<P> A "social - democratic" theory says that imperialistic U.S. policies are the products of the excessive influence of certain sectors of U.S. business and government--the arms industry in alliance with military and political bureaucracies and sometimes other industries such as oil and finance, a combination often referred to as the "military--industrial complex". The complex is said to benefit from war profiteering and the looting of natural resources, often at the expense of the public interest . The proposed solution is typically unceasing popular vigilance in order to apply counter-pressure . Chalmers Johnson holds a version of this view . </P> <P> Alfred Thayer Mahan, who served as an officer in the U.S. Navy during the late 19th century, supported the notion of American imperialism in his 1890 book titled The Influence of Sea Power upon History . Mahan argued that modern industrial nations must secure foreign markets for the purpose of exchanging goods and, consequently, they must maintain a maritime force that is capable of protecting these trade routes . </P> <P> A theory of "super-imperialism" argues that imperialistic U.S. policies are not driven solely by the interests of American businesses, but also by the interests of a larger apparatus of a global alliance among the economic elite in developed countries . The argument asserts that capitalism in the Global North (Europe, the U.S., Japan, among others) has become too entangled to permit military or geopolitical conflict between these countries, and the central conflict in modern imperialism is between the Global North (also referred to as the global core) and the Global South (also referred to as the global periphery) rather than between the imperialist powers . </P> <P> Following the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the idea of American imperialism was reexamined . In November 2001, jubilant marines hoisted an American flag over Kandahar and in a stage display referred to the moment as the third after those on San Juan Hill and Iwo Jima . All moments, writes Neil Smith, express US global ambition . "Labelled a war on terrorism, the new war represents an unprecedented quickening of the American Empire, a third chance at global power ." </P>

What factors contributed to the desires of the united states to become an imperialistic nation