This week’s Student Spotlight is a think piece from Rupert Gibson from IPM113: US Foreign Policy. It’s got punch! Congratulations Rupert!
What America stands for in theory and praxis are almost diametrically opposed, as whilst in writing the US stands for ‘Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness’, in reality it practices exceptionalism and imperialism on the world stage, built on a history that afforded the elite few the natural rights that the Declaration of Independence claimed to ordain.
The contemporary position that the US has created for itself is one where it has consolidated itself as the hegemony so strongly that foreign policy that would be considered a crime against humanity by one nation is considered a necessary action if, and only if, committed by the US. An example of this is the Kunduz hospital airstrike, killing at least 42 individuals and decried as a war crime by Médecins Sans Frontières, who operated the hospital. Despite this, the US’s response was an apology and a pitiful $6,000 consolidation payment to families of those who died. This action is one that only the US could commit with such a minimal response, as if any other country did the same then the international outcry against it (especially if it were a non-North American, non-Western European country) would be unprecedented. However, as it was committed by the global hegemony, the president under whose term it was committed is hailed as a liberal hero, regarded culturally as a bastion of hope for America.
Similarly, the US’s position insofar as its hard-power is in part spearheaded by its globally outreaching imperialism. Aside from the 5 unincorporated territories that go against what the US was founded to oppose (taxation without representation), the US controls almost 800 military bases across 70 countries and territories outside of the country. This omnipresent military has resulted in the US having strong military control across the world, and consequently, countries that would otherwise act against it are unable to, as they dare not poke the bear (being funded more than the subsequent 11 highest military expenditures combined). The US does not practise imperialism in the way that empires such as the British or Spanish empires historically did, but rather spreads its ideology and power over the world through the threat that, if they are disobeyed, they will forcefully retaliate. This has occurred throughout modern history, such as in the cases of the Korean and Vietnam Wars, both fighting the counterhegemonic socialism that threatened the US’s power, or more contemporarily, the Iraq war, being labelled by Michael Hardt as an imperialist war.
These two facets, exceptionalism and imperialism, have allowed the US to become the strongest world power since colonialism, despite having few official overseas territories. Being able to commit war crimes that would otherwise cause a global outcry, to responding to a civilian terror attack by starting a series of wars causing over 120x as many civilian deaths as the initial act, to having more military bases than any state in history, results in the US having the global power that it does, and as such is what America stands for.