ABSTRACT
Ideas matter in the maintenance of the American empire, because the USA’s rationale for its policies is that it acts both to further its own interests and to promote freedom across the world. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the War on Terror, have been justified as battles of ideas, and American power has been projected as an instrument of divine will and as a triumph over evil. This imperial mentality tramples on the sensibilities of those without the law, and leaves the USA open to charges of hypocrisy when its actions appear to have baser motivations than the lofty ideals it employs to defend them.
“World politics is entering a new phase, in which the great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of international conflict will be cultural.”
Samuel P. Huntington, American Political Scientist 1993