America and Europe: two contrasting or parallel empires?

Abstract

This article considers whether an imperial paradigm is useful in aiding our understanding of the European Union (EU) and US today. It argues that empires are key units in today’s world, imposing considerable constraints on formally sovereign states, and that this cannot but change the nature of International Relations. The article compares some of the distinctive characteristics of the EU and US, and considers whether their structural features and imperial behaviours generate cooperation or conflict. It concludes that their competition for supremacy in Europe is potentially conflict-prone. The USA treats Europe as one of its vital peripheries and this is at odds with the EU’s own imperial ambitions.

Keywords:

• empire
• European Union
• US
• International Relations

Notes

1. For example, according to ‘Shaw and Wiener (2000, p. 64) … the perseverance of the “touch of stateness” is quite impressive in the context of European integration studies’.

2. It must be stressed, however, that some definitions of empire exclude more loosely organized polities. For instance, Watson (1992, pp. 14–16) distinguishes between independent states, hegemony, suzerainty, dominion and empire.

3. Ikenberry (2002, p. 296). The term ‘indispensable nation’ has been attributed to Madeleine Albright.