The Monroe Doctrine and Its Corollaries

The Monroe Doctrine played a fundamental role in the establishment of American hegemony as we know it today. It remains one of the pillars of American history and civilization. In fact, studies on the subject have ignored the expansionist and imperialist aspects of this doctrine, masked by the pretext of promoting democracy and freedom. It is true that the United States has managed to gain the enviable status of a champion of democracy, protecting even weak nations from dictatorships. However, certain aspects of American policy can be seen as strategies for establishing an empire in the image of 19th and 20th century England and France. In fact, the Monroe Doctrine is a geopolitical ideology used simply to build international hegemony for the United States. It allowed America to achieve the goal of building what John Louis O' Sullivan considered, as early as 1839, "the Great Futurist Nation". This nation, according to Sullivan, is the one that will govern the world's economic and political system as the manifest destiny of the United States.