By the might of our armies and wealth of economy, America has created an imperial peace, ensuring that threats to world peace are put in check. The "American Peace" has also been a justification to impose American will on almost every part of the world, from Vietnam to Haiti. In order to exert such power, the United States has created a massive military apparatus, and has undertaken numerous foreign obligations. Eland also states that this strategy of empire is fatally flawed. "It is the reality of international politics that do it in" (Eland, 5). But as the American Empire grows more powerful, it also becomes more complicated, and will eventually over-extend it's obligations; and hence, become more difficult to sustain. It suffers from the ailments that inflict empires when they age: a loss of direction, fiscal excess, cultural degradation and a bloated military.
When a dominant empire declines, another empire emerges to replace it. It is a cycle that has held true throughout history. Rome replaced Carthage, Britain replaced France, and America replaced Britain. Like past empires, America can neither sustain its power indefinitely, nor can it exist statically under the weight of its current difficulties. The United States inherited the bi-polar world that emerged after the Second World War. Countries aligned themselves either to United States or to the Soviet Union in a tense Cold War. America actually benefited from the Cold War, as it was the undisputed leader of the alliance of Western countries. The Cold War era was an extension of the war period, with the new enemies being the Soviet Union and its communist satellites. With the looming threat of communism, the United States undertook the creation of a massive military, and assumed the role of protector of the Western alliance. This siege mentality unified the American public in a single cause, namely the defeat of communism and the triumph of American democracy.