The United States ' Classification As An Empire

1941 Words May 16th, 2016 8 Pages
Although much debate surrounds the United States’ classification as an empire, there is no doubt or argument saying that the U.S.’s involvement in global affairs has changed the world, whether that is a positive or negative outcome will be left for another day. In this paper, the US shall be regarded as an empire because of its past and present actions in the global viewpoint. American dominance in the global view of the world can be traced back to the end of the Second World War, when they surpassed the United Kingdom as the world’s superpower, although many British people did not accept it at the time. It was at this time that the U.S. began to fight proxy wars to contain the threat of Communism, which just ended up undermining American power. However, the emergence of the American Empire and the beginning of a new era of American politics can be traced back to the American intervention in the Cuban War for Independence in 1898. This new era for the United States was characterised by keeping American interests in check and theoretically spread democracy. This period of American politics saw the expansion of American territories and the United states acting eerily similar to a European Imperialist power while still patting themselves on the back for spreading American values and giving everyone democracy, which those countries so desperately needed. This era however, is coming to an end, as more and more countries are becoming developed that have the potential to surpass…
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