Abstract

The author offers us a critical analysis of the uses of 'empire' that today recur in the western scholarship regarding political science and international relations. At the same time the essay aims at offering a contribution to the clarification of the theoretical-political concept of 'empire' and a justification, under certain circumstances, of its contemporary use. The imperial archetype that today is becoming hegemonic is that of the Roman empire. According to the author, starting from the last decade of the 20th century the United States have positioned themselves at the centre of a phenomenon of international power concentration, global military intervention and universal ability of ideological and normative control one can easily define as "global empire".