The American Empire: Pax Americana or Pox Americana?

This article explores the history & aims of US imperialism & military intervention since World War II, with special attention to the current political situation & American global military dominance. Recent invasions of Afghanistan & Iraq are seen as a continuation & acceleration, particularly evident since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, of an old pattern going back at least to the second half of the 1940s. The primary goals of US imperialism, it is argued, have always been to open up investment opportunities to US corporations & to allow such corporations to gain preferential access to crucial natural resources; the spread of US hegemony is also promoted by such expansion. It is also argued that militarism & imperialism are inseparable for US capitalism, as they are for capitalism as a whole. T. K. Brown