Imperialism

Imperialism is a topic that is discussed quite often in history. To some people imperialism seems fairs and is an excellent way to get a head start in the race to be the superpower of the world. To others imperialism is the exact opposite and is something that they would not dare use because everyone does not benefit from it. Being that imperialism is a topic that is so controversial , different people in different countries were raised to think differently about imperialism itself. In the United States, people in both political parties, in all regions, and all social classes can be found on either side of the debate.

With this in mind, imperialism has positive aspects and reasons to pursue the policy. One of the reasons for pursuing the policy of imperialism was that if a country has been involved with foreign nations recently they may want to show just how powerful they are and express that feeling through imperialism. In this case, a country might only do something like annex another smaller country. A second reason for pursuing the policy of imperialism as Howard Zinn stated “Maybe a war would take up some of the rebellious energy that people were pouring into strikes and protests.”In this case Imperialism would be a way to run away from the problems of a nation as a whole.

In the critical examination, imperialism has negative aspects and reasons not to pursue the policy. One of the reasons not to pursue imperialism was because as Howard Zinn stated “War was probably not a thought-out plan among most of the elite ruling classes.” This means that more than likely when people demand war they are not even thinking they are just acting irrational. In this case, war is the worst form of imperialism because the bulk of war is uncertainty, since usually no one thinks the process of war out. A second reason not to pursue imperialism was because it was an unnecessary way to handle conflicts. Peace treaties are a much better way of handling situations that people use imperialism for.

In the final analysis, Imperialism is a controversial topic. In US History different political parties and people can be found on different sides of the debate of imperialism. There are positive aspects of imperialism and negative aspects of imperialism and reasons why or why not to pursue the policy. The most common and worst form of imperialism is war. Wars between countries are a horrible form of imperialism because most of the time war is a topic thatis not thought through so irrational actions are taken and so are innocent lives.