John Judis, The Folly of Empire

Period	Mission	Adversary	Means
Pre-Revolutionary, Colonial America (1600-1776)	Kingdom of God on Earth	Papal Antichrist	Example as “city on the hill”
Revolutionary and founding era (1776-1815)	Empire of liberty	Old-world tyranny, monarchy, and empire	Example, continental expansion without entangling alliances
Jacksonian America (1815-1848)	Christian civilization	Savages or “children”	Example, continental expansion without entangling alliances
Imperial America (1898-1908)	Christian civilization	Barbarians and savages	Overseas expansion without entangling alliances
Wilsonian internationalism (1914-1919 and 1939-1946)	Global democracy, four freedoms	Autocracy, imperialism, and fascism	International organization and alliances
Cold War liberalism (1946-1989)	Global democracy	Communism	International organizations and alliances
Post-imperialism with remnants of imperialism (1989- )	Global democracy, third way?	International terrorism, rogue states?	International organizations, unilateral action?