SCHC 321 H01 25230

HistoryCiv, Humanities, GHS

Notes:

Darth Vader is just one recent embodiment of a longstanding anti-imperialism obsession in American popular culture.  Many Americans,in fact, consider the United States to be a republic, founded as a democratic reaction to the great Age of Empires in the 18th Century.  Myths about American diplomatic “isolationism” further support this popular notion.  Yet upon closer examination, U.S. foreign policy has very often been expansive, violent, ideologically motivated, and seeking revision of the international status quo--all hallmarks of empire. This course tracks the idea of empire as a structure and a practice in American history, surveying U.S. diplomatic history from the colonial era to the present.  Students will be asked to consider what it means for the conduct of American politics, the quality of American democracy, and the consequences of American foreign policy that the United States is an empire that considers itself anti-imperial.