[Morpheus]

The US has been an empire since at least the Mexican-American war, although back then it was just a regional empire as opposed to the global empire it is today. An empire is a state that engages in imperialism on a large scale. Imperialism is a social relation in which the rulers of one state/society/country dominate the population of another society/country. This can range anywhere from direct conquest and extermination of subjugated peoples to informal domination of client states. The US is an empire because it practices imperialism on a large scale. See my essay Anatomy of the American Empire for a more detailed analysis of the empire, its characteristics and the aims of US foreign policy.

The US is also a republic, as a republic is just an elected government without a monarchy. Being a repulic does not preclude being an empire or vice versa. Many past empires have been republics, too, such as the Roman republic, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Republic of France, and others.

Quote by: AliasJonus The real question is WHY did we make decisions that have made us an empire?

The United States has expansionist tendencies for many historical reasons, but an important one lies in the origins of the United States. Originally, the British came and started attacking the native, expanding their own empire and creating colonies as part of that empire. The expansionist dynamic continued after those colonies became independant of the empire that spawned them. The US continued expanding after independance, eventually becoming the largest & most powerful empire in human history.

Simple, power. We have destablized governments, overthrown governments and much more simply so that we they will not gain power. US foreign policy is simply about keeping us the most powerful country on earth and keeping everyone else below us, in short, Global domination.

It is also about forcing other countries to adopt economic policies favorable to US investors. This is made pretty clear in the pamphlet "Vision for 2020" issued by US Space Command (which has since merged with STRATCOM) in the later part of the Clinton administration. It's essential reading (along with the PNAC paper you linked to) on the US empire, you can find a copy at http://www.gsinstitute.org/resources...ision_2020.pdf Plus, imperialism has domestic uses, such as the military-industrial complex.