Only post-Cold War unipolarity let US elites openly embrace empire language
Evidence
This “neo-Reaganite” policy was called “benevolent global hegemony” because it asserted that what was good for the United States was generally good for the world as well. As an aside, we might note that this was not a radically new idea but rather a continuation of the “benevolent supremacy” that McAlister argues characterized US policy in the post–World War II era. What was new in the late 1990s was the willingness among the adherents of this policy to use the word empire more openly. Whereas the United States shied away from this designation after World War II, not least to differentiate itself from colonial powers like Britain and France, the unipolar world created new conditions for the resurrection of imperial language. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 468
Categorization
Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims
Related
- Post-Cold War unipolarity made US elites willing to openly embrace the word empire. (similarity 0.97)
- The 1990s unipolar moment revived open imperial language in US policy (similarity 0.93)
- The US distinguished its postwar dominance from old colonialism as benevolent supremacy (similarity 0.81)
- American exceptionalism repackaged empire because it could not inherit old imperial language (similarity 0.81)
- American postwar empire legitimized itself through ‘benevolent supremacy’ rather than old colonialism. (similarity 0.80)
- Post-Cold War US imperial consensus traded liberal veneer for white nationalism under Trump. (similarity 0.80)
- Liberal hegemonic soft power rhetoric masked imperial ethnocentric racism. (similarity 0.80)
- US post-war hegemony repurposed Orientalism and modernization theory to justify empire. (similarity 0.80)
- Post-Cold War US empire rebranded military force as benevolent multicultural intervention (similarity 0.79)
- US postwar imperialism was framed as benevolent supremacy via free-market capitalism (similarity 0.79)
- US anticolonial identity required a distinct language masking its imperial ambitions. (similarity 0.79)
- Empires justify themselves by claiming superiority over prior empires (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Post-Cold War unipolarity made US elites willing to openly embrace the word empire.
#corroborates(1.00) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 480 - Post-unipolar power shifts made US elites willing to speak of empire openly
#corroborates(0.95)