Empire is a state of mind

The first panel was launched by Giles Scott-Smith. His lecture was dedicated to meaning of the notion of empire in 21st century. Traditionally it was adhered to the capacity to project hard power in the outside peripheries and exert influence on a global scale. This has usually been associated with the ideologies of racial superiority and territorial expansion. Territory and the ability to change the lines on maps used to be "the prime markers of imperialism”. Nonetheless, with the rise of neoliberalism and globalisation, the traditional characterisitcs of an empire have been challenged - "territoriality was a declining frame of reference”. However, despite the liberal assumptions the traditional elements of imperialism seem to come back. Along with Robert Kagan who claimed „the end of liberal dream” and Robert D. Kaplan’s thesis on "the revenge of geography” Michael W. Doyle revised the old concept of imperialism as "a relationship, formal or informal, in which one state controls the effective political sovereignty of another political society”. Thus Giles Scott-Smith defines the empire of 21st century as "a state of mind”. "It’s an assumption based of a certain vision of the world in which order provided by one state is to contravene sovereignty of another state” and could have both traditional territorial and normative dimensions. Nevertheless, empire isn’t necessarily "a dirty word”. As a result of the 20th century, usually portrayed as "the graveyard of empires", we’re in "state of denial of imperialism”. Just the opposite – empires are there and might play a positive role. The United States might serve as an example. Their imperialism has been based on three factors. According to Giles Scott-Smith, these are the right of intervention based on idea of universal good (democracy promotion, human rights), establishemnt of rules to guide aconomy (expressed by the Bretton Woods Conference and the establishemnt of the IMF) and self-proclaimed right to strike the opponents (which exemplification is the Global Positioning System). Eventually, the implementation of the American imperialism need allies. The crucial events of the beginning of the 21st century have challenged all three pillars of the US’ imperial position. Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Russia crossing certain borders, both literally and figuratively or the IMF transition towards an enforcerer of neoliberalism – all these events made us question the imperial position of the US.