The US Empire remains an object of attention of the social sciences. Recent works, such as Mann's as well as Panitch and Gindin's, resume the theme. They present broad analyses of their origin and development. But overlook in some part the cultural conditions of such power. This text proposes a discussion of these issues, asking also to which extent the category of empire is adequate to frame US global power, and relating it to the idea of hegemony. The fundamental conclusion in this regard is that the power of the US cannot be framed by the traditional category of empire, although it keeps some elements that hark back to the imperial exercise of power, which has been however transformed by the unfolding of modernity. A second conclusion points to the fact that such external power rests upon the internal structuration of power as hegemony - which will be examined with some detail -, in the definition of a civilizational form that is projected to the outside. This has in large measure cultural fundaments but is also linked to economic accumulation and class patterns, as well as articulated to the military, political and juridical dimensions.
Empire; Mann; Panitch; Gindin; Hegemony; United States