Imperialism



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__**Social Darwinism**__ __**11/17/10**__

Social Darwinism - The idea that natural selection can apply to society; businesses and people who are more fit for society will do better both economically and socially than those who are unfit.

- Who has more money - Who has more land - Who has the stronger military might - Who has the better market and sea power - Who has the better government, stability, and domestic happiness - Who has better diplomacies and weaker enemies
 * What makes one country better than another?**

"**Imperialism** occurs when a strong nation takes over a weaker nation or region and dominates its economic, political, or cultural life." - I believe that the bias on the website's creator (Tom Caswell) was his interpretation of a "strong nation" vs a "weaker nation." Basing his interpretations only on statistics, Casswell can only form a bias that highly-developed countries like most of Europe were conquering undeveloped countries like that of Africa. I do not wholly believe that is not with bias. African people are strong in their own distinct and unique way; whose authority is it in the world to judge who is stronger?

I do not believe that European imperialism was justified. Europe was the center of imperialistic fervor during the time the idea of manifest destiny came out. Because of their technological and social superiority to the underdeveloped world, highly-developed nations of Europe and even America felt obligated, in terms of economics, nationalism, and morality, to assimilate and usher in a new age for those "weaker nations." However, the question of justification is whether or not the Western nations were the "stronger nations." The Western nations did have many factors behind them that put them on top (i.e. weaponry and technology), but the Eastern nations were just as strong; their strength came more from unity and a sense of pride more than technology. Imperialism is the idea that a "stronger nation" takes over a "weaker nation". The only problem of justification is that what defines a "stronger or weaker nation."

The main topic of the article is the effect on warfare since the introductions to more modern ways of war and violence. In the modern age, improvised guerilla warfare using contemporary, average articles like cellphones to trigger off improvised bombs or relay information between an agent and home base is something that is not foreign to us. In the past, modern warfare technology was the difference of being conquered or being the conquerers. Africa, the victim of outdated weaponry, was if not completely taken over by European powers because of the technology Europe had developed for war.
 * __Outgunned!__ __11/16/10__**

- I agree with the article. The Atomic Bomb used in the Pacific Wars to end it is a great example of this. The first weapon of mass destruction that was released to the viewing of the world destroyed two major Japanese cities, but brought upon the reverence and fear of WMDs for the generations to come. If highly developed countries had to bomb under developed nations like those of Africa, there would not be much for African nations to do because they lack weapons of equal or higher destructive technology to fight back.

- The advances in technology has also changed the face of warfare as we know. During the American Revolution, tactics was basically putting your armies in phanlaxes and having them march at the enemy or divide to flank. However, that was during the time of flintlock weaponry. Had it been the era of automatic weaponry, that would not have been possible. Armies would get plowed to the field before anything would happen.


 * __Imperialism VS. Modern Imperialism__ __11/15/10__**


 * Past Imperialism** - American attempt to annex all of the Americas.

Back in the 1850s, the philosophy of manifest destiny was created, starting a craze in the world's governments to obtain, conquer, or annex as much of the limited land in the world. America was also part of this craze and during the 19th century, the nation did all it could to remove all foreign European or Asian influence in the Americas so that they could hopefully annex and unite the Americas.


 * Modern Imperialism -** American attempt to make the world's government democratic capitalist republics

The best example of this is the Iraq War and its attempt to "free" the Middle East and the world from terrorism. Socialism is the government of the Middle East and the U.S. justifies their presence there as defense for the world and an attempt to rid the world of terrorism. Another incentive could be to unite the world by having every nation follow the tenets of a basic capitalist democratic republic governments. Whether or not this is fact, it could be viewed that Western governments are trying to remove communism and socialism from governments worldwide, a form of government imperialism more than actual imperialism.