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Inderjeet Parmar, Indirect rule: the making of US international hierarchy, International Affairs, Volume 101, Issue 1, January 2025, Pages 369–371, https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiae306
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Over time, the United States has built a global empire that reaches almost everywhere and dominates land, seas, air, space and cyberspace. This US-centred international hierarchical system is military, economic–financial, scientific–technological, institutional and cultural. It is a complex system of imperial rule in all but name. Part of this global imperium is visible, with over 800 air, naval and other bases, but a large part of its power is less visible: its intelligence networks centred on the National Security Agency, the CIA and the so-called ‘Five Eyes’ system of Anglospheric security. Additionally, there are large numbers of nominally independent sovereign states that the US rules without governing. This is the compelling topic of David Lake's new book.
Lake considered himself ‘lucky’ to be American, while growing up in the warm glow of the 1950s—and like most (white, male) Americans believed that the US was a force for good. The Vietnam War and the massive protests against it led to a major rethink, as did the US ending dollar–gold convertibility. Indirect rule looks at the ways in which Lake began to think about his country as a series of contradictions. The US projected itself as the beacon of light; it built an international order and it provided leadership. Yet, all of that was accompanied by the darker side of American power: ‘domination and imperialism’ (p. x). Lake's book is an attempt to show that the US is neither inherently good nor inherently evil but can be opportunistic and self-interested. It was published in early 2024 as the war in the Palestinian territories raged and was declared plausibly genocidal by the International Court of Justice and condemned across the world, except by most western states. US military and diplomatic support of Israel continues despite tens of thousands of deaths of mostly women and children. Is this leadership or deadly imperialism?
