Les Etats-Unis d'Amérique sont-ils un empire en déclin ?

While the international history was predominantly centred on Europe (Greek empire, Roman empire, French empire, British empire, etc.), the continent lost its place of leader at the beginning of the 20th century, "shattered by its long crisis" by 1945, and surpassed by the two superpowers: the United States of America and the USSR.
The United States of America was formerly a colony under the British crown: the first British permanent colony was settled in North America in 1606, at Jamestown, Virginia, and the British influence had lasted until 1776 and the American Declaration of Independence. Led by the politics of non-interventionism, protectionism and isolationism, the United States has known "the most significant systemic change that occurred during the first half of the twentieth century" . Since the collapse of the USSR, it has been the only world hegemony, which has confirmed the predominance of the American empire. But since the war in Iraq, started in 2003 by the American President George W. Bush, the United States is loosing its influence. Its politics is criticized, its culture is rejected, and the rise of China challenges its economy. In short, the American empire is on decline.

This essay will discuss the rise of the United States of America as an empire and its current decline. First and foremost, I will define "empire" and show that the United States is a modern one. Then, I will examine the Cold War and the transition from a bipolar world to a unipolar one after the collapse of the USSR, and the heights of the American empire during the 1990s. And finally, I will deal with the current decline of the United States as a powerful and unique world empire.