Beyond Neoliberal Imperialism? The Crisis of American Empire

Abstract

A cursory reading of the confidential US diplomatic cables thus far released by Wikileaks appears to confirm two notions about the nature of US power in the current world order that we also find in some of the recent literature. First, that after the end of the Cold War the US has succeeded in creating a truly global empire, which it proactively seeks to maintain through the exercise of both hard and soft power in all corners of the world (on the contemporary US empire see, e.g., Johnson 2001; Bacevich 2002; Wood 2003 and Harvey 2003). Second, that in spite of these efforts, the US finds it increasingly hard to maintain the global order it has created, to actually make other states comply and effectively carry out its agenda, and to control events and shape outcomes - a fact subsequently even more dramatically illustrated by the unexpected ‘Arab Spring’.