Pax Americana

Pax Americana is Latin for "the American peace". Anti-Americanists use the expression to describe the period of relative peace in the western world since World War II, while at the same time the USA has fought several wars against countries that do not accept their hegemony (so called "rogue states"). By doing so, they are drawing an analogy to Pax Romana, implying that USA is a modern-day Roman Empire.

Americans do not consider themsevelves to be imperialists, and their country has a long history of isolationism. However, many people believe that the United States has found itself forced into a quasi-imperialist role by its status as the world's sole superpower.

Americans in general regard their interventions as forced on them by moral necessity or self-defence. The American public generally sees world affairs in moral terms, with "good guys" and "bad guys", rather than in terms of realpolitik and moral equivalence.