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The Global Context of American Instability

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The New World and the New World Order
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Abstract

The preceding chapters have sought to show that the USA is a territorial empire and that it is, at present, exhibiting tendencies which suggest that it is politically unstable. The argument that this is the case has rested on the view that the US empire is within, rather than outside, the USA as it exists today. That is, the modern state is itself ‘imperial’ in both formation and structure and this is accompanied by economic and cultural imperialism within its borders. Instability, therefore, derives from the probable accentuation of existing trends toward cultural change, social polarisation, economic decline and demographic shifts. This is unlikely to lead to the rapid demise of the USA as a state, although it may be expected that a greater emphasis on regional separatism will emerge in the twenty-first century.

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5 The Global Context of American Instability

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© 1996 K. R. Dark with A. L. Harris

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Dark, K.R., Harris, A.L. (1996). The Global Context of American Instability. In: The New World and the New World Order. University of Reading European and International Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230379428_5

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