Contrast the rationale that differed between European and U.S. imperialist actions.

European and United States Imperialism

American imperialism typically refers to the economic, military and cultural influence of the United States on other nations; thus, American imperialism is partly concerned with American exceptionalism. This is consequently an idea that America is different all round from other countries due to its precise world mission of spreading freedom and democracy (Schiller, 2005). Some of the reasons as to why America engaged in imperialism is because certain individuals believed it that it was the countries obligation to spread their way of living around the globe and the idea of Manifest Destiny had to be spread across America’s borders.

However, the American imperialism was typically different from that of the European colonialism due to the facts that the European powers took control and conquered the whole country. By 1990, Britain had a bigger empire than any in the past decades, while almost the entire Africa and the Middle East was under the full control of the European power (Schiller, 2005). On the same note, American imperialism failed to put more focus as much on invasion; instead, American imperialism concentrated on modern markets for businesses. For instance, American was unable to take over Cuba, its next-door neighbor after the Spanish fight, but instead opened it up for American industry to take advantage of sugar and tobacco products. Therefore, as much as the American and the European imperialism differed, extending the military base was consequently essential for the United States.

Reference

Schiller, N. G. (2005). Transnational social fields and imperialism: bringing a theory of power to transnational studies. Anthropological theory, 5(4), 439-461.