Are we seeing the establishment of a new American Empire? The term has been showing up quite a bit in the news and in popular discourse lately. One can often see bumper stickers in more liberal neighborhoods that state "No Empire" in place of the "No War in Iraq" signs. Do a Google search for "American Empire" and you can get over 100 results in the news, including The Globe and Mail, Canada; Seattle Post Intelligencer; The Financial Times of London; New Zealand Herald; Vancouver Sun, Canada; London Daily Telegraph; and The Nation. There are many more.

Currently, we have two countries under occupation as a result of war, Iraq and Afghanistan, and are fighting to control them. We rule directly in Iraq, but through a government we sponsor in Afghanistan. We have troops fighting insugency movements in Colombia and the Phillipines. We have troops based on every continent, mainly to keep the peace and to maintain an environment conducive to free trade, which supports the US economy. Often, these troops are based in places to protect shipping routes for oil, without which the American economy would collapse.

Is the focus on Empire a function of the growing importance of the US military in reshaping the world, of its power within the Bush administration? Perhaps it is the changed circumstances in American life post-September 11? The fear of terrorism has created a situation where Americans are willing to trade away civil liberties in return for security. This concentrates more power in the hands of those who hold the reins of the security apparatus in Washington. Isn't the main requirement of empire having an emperor?

There is an article asking the question of whether American is now an Empire in the New York Journal News. Conservative columnist Georgie Ann Geyer at the Boston Globe disagrees. For others, the question of whether the US now controls an Empire seems to be settled. The question being asked now is not whether we control an empire or even whether we should. William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard and a leading proponent of American empire, claims that there is nothing wrong with dominance as long as it is for the "right values." Given that the US now control Iraq and is the predominant power throughout the world, the question more commonly asked now is how do we manage the empire? This is the subject of an interview with Robert Kaplan in the Atlantic Monthly for July/August. There is a host of articles by Franz Schurmann at the Pacific News Service exploring the Politics of Empire.