Research Project on US Imperialism

[Drace]

I need to do a research project on any topic I wish.
I think I am going to go with the thesis question "Can the USA be considered an Empire?"

For now, I need to make a bibliography of 3 books and 3 periodicals (articles, newspapers, magazine, etc).

So far, I got an article from Noam Chomsky and one from Michael Parenti. Two of my book choices are Killing Hope by William Blum and A People's History of the United States by Zinn. For a periodical, I was hoping for a recent event involving US imperialism. Any other suggestions?

Or any other thoughts on the research question?

[LeftSideDown]

I need to do a research project on any topic I wish.
I think I am going to go with the thesis question "Can the USA be considered an Empire?"

For now, I need to make a bibliography of 3 books and 3 periodicals (articles, newspapers, magazine, etc).

So far, I got an article from Noam Chomsky and one from Michael Parenti. Two of my book choices are Killing Hope by William Blum and A People's History of the United States by Zinn. For a periodical, I was hoping for a recent event involving US imperialism. Any other suggestions?

Or any other thoughts on the research question?

I'd make sure you define empire pretty early on and in a way that agrees with your thesis. Other than that I can offer you nothing.

[IcarusAngel]

Could you use this speech:

Confronting the Empire - Noam Chomsky (http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0302/S00032.htm)

Another good book is called "Empire's work shop" by Greg Grandin.

The American Empire Project (http://www.americanempireproject.com/) might be a good place, especially with books like "Hegemony or Survival" and "The Limits of Power" (written by a conservative but I hear it'd good) as well as "A people's history of American empire" and some of Chalmers Johnson's books, which also deal with empire.

[IcarusAngel]

I think if you include Chomsky, if it's an annotated bibliography, you should use Hegemony or Survival. He makes the case that the Bush administration was extreme that they were practicing preventive war, not preemptive war. He quotes international relations experts that said we should discard international law because the war will be so good (challenging the elite). Here's some quotes

"In September 2002 the Bush administration announced its National Security Strategy, which declared the right to resort to force to eliminate any perceived challenge to US global hegemony, which is to be permanent. The new grand strategy aroused deep concern worldwide, even within the foreign policy elite at home. Also in September, a propaganda campaign was launched to depict Saddam Hussein as an imminent threat to the United States and to insinuate that he was responsible for the 9-11 atrocities and was planning others. The campaign, timed to the onest of the midtern congressional elections, was highly successful in shifting attitudes. It soon drove American public opinion off the global spectrum and helped the administration achieve electoral aims and establish Iraq as a proper test case for the newly announced doctrine of resort to force at will."
...

"Though Bush planners are at an extreme end of the traditional US policy spectrum, their programs and doctrines have many precursors, both in US history and among earlier aspirants to global power. More ominously, their decisions may not be irrational within the framework of prevailing ideology and the institutions that embody it. There is ample historical precedent for the willingness of leaders to threaten or resort to violence in the face of significant risk of catastrophe. But the stakes are far higher today. The choice between hegemony and survival has rarely, if ever, been so starkly posed."

[Drace]

Yeah thanks alot! I thought I'd use Chomsky as much as I can.

But I haven't started doing any of the work, so don't need the specifics just yet. Just need some good sources and a good thesis question.

[which doctor]

You should really consider narrowing your thesis to something more specific. One would assume that it's a given that the US is an imperialist nation, and it would take a multi-volume work to actually address something as broad as this.

Maybe focus on a specific historical event and ask the question: 'Can this be considered an example of imperialism?'

[Drace]

Maybe focus on a specific historical event and ask the question: 'Can this be considered an example of imperialism?' Yeah, this is what I was thinking initially, but I cant get myself to choose a specific topic. The current war on terrorism perhaps?

So I thought I should just make another list of imperialist crimes by the US.

[Dean]

Here's one good program: Empire from AJE (http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/empire/2009/07/200972982915471266.html)

[Lacrimi de Chiciură]

Yeah, this is what I was thinking initially, but I cant get myself to choose a specific topic. The current war on terrorism perhaps?

So I thought I should just make another list of imperialist crimes by the US.

You could compare the earlier U.S. imperialist occupations in the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Haiti against the current occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

[cb9's_unity]

Proving America as a major beneficiary of Imperialism is actually quite simple. Note the 37 states that used to be inhabited by ancient Native American tribes... and now aren't.

It's irrefutable that America has gained more from imperialism over the past several hundred years than any other country (even though the American name for imperialism was manifest destiny), its just harder for mainstream sources to admit that the U.S is still imperialist.

[Scary Monster]

Proving America as a major beneficiary of Imperialism is actually quite simple. Note the 37 states that used to be inhabited by ancient Native American tribes... and now aren't.

It's irrefutable that America has gained more from imperialism over the past several hundred years than any other country (even though the American name for imperialism was manifest destiny), its just harder for mainstream sources to admit that the U.S is still imperialist.

http://ourfreedom.wordpress.com/2007/05/22/chronology-of-oppression-at-pine-ridge/

Even as late as the 1970s, the Sioux at Pine Ridge (Wounded Knee) were at civil war with the FBI (gestapo Sonsab!tches), with them and SWAT conducting assassinations, even all-out war (bringing in Cobra attack helicopters and such), when the American Indian Movement were demanding their civil rights and seized the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington DC (the natives were inspired by the Black Panthers). The US has never stopped oppressing the natives in order to keep taking resources and minerals. This is why the reservations are worse than many of the impoverished parts of south Africa.

Im half native american (and black) so this really pisses me off to the MAX. I could easily say "fuck it. all white people should die. To hell with america" but of course that wouldnt be any better than the closet-fascist US government. This is one of the many reasons why im a commie. The Bourgie bastards need to fuck off already. Social justice for all.