The Empires of The Modern World
In the 21st century, traditional imperialism like the British or the French empire, have mostly ceased to exist. In the case of the British ‘empire’, although countries like Australia and New Zealand still refer to the Queen of England as the head of state, this is, however, only done as formality. The point is most nations in the world have their own sovereignty and can do whatever they want within international law. However, this does not apply to every country in the world, some countries and territories are still subjected to the influence of other major global powers whether they want it or not.
▲Chart of current non-self-governing territories (as of June 2012) according to the UN. Credit: George Bosanko
Empires nowadays are not easily recognizable because most countries do not use force to claim additional territories and further their influence, those that do use force did it with another intention in order to avoid international condemnation. Starting with the uses of force because it is easier to recognize. One of the prime examples of this method is the United States. In the 21st century, the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 in response to the 9/11 terrorist attack and Iraq in 2003 because it suspected Iraq to possess ‘weapons of mass destruction’. In both cases, the US has replaced the current leaders of those countries at the time with a pro-American one; essentially expanding their sphere of influence. The US has also forced their hands into other nations’ politics in the 20th century, installing anti-communist dictators in South America, the Middle East, and Asia out of their fear of communism.
Moving on from the forceful method, countries can choose to indirectly use force or they can come to an agreement. A country can use force indirectly by supporting an anti-government group in other countries either through funding, training, or supplying weapons. Those that use this indirect method are technically not violating international laws because it is not their people who are doing the fighting. Some examples of this are Russia supporting the separatist movement in Ukraine, Pakistan supplying and training the Taliban in Afghanistan, a number of global powers aided a variety of groups and factions in Syria. These countries are benefiting from the destabilization of others and they might benefit even more if their supported faction managed to become the victor.
Some countries like to involve themselves in proxy wars, others might prefer a more diplomatic approach and achieve an agreement. These agreements might bring short and/or long term to the receiver but they definitely have a long term benefit to the giver. China and its Belt & Road initiative is one example; in this initiative, China will build infrastructure like new ports, roads, bridges, railways, etc. in countries across Asia, Africa, and Europe. These new infrastructures benefit the receiving countries as they can improve the flow of people and goods, China however, also has direct access to these infrastructure to transport their people and goods. These new things are not free either, and if the host country cannot pay back the loan, China can ‘rent’ the land for 99 years. Another example of this method is the United State, it has built military bases in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Despite what the people of these countries may think, the military bases will stay as long as their local government has an agreement with the US. This method does not involve the use of force but it still ultimately expands a country’s influence.
The countries that employ these methods are technically not empires in the traditional sense. But they are putting their people, their resources, and their ideologies on foreign lands. They ultimately furthered their influence and/or limited the sovereignty of other nations. They are building empires in the modern world.