Demography, technology, and the politics of modern empire
by Stephen Peter Rosen
Stephen Peter Rosen is a former NSC and Defense Department staffer who now has an endowed full professorship and heads the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies in Harvard's Department of Government. The full article is available online at:
http://www.harvardmagazine.com/on-line/050218.html
Excerpt:
"It can be difficult for the United States to see itself accurately and to state its goals objectively. Let us start with some basics. The United States has no rival. We are militarily dominant around the world. Our military spending exceeds that of the next six or seven powers combined, and we have a monopoly on many advanced and not so advanced military technologies. We, and only we, form and lead military coalitions into war. We use our military dominance to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries....
A political unit that has overwhelming superiority in military power, and uses that power to influence the internal behavior of other states is called an empire. Because the United States does not seek to control territory or govern the overseas citizens of the empire, we are an indirect empire, to be sure, but an empire nonetheless. If this is correct, our goal is not combatting a rival, but maintaining our imperial position, and maintaining imperial order.
Planning for imperial wars is different than planning for conventional wars. In dealing with the Soviet Union, war had to be avoided: small wars could not be allowed to escalate, or to divert us from the core task of defending Europe and Japan. As a result, military power was applied incrementally. Imperial wars to restore order are not so restrained. The maximum amount of force can and should be used as quickly as possible for psychological impact--to demonstrate that the empire cannot be challenged with impunity. During the Cold War, we did not try very hard to bring down communist governments. Now we are in the business of bringing down hostile governments and creating governments favorable to us. Conventional international wars end and troops are brought back home. Imperial wars end, but imperial garrisons must be left in place for decades to ensure order and stability...."