The Politics of Empire: War, Terror and Hegemony

An incisive new account of George W. Bush’s America, which asks key questions of the world’s only superpower.

What is distinctive about the Bush administration’s militarism and unilateralism? What are the political, ideological, and economic roots of the turn in U.S. foreign policy? In what ways has the "war on terrorism" affected politics inside the United States in terms of civil liberties, treatment of immigrants, domestic and economic policy, and political discourse more generally?

This new study makes these and other urgent questions count. It details how in the year after the September 11, 2001 attacks the Bush administration put together the elements of a far-reaching foreign policy doctrine based on unilateral action, pre-emptive military strikes, and prevention of the emergence of any strategic rivals to U.S. supremacy.

It focuses on the key presidential report, ‘The National Security Strategy of the United States of America’, which argued for pre-emptive strikes against rogue states and terrorists and for the maintenance of American military supremacy. It placed the U.S. off-limits to international law, asserting that the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court "does not extend to Americans."

It also clearly shows how underlying the Bush doctrine is the notion that the U.S. must remain the unchallenged power in world affairs, and examines its profound effects on the global situation. This powerful, rigorous analysis produces pressing new conclusions.

This is a Special Issue of the leading Journal New Political Science