Are the United States an imperialism or an anti-imperialism power during the twentieth century ?

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Believing in certain ideological principles such as freedom and democracy, the United States fought with vigour against communism in all ways possible. The conflict was never direct but always multidimensional (political, military, ideological, cultural). The Truman Doctrine, also known as the policy of containment, is a demonstration of the American imperialism during Cold War. It was set up from a Truman speech on March 12, 1947 before a Joint Session of Congress. As mentioned below, this manifestation of power is highlighted in the following extract of the speech he gave:

“The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their freedoms. If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world. And we shall surely endanger the welfare of this nation.”[8] (Truman, 1947)

The United States then positioned themselves as unique leaders of the free world “threatened by communism” and therefore acted as an imperialism country. From an economic outlook, the Marshall Plan (1947) represents a logical follow-up for this policy. Indeed, by allowing loans, materials and advises to their allies, they also assured the control of their economic policy thus, maintaining a strategic diplomatic influence. Their repeated military actions in various territories also reflect their desire to control the world. In that vein, they multiplied bilateral and multilateral agreements in the 1950’s. Those efforts to contain USSR’s influence resulted in the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) established in 1950.

Moreover, their fail attempt of invading Cuba in 1961 in the Bay of Pigs Invasion, quickly followed with the Cuban crisis in 1962 illustrates their ambition to dominate the international stage during Cold War. Indeed, this paramount of the war between the United States and USSR pointed out the wish of America to impose their national ideology and influence over the soviet model.

It is also during the Vietnam War that the United States acted out as truly imperialists. As explained by Jeannesson, they interfered in the conflict in order to demonstrate their “ideological superiority over communism and colonial model” by controlling Vietnam. Unfortunately, this military campaign failed completely. Disastrous consequences of this war led to the criticism by the public opinion of the American imperialism’s behavior between 1946 and 1954 and its government’s responsibility. By endorsing the fact that their influence was decreasing during this specific period, the United States continuously intervened in the world, to improve their global popularity. A vivid example of that would be the encouragement a right-wing dictatorship led by Augusto Pinochet after his famous coup d’état in Chile in 1973.

After the Vietnam trauma, the Reagan years (1980-1988) saw the triumphant return of the United States with a strong power. The collapse of the USSR left the United States without any rivals or equals regarding a geostrategic point of view. They weren’t anymore a synonym of a “super-power” but more of a “hyper-power”, according to the past French foreign affairs minister, Hubert Védrine, in 1999. Theoretically, their imperialism policy remained strong, while participating in many conflicts and agreements in the world, without even consulting the international community in some cases. We could take for example all of the events that followed the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 (Golf War until 1991, Oslo accords in 1993) and the September 11th attacks. In fact, in 2001, the intervention in Afghanistan was led with the accord of the NU. Whereas the one in 2003 in Iraq which, as for that matter, was taken without any concertation with the international community. This particular event showed the growing importance of a unilateralism policy in the United States since the attacks. The bombings crystalized an anti-imperialism sentiment in the world. This allows us to understand the idea that the United States no longer were an imperialism country after being attacked on their territory.

All in all, and despite what they wanted for the public opinion to believe, the United States were an imperial power during the twentieth century. Indeed, they extent their influence throughout numerous military and diplomatic events and that all along the century, during the Cold War for example. However, they always fought for the ideas they believed in and wanted to apply to the world while fighting a demeaning imperial image: freedom, collective security and democracy.

Moreover, their influence has recently decreased when their vulnerability was targeted with the September 11th attacks. An interesting question that yet has to be solved concerns the future policy which is going to be led by incoming presidents of the United States. Will they prioritize imperialism and its imperfections or rather the opposite while putting their leader position at risk in an increasingly competitive world?

Bibliography

Bremmer, I. (2015, May 28). These Are the 5 Reasons Why the U.S. Remains the World's Only Superpower. Time.

Jeannesson, S. (2002). La Guerre Froide. La Découverte & Syros.

Platt, O. H. (1901). Platt Amendment.

Roosevelt, T. F. (1900). Speak softly and carry a big stick, you will go far.

Rosenberg, E. S. (2004). Financial Missionaries to the World: The Politics and Culture of Dollar Diplomacy, 1900–1930. Gilbert M. Joseph.

Taylor, F. W. (1911). The Principles of Management.

The Oxford University Press. (2017). Found on https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/imperialism.

Truman, H. S. (1947). A Fateful Hour.

Wilson, W. (1918). Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points.

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