical picture: America doesn't really hold power over neighbouring political entities (by that i don't mean tribal societies, no offense) and it never did. To say to "be able to exercise great influence" is allready semantically restricted in that sense, an empire wouldn't have to exercise influence over it's dominion, it would just singlehandedly decide and dictate, which America never did and never could, even if it wanted to. Classical empires didn't need to bully their subordinate parts. Americas prime in military strength is a result of the world wars and the western alliances, which basically rendered the US as the big brother one could allways rely on (actually every Western nation somehow wanted that or didn't really object to this). However, the big influence of the US and it's occasional willingness to bully other countries in the past is of course noteworthy and somewhat related to imperialistic thinking. The term "economic/cultural empire" can be (carefully) applied to the US in that sense imo.

[Mr. Pink]

Ya, and create puppet state...

[Burnum]

You're not really an empire if you conquer places, and then.... rebuild them and leave them.

What would you call the Annexation of Hawaii and the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico? American is an empire.

[Pickle_mole]

What would you call the Annexation of Hawaii and the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico? American is an empire.

When did we annex the Philippines and Cuba? oh and puerto rico is not a state and has voting rights to decide if it wants to stay or leave.

[Shams al-Ma'rifa]

You're not really an empire if you conquer places, and then.... rebuild them and leave them.

britain's not an empire?

[Lance-Corporal Jones]

britain's not an empire?

That ended in '97 with Hong Kong

[Shams al-Ma'rifa]

That ended in '97 with Hong Kong

im sorry what i meant to say was "britain was not an empire?"

[magickyleo101]

The term doesn't really have very much semantic content any more. You can see that much in the fact that people don't seem to require an "emperor" or "empress" before calling something an empire any more. At this point it's pretty much just a vehicle for emotive expression - calling a country an empire is like calling someone a "tool." There're some basic semantic conditions that have to be satisfied before something can be either an "empire" or a "tool" (for example, it doesn't make much sense to say "that bar of soap is such a tool"), but once those are satisfied the only other requirement is the evaluative one.


So given all that, no, America is not an empire. Why? Because I like America.

[nopasties]

Is neo-Empire appropriate, never heard it used? I've seen refrences of neo-Imperialism, but does that really apply to America?

[MaximiIian]

Is neo-Empire appropriate, never heard it used? I've seen refrences of neo-Imperialism, but does that really apply to America?

In certain periods of time, like the late 19th century, early 20th century, and most recently 1950's. But not presently, no.

[Sidmen]

Hawaii

Voted to become a state

Philippines

Voted for independence, granted

Cuba

Released as an independent country; hostile to us

Puerto Rico

Voted to remain a territory

American is an empire.

It may have been, but the current incarnation of the Untied States isn't an empire. Don't confuse us enforcing favorable trade relations as being an empire.

[B5C]

Maybe we are using the wrong term as "Empire." I believe the term "Empire" has change. Empire does not have to mean conquer everything and keep it. For the past two hundred years America has expanded from 13 colonies to 50 states with two of them outside the continental US. We have an economic empire where the most of the world currently trades with the US dollar. Also we have an military "Empire" bigger than any nation combined:

[Mikelus Trento]

Maybe we are using the wrong term as "Empire." I believe the term "Empire" has change. Empire does not have to mean conquer everything and keep it. For the past two hundred years America has expanded from 13 colonies to 50 states with two of them outside the continental US. We have an economic empire where the most of the world currently trades with the US dollar. Also we have an military "Empire" bigger than any nation combined:

Alaska is certainly part of the North American continent. It is just not contiguous with the lower 48.

For the record.

[B5C]

Alaska is certainly part of the North American continent. It is just not contiguous with the lower 48.

For the record.

Well Duh, but the term "Continental US" means for the lower 48 states.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contiguous_United_States