Liberal empire
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This article traces the recent discussion of the United States (US) as a developing empire. Noting that both the pro and con sides of the argument assume that the US acts with benign intentions, it argues that the Liberal Empire has more coercive features than are generally acknowledged. The liberal virtues of toleration and pluralism are becoming imperial gestures that employ repressive tactics to achieve a consensus. The irony of this development is that the liberal empire must control and contain difference in order to preserve the forms of difference deemed acceptable. Difference may only be encountered amidst known conditions — conditions of recognized universal truth. However, post 11 September, 2001, the American liberal model has been deeply challenged as not being universal. Contrary to the expected model of moderation and the struggle for acceptance, the American liberal response to terrorism has been a reversion to a singular understanding of identity and truth. Terrorism has been essentialized, its context reduced to the American experience, and any attempt to historicize it has been categorically denounced as irrational. The Liberal Empire, unlike historic empires, assumes the morality and truth of its mission. It thus manifests itself in intolerant and narrow-minded ways. Journal of International Relations and Development (2004) 7, 48–72. doi:10.1057/ palgrave.jird.1800001 Keywords: American liberalism; difference; empire; liberal; pluralism; toleration
Don’t bluster, don’t threaten, but quietly and severely punish bad behaviour. Eliot Cohen, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
Introduction Discussions of Empire and the Imperial have made an astonishing comeback in the political discourse of both academic and policy circles.1 These are not debates on the nature of post-colonialism, or on the relationships of hybridity and homelessness arising from the colonial experience; rather they arise in response to the unilateral, even domineering, actions of the proverbial elephant in the room of international politics, the military hyperpower of the United States (US). The eagerness of the present US government to use force ‘with or Journal of International Relations and Development, 2004, 7, (48–72) r 2004 Palgrave Macmillan Ltd 1408-6980/04 $25.00
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Linda S. Bishai Liberal empire
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without’ allies or institutional approval has prompted this noticeable shift in the terminology of post-Cold War discourses from exuberance about the liberation of the Security Council to hardened expressions of resolve about selfdefence, weapons and terror. As of 2001, the US’ focus on the pre-emption of terrorist threats and national security has generated a suspicion that the world’s great power has exchanged alliances and global engagement for fig-leaf coalitions and expanded military deployment via bases in subservient clientstates. Describing this as an Empire could be seen as over-sensitivity to the brusque unilateral style of the Bush Administration’s response to inte
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