Historical To Present Day Imperialism

It’s a universally accepted belief that the concept and justification of Imperialism is immoral. Imperialism usually takes the form of military action enforced by a dominant country in order to exploit another country’s land, labor, and resources to benefit its own demands. Sure, it’s easy to reprimand this behavior and write it off as government bullying. But the reality is that without imperialistic behavior the U.S. would not be the top superpower it is today. Technologically and economically we have thrived on the competitive nature of our country’s foundations. No other country comes close to matching our military might. But as Americans we realize this doesn’t mean that we can or should remove morality from the equation. That’s why our Americans were so divided by George Bush’s decision to invade Iraq. Many questioned the choice to enter Iraq and Afghanistan, asking was it really moral or was it similar to what the British were doing 100 years ago? Other countries took notice of our decision too, branding us as an imperialistic world police on a power trip. As a major world power the line becomes blurred between our good intentions, and our oppressive tactics. Ironically, while running for president Bush announced a passive foreign policy, only to later become one of the most interventionist presidents in foreign affairs in history.

To put it in perspective in today’s society I want to mention China. In contrast to us, China has pursued a very different policy in providing lots of economic support with no demands on internal politics or human rights with countries they do business with. They use their economic power instead of their military power to benefit themselves. As a result, countries like Sudan prefer to do business with China rather than the U.S. While we perceive ourselves to be the good guys, the rest of the world doesn’t always agree, which has driven away some of our former allies. But it’s important to realize that the nurturing and cultivation of a nation’s superiority complex did not originate with Bush’s administration. The idea of imperialism has existed forever. The Eastern Europeans were so commonly enslaved by each other that “Slav” became directly associated with serfdom. In fact the word “slave” stems from “Slav”. Hitler and the Nazi regime are a prime example of imperialism at its darkest hour. Nazi actions were based in a faith that Jews were inferior, non-human beings, using slave labor of concentration camps to their advantage.