Limits of US imperialism

American leaders are in the habit of projecting the US as a benign superpower committed to the promotion of liberal democratic values and the upholding of a rules-based order internationally.

However, American history in reality tells the story of an imperial power bent upon expansionism and the establishment of its hegemony initially within the Western Hemisphere and later, as its national power grew, globally. American expansionism westward up to the Pacific in the 19th century in pursuance of the concept of Manifest Destiny was an initial sign of American imperial ambitions.

This westward advance coincided with the announcement of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823 which held that any intervention by European powers in the political affairs of the Western Hemisphere was a potentially hostile act against the US.

In pursuance of the Monroe Doctrine, which was enforced rigorously by Washington at the end of the 19th century and in the 20th century as its power grew, the US defeated Spain in a war in 1898, expelling it from the Western Hemisphere and acquiring Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.

In 1903, the US supported an insurrection in Colombia to create a new country, Panama, for building the Panama Canal. In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt through the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine declared the US as the policeman of the Western Hemisphere, asserting the right to intervene whenever and wherever it deemed necessary.

Graham Allison, a noted American scholar, points out in his widely acclaimed book, ‘Destined for War – Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?’, that the US exercised this right nine times in the seven years of President Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency. American marines or warships intervened in Latin America 21 times in the 30 years after the announcement of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.

Following the end of World War II, the US emerged as the most powerful nation in the world because of its enormous economic and military power, while Britain and France, the former colonial powers, had been greatly weakened because of the ravages of the war. The Soviet Union, despite its victory, needed time to recover from the colossal cost of World War II.

The US-led West, therefore, through the peculiar structuring of the UN, the World Bank and the IMF was able to design a world order that – behind the facade of the preservation of international peace and security, safeguarding human rights, and promotion of economic progress – enabled the US and its Western allies to maintain their dominance in international security and economic issues.

During the cold war, the US did not desist from exhibiting its imperialist tendencies whenever it suited its interests as shown by its deep involvement in the Vietnam War, and its numerous overt and covert interventions and regime change operations across different parts of the world.

However, the presence of the Soviet Union did act as a check on its hegemonic ambitions. Following the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, this check disappeared leading to the US overreaction to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 resulting in the longest war in the US history in Afghanistan, and the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

President Trump’s recent claims to Greenland and the Panama Canal besides his desire to make Canada America’s 51st state again reflect its innate imperialist tendencies. His latest proposal regarding the Middle East is another example of a hegemonic mindset which is dismissive of international law and UN resolutions. In pursuance of the same approach steeped in narrow nationalism, the US has decided to withdraw from the World Health Organization and the Paris Agreement on Climate in addition to imposing sanctions on officials of the International Criminal Court for daring to take action against Israeli officials.

There are signs that the international community, especially the Global South, may be finally waking up to the dangers inherent in America’s hegemonic ambitions. Besides the US debacle in Afghanistan, the emerging power realities at the global level are also driving home the limits of the US imperialistic tendencies. The most important factor which will check American imperialism in the future is the dramatic rise of China’s economic and military power over the past four decades.

China is already the biggest economy in the world in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms with an estimated GDP of $37 trillion as against the GDP of $29 trillion for the US in 2024. However, in nominal dollar terms, China with a GDP of about $20 trillion is still far behind the US. China’s growing economic strength has enabled it to rapidly increase its military expenditure allowing it to expand its military presence in the South China Sea and East China Sea.

As China’s military strength grows in these areas, America’s ability to project its military power in the Western Pacific region will gradually diminish despite US efforts to contain China through strengthening strategic cooperation with regional powers and such security arrangements as Quad and AUKUS.

The growth of China’s economic strength has also enabled it to develop its economic relations with countries in the Global South through trade, investment and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China’s rapidly expanding economic footprint in Africa, Latin America, and West Asia through BRI or otherwise is a matter of great concern to the US. It is now responding with economic initiatives of its own to check the Chinese advance but with limited success so far because of either lack of seriousness or the limited nature of its initiatives.

In Europe, Russia through its invasion of Ukraine has drawn a redline against Nato’s eastward expansion in contravention of the understandings given to it by the US earlier at the time of the German reunification. A re-assertive Russia in alliance with China and together with such countries as North Korea and Iran is likely to play a significant role in limiting American expansionism in Eurasia, both in the West and the East.

The interplay of American imperialist tendencies and the forces opposed to them is likely to aggravate anarchy at the international level. In such an anarchic world marked by growing power politics and the diminishing role of international law and the UN in major issues of war and peace, the economic and military power of a nation will be the ultimate guarantor of its security and economic progress.

Pakistan’s grand strategy should, therefore, assign the topmost priority to the goal of rapid economic growth by allocating the maximum possible resources to this task while maintaining a credible security deterrent.

The goal of rapid economic development will remain elusive unless we pursue a low-risk and non-adventurist foreign policy in the interest of peace in our neighbourhood. Further, the emerging multipolar world and ground realities at the regional level call for Pakistan’s close strategic relations with China and important Muslim countries while maintaining normal friendly relations with other major powers to safeguard its security and economic well-being.

The writer is a retired ambassador and author of ‘Pakistan and a World in Disorder – A Grand Strategy for the Twenty-First Century’. He can be reached at: javid.husain@gmail.com