US Empire Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

US Empire - Essay Example While this is the case, however, there have been instances where the United States has tended to take the wrong actions when it had the opportunity to use its massive leverage to help resolve the conflicts taking place in divided societies and its interventions in such conflicts have made some of the situations on the ground worse than they were before. The American military capability cannot be denied but its use in almost every conflict situation in the world is not advised because of the fact that not all conflicts can be resolved militarily. The foreign policy of the United States as it is currently is not compatible with the realities of the situation in the twenty first century because the times of wars of aggression are long past and an age of absolute global peace is fast approaching. The policy of taking sides in domestic conflicts in such situations as in Israel, Syria and Libya, instead of endearing the United States to the world as a global peacemaker, has ended up doing the opposite, earning this country a bad name on the global stage. It can therefore be said that the United States does not currently have the capability of resolving intrastate violence in divided societies and that in order for it to be able to do so, it has to have a massive overhaul of its foreign policy. The fact that the United States has been proven not to have the capacity for ending intrastate violence in the various societies in the world has created a situation where it is not trusted in matters of conflict resolution. This is mainly because in most of its interventions, it has consistently taken sides in local conflicts; a matter which has earned it many grievances from the excluded parties. There has developed a situation where it has become a necessity for the United States to change some part of its policies concerning interventions in intrastate conflicts so that it can easily bring such conflicts to a speedy end. Among the means which can be suggested is through the development of a strong neutral stance in such conflicts in order t o make the opposing sides feel comfortable with American intervention because taking sides more often than not alienates a part of the society; mostly against the power that is attempting to bring peace in the respective region (McGarry & O’Leary, 2007). The development of a strong diplomatic resume would help the United States a great deal when dealing with intrastate conflicts because there would be level ground for the conflicting sides to come to an amicable solution. This was seen in recent times in Kenya, where during the violence which erupted after the 2007 elections, the United States stepped up its diplomatic machine to ensure that peace was returned to this divided society. The swift intervention in this conflict by the United States government, led by the then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice helped in a massive way in the swift ending of the conflict and the return to normalcy in Kenya (Adeagbo & Iyi, 2011). Diplomatic means should therefore be a priority for the United States in its endeavor to foster peaceful societies all over the world. The capability of the United States as a global diplomatic force is among the greatest in human history and this can be used to great advantage in the resolution of intrastate conflicts all over the wor