Citation

Keohane RO. J. Peace Res. 1991; 28(4): 435-439.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0022343391028004010

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The American 'Empire' is a fine interpretive essay on the sources and limits of United States influence in world politics since 1945. Geir Lundestad links issues of politics, economics and security, emphasizing the importance of local politics in determining the extent of US influence. In his view, US power has declined in relative terms since 1950, but the United States remains the world's strongest state. Lundestad's balanced and nuanced analysis is not aided, however, by use of the phrase 'empire' to describe United States hegemony, since 'empire' obscures rather than illuminates the differences in form of rule between the United States and other Great Powers, such as Great Britain in the nineteenth century or the Soviet Union in the twentieth.