The American Century

The "American Century"

Coined by publisher Henry Luce in 1941

Gained power to:

Shape war and security, structure the world economy, build rules and institutions, define the language of legitimacy

Timeline

1898 (Spanish American War), 1917-19 (WW1 entry Wilsonian internationalism), 1941-45 (WW2 US post world order), 1947-49 (Cold War framework), 1991 (USSR collapses), 2001 (War on terror and rise of China and Asian Century)

Empire

Territorial Empire - direct rule and sovereignty (1898)

Informal Empire

influence through markets, investment and dependency

Security Empire

Bases, alliance systems, intervention to police and international order

Global Superpower

1898 marked the US emergence as a global superpower and a shift to overseas imperialism

US in the gilded age

c. 1870s-1890s - rapid industrialisation, economic volitility and overproduction

Age of empires

New imperialism was at its peak, scramble for Africa

Spanish-American War

21st April to 13th August 1898, short war with Spain fought in two theatres (the Caribbean and the Pacific). Sold as anti-imperial but US acquires sovereignty over Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippines

Why US goes to war (1898)

Masculinity, Imperial ideology (white man's burden), Sensationalist newspapers

Why US joins WW1

Tied to war's political economy, trade and finance increasingly aligned with allies, German submarine warfare threatens shipping and US credibility. Framed as a moral mission "make the world safe for democracy"

Fourteen Points

Free trade, national self-determination (Europe), Association of nations. Anti-Imperial but ambiguous

Versailles and the League of Nations

League of Nations - prevent war through collective security and diplomacy (US does not join). Versailles - reparations and security demands but colonial empires largely preserved

Power after WW1

Informal empire through money, access and security, US now has economic security and leverage

Language of freedom

Four freedoms - freedom of speech and worship, freedom from want and fear. Atlantic charter - self-determination, free trade and economic cooperation

Economic order

IMF: currency stability, short-term support. World Bank: long term reconstruction and development

UN

Collective security, universal equality in principle, hierarchical in practise (veto)

Contradictions

WWII order speaks to universal language but the world is still hierarchical and empires do not disappear

Quote Brewer

“With their own continental empire to manage, American expansionists seemed more interested in indirect imperialism - informal dominance through economic power” Brewer 2023