Monday, October 3, 2016
Theories of Imperialism
Today in class, we began an intro to imperialism in the United States. Imperialism is the "extension of a nation's power through military and diplomatic means." We looked at five theories about imperialism: Conservative, Liberal, Marxist, Political, and Social-Psychological Theories. Based on what we know so far about the late 19th/ early 20th century United States, I predict that the general attitude of Imperialism for the United States government is the Conservative theory. This theory best matches with what the U.S. government believed in at the time. This theory is pro-imperialism, and it continues the idea of Social Darwinism in that it is necessary for the best and most developed countries to stay powerful. While there were some progressive presidents during this time, business and the idea of Social Darwinism still very much existed and thrived. There was also a high sense of American pride during this time, because of things like nativism and the American Dream. Americans felt that they were above others, and this will likely reflect in their attitude towards imperialism.
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I agree that the conservative definition of imperialism can be pretty closely related to how Americans would try and imperialize other groups of people, since as you said, Social Darwinism, nativism, and power were all concepts directly tied to American society and politics. However, I do think that other definitions of imperialism could also apply to American imperialism in a their own ways, since to an extent, the political and liberal theories of imperialism can be applicable to American society. For example, even though Social Darwinism and navitism were major motivations for American imperialism, one of the main reasons imperialism was so favorable to the US was because it helped them balance power with European nations and become more developed/internationally respected, which is why the political theories of imperialism can correlate to American imperialism to an extent. Also, even though conservatism and realistic ideals for preserving the United States were popular throughout the United States during this time period, because progressive reforms and major political change began to occur at the turn of the 20th century, I think that the US avoided imperialism to a certain extent through such change since progressives were able to promote major socioeconomic and industrial reforms, meaning that the liberal theories of imperialism could be somewhat applicable to American imperialism (since the liberal theory is about preventing imperialism through domestic reform).
ReplyDeleteI agree with Matthew on the point that the balance of power was another major motivator for American imperialism. The U.S wanted to build a strong political front as they were a fairly new nation so from that perspective expanding at the rate they did made sense. Later in the game however I don't think this motivation was the same. Do you think imperialism exists today and if so what motives countries to do so?
ReplyDeleteTo answer your point Tino, I do believe imperialism exists today, however I don't think it is the same type of imperialism as before. I feel like imperialism today may be driven by capitalism. I was reading something on reference.com about this subject and it stated that, "Capitalism is a major driver of modern imperialism as corporations, such as banks and oil companies, expand globally to generate more profits. It is backed by an ongoing revolution in science and technology that has seen a few people accumulate much wealth around the globe". Also, people may consider the dominance of the World Bank by a couple powers could be considered modern imperialism... What do others think about this?
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