Post-Cold War US empire rebranded military force as benevolent multicultural intervention

Evidence

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of a unipolar world, or what has been called a “unipolar moment,” led to a reconfiguration of US imperialism. At the time, the discussion revolved around a “peace dividend” and a global order characterized by butter, not guns. The United States would create and police a “New World Order” in which it would show up anywhere it was needed, like a “globocop,” to right wrongs, advance humanitarian goals, and save the day. The 1991 Gulf War demonstrated to the world that the end of “Communism” did not mean the end of the US military; instead of fighting the Russians, it would be used against other still-significant threats to international stability—rogue states, failed states, terrorists, and a host of others who refused to acquiesce to pax Americana. This was not going to be accomplished through the naked assertion of power, but through the logic of multiculturalism and benevolence. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 403

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the author’s broader thesis across this book that empire wears a humanitarian/multicultural mask, and resonates with the ‘globocop’ branding of 1990s interventionism in contemporary discussions of the ‘rules-based order’. — connects to: The US distinguished its postwar dominance from old colonialism as benevolent supremacy — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 245; Only post-Cold War unipolarity let US elites openly embrace empire language; Post-Soviet US empire fused military power with a multicultural benevolent brand (+11 more)

Broader Connections

• Post-Soviet US empire fused military power with a multicultural benevolent brand #corroborates (0.98)
• The Gulf War military was rebranded as a multicultural force to justify intervention. #exemplifies (0.96) — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 97
• US military diversity itself served as imperial branding after the Gulf War #expands (0.92) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 416
• US military diversity was deployed to legitimate global intervention #corroborates (0.91)
• Military diversity was marketed to justify global intervention as world-citizen duty #corroborates (0.85)
• Representing military diversity legitimized endless US intervention worldwide #corroborates (0.85)