Pax Americana: Is the United States a Benevolent Hegemon?

Since WWII, the United States has placed itself at the head of the liberal world order, policing friends, partners, and enemies, to ensure that the rules-based system they inherited from the British Empire remained in place—unless the US wants to break the rules. Since that time, they have built up an immense military that does not have a rival. They have enforced free trade through international waters and forced others to allow safe passage, despite the arguments over what constitutes international waters. They further support international governing bodies that attempt to impose the rules on everyone who participates and wishes to continue participating in the international community with more punishment (or less aid) for the weak while the strong have more license. In this respect, the United States looks like an empire that rules over the entire world. If however, one listens to the objectives of the United States since the beginning of the War on Terror, one quickly sees that the United States is unable to assert itself as it wishes internationally; many countries are no longer responsive to their interests; others are turning to rivals like China and Russia to support their actions at home; democracy is no longer spreading; authoritarianism is; and the United States must now address threats both internationally from other great powers and domestically as white supremacists once again threaten the very foundation of democracy as well as the minorities who they blame for the current state of the nation. In this respect, the United States cannot and has not effectively asserted itself as an imperial power.