AMERICAN EMPIRE (fwd)

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               ANDRE    GUNDER      FRANK

Senior Fellow                                      Residence
World History Center                    One Longfellow Place
Northeastern University                            Apt. 3411
270 Holmes Hall                         Boston, MA 02114 USA
Boston, MA 02115 USA                    Tel:    617-948 2315
Tel: 617 - 373 4060                     Fax:    617-948 2316
Web-page:csf.colorado.edu/agfrank/     e-mail:franka@fiu.edu

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 19:20:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: Andre Gunder Frank <franka@fiu.edu>
To: franka@fiu.edu
Subject: AMERICAN EMPIRE



AMERICAN EMPIRE

A political unit that has overwhelming superiority in military power, and
uses that power to influence the internal behavior of other states, is
called an empire. The United States [is] an indirect empire, to be sure,
but an empire nonetheless.... If this is correct, our goal is not
combating a rival, but maintaining our imperial position, and maintaining
imperial order. Imperial wars are not so constrained [from escalation as
when still confronted by the Soviet Union]. The maximum amount of force
can and should e used as quickly as possible for psychological impact - to
demonstrate that the empire cannot be challenged with impunity.  Now we
are in the business of bringing down hostile governments and creating
governments favorable to us. Imperial wars end, but imperial garrisons
must be left in place for decades to ensure order and stability. This is,
in fact, what we are beginning to see, first in the Balkans and now in
Central Asia [and] requires a lighly armed ground force for garrison
purposes. Finally, imperial strategy focuses on preventing the emergence
of powerful, hostile challengers to empire: by war if necessary, but by
imperial assimilation if possible. China will be a major economic and
military power in a generationbut is not yet powerful enough to be a
challenger to American empire, and the goal of the United States is to
prevent that challenge from emerging. The United States could do what it
does now: reassure its friends in Asia that we will not allow Chinese
military intimidation to succeed.We may also want unconventional weapons
with which to remind China .

        Stephen Peter Rose
        Harvard University
        Kaneb professor of national security and military affairs,
        Director of the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies,
        HARVARD MAGAZINE   May-June 2002, pp 30-31





    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               ANDRE    GUNDER      FRANK

Senior Fellow                                      Residence
World History Center                    One Longfellow Place
Northeastern University                            Apt. 3411
270 Holmes Hall                         Boston, MA 02114 USA
Boston, MA 02115 USA                    Tel:    617-948 2315
Tel: 617 - 373 4060                     Fax:    617-948 2316
Web-page:csf.colorado.edu/agfrank/     e-mail:franka@fiu.edu

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