What is an Empire, and is the United States one? Part One

 

Before we can determine if the United States is an empire, we need to determine what an empire is. But what do you think of when you hear the word empire?  You probably think one of three things:

First everyone’s favorite toga-wearing empire:

Or everyone’s favorte exporter of independence days:

Or everyone’s favorite fictional Empire (cue music):

But what is the definition of Empire?  While it may seem self-explanatory, but it is a bit more difficult.

According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary definition of an empire is: “1) a major political unit having a territory of a great extent were a number of territories or peoples under single sovereign authority especially: one having an emperor as chief of state, 2) the territory of such a political unit, something resembling political empire especially: an extensive territory or enterprise under single domain or control, 3) imperial sovereignty, rule, or dominion.”  However, this does not adequately describe what an empire is, or how they function.  Empires are far more complicated and operate in ways that are not as clear-cut as the dictionary would suppose, hence why we need to describe what an empire is.

So, what is an empire what is my definition of it?  To do determine that we must look at a single empire and discuss how it functioned, one that encompasses both a formal and informal empire.  For this example, we will choose the Roman Empire, specifically the province of Britannia, as this region demonstrates these two major aspects of what makes an empire an empire.  The reason I am choosing Britain as an example is due to its hard border, Hadrian’s Wall, that separated those regions Roman directly controlled from the areas beyond its formal control. 

The Red Line is Hadrian’s Wall

Everything south of Hadrian’s Wall was part of the Roman Empire proper directly ruled by Rome, with soldiers, bureaucrats, and administrators to run it and protect it. All these people were paid directly out of the Roman treasury and ultimately reported to the central administration in Rome. This demonstrates one aspect of empire, the formal control of a region by the imperial polity.  This is a formal empire, an empire that has direct and complete control over an area that is not the metropole (the homeland of an empire) and is not intended to be incorporated fully into that political polity on an equal level. 

North of Hadrian’s Wall were those regions not directly under the control of Rome.  Contrary to popular belief, Roman authority and power did not end at Hadrian’s Wall, it rather extended beyond.  North of the wall were regions that still fell under Roman influence, through alliances, client states, trading partners, and the many Romans were present as well.  These regions, although not directly administered by Rome, still fell within the Roman Empire even if there were no Roman administrators or soldiers there to enforce Roman interests.  These areas remained under the influence of Rome due to its power and were beholden to it.  This demonstrates another aspect of empire, an informal empire.  An informal empire is an Empire that exerts large amounts of political, military, or economic influence in regions beyond its territorial control.  These are the two aspects of empire, an empire that has formal direct control of territories or it has an informal dominance over territories.

It should be noted that most empires are neither strictly formal or informal, most demonstrate, as I exhibited above with Rome, a mixing of both types of empire, using what method seems the most covenant for that region.  With this in mind, what is the definition of Empire?  As can be seen, an empire is more complex than what the dictionary expresses, therefor I think Merriam-Webster’s definition falls a bit short so I will propose my own definition.  For this blog, and whenever I talk about empire moving forward, an empire is: a political entity that has direct formal control over multiple regions that are not equal with, nor intended to be assimilated into the metropole AND/OR a state that exerts considerable military, economic, or political influence over multiple regions or states who may also be beholden to the dominant state through treaties or economic assistance.  While there will be some empires that do not perfectly fit into this definition, I believe that this definition adequately addresses the multiple approaches of empire that have existed throughout history from ancient Egypt and China to the modern world. 

Now that we have defined what empire is, I wish to discuss briefly whether empires are good or evil.

Contrary to what popular culture may tell you (cue music, and you know which music), empires are neither good nor evil, they are simply a state of being, much like being a republic does not make a nation virtuous.  Remember, Germany was technically a republic under Hitler.  In fact, empires have been fairly common throughout history, with most regions inhabited by humans seeing at least one empire exist in that region, and to see them as good or evil is to fail to understand them.  Most empires have mixed records, for example, European colonial empires helped to establish modern hospitals and school systems where they existed.  Yes, the schools and hospitals were built to help perpetuate the colonial regime, but they also did help the colonial subjects.  Does this mean these hospitals and schools were bad?  Of course not, but it does make them good either.  Please do not think I am apologizing for empires; I am not a huge fan of them I just do not want to and do not intend to, get caught up in the debate over whether or not they are evil.  Not everything in history can be defined as good or evil, and nor does it need to be.

Now that we have defined what an empire is in my next post, I will look at the United States to determine if the United States is now, or ever has been an empire. 

Note: None of the maps or pictures are mine.