Sandars reading

As I read the Sandars piece, I was initially surprised that as far back as post-WW2, America was setting itself up as the police of the world: "One commentator has suggested that 'the United States expanded its military presence to the point where it assumed, almost inadvertently and without notice, a role that has been described as Policeman of the World'" (6). I have heard this term applied to America more recently, and specifically referring to the war in Iraq, so I was initially surprised to hear it applied to America just after WW2, or at any other time besides recently. It does not surprise me though, and considering this, I understand more clearly America's intentions in Iraq and throughout the world as the world's police. Sandars argues that even though America took over the British Empire's role as the major world empire, America was not an empire. Sandars claims that an empire "By any definition...must involve the rule of one nation by another without regard to the wishes of the subject peoples and the transfer of sovereignty to the imperial power" (12). Since, according to Sandars, America did not subjugate other nations to American rule, it cannot be compared to the British empire or considered an empire itself. I would not necessarily agree with that, because the assumption of a nation that it needs to fix another country, especially by imposing its own views on them, is inherently subjugating the other country and condescending them to a 'lesser' importance. For America to assume that because it is more powerful, it is somehow better than another country uses the same logic that empires use when subjugating other countries.