In 1899 Rudyard Kipling, the pre-eminent poet of British imperialism, addressed some stanzas to America. “Take up the white man’s burden,” he urged – “The savage wars of peace/ Fill full the mouth of famine/ And bid the sickness cease.” These days America has a black president and no public intellectual would dare to use the imperialist language of a Kipling. But the idea that the US bears a special burden in policing the world is very much alive. The notion was there in Barack Obama’s call for military action over Syria: “We are the United States,” declared the president – outlining his nation’s special role in creating and defending the post-1945 global order.
1899年大英帝國著名詩人魯德亞德?吉卜林(Rudyard Kipling)給美國寫下了幾段詩。他寫道：“挑起白人的負擔。殘暴的和平戰爭/填滿饑荒之口/讓疾病卻步?！比缃衩绹幸晃缓谌丝偨y，沒有哪位公共知識分子膽敢使用吉卜林的帝國主義語言。但認為美國承擔著維持世界安全的特殊責任的觀點仍生機勃勃。巴拉克?奧巴馬(Barack Obama)呼吁對敘利亞采取軍事行動時就暗含了這種思維，總統宣稱：“我們是美國?！边@勾勒出美國在打造并捍衛1945年后的全球秩序中扮演的特殊角色。