The Rise of U.S. Neocolonialism

by UB Center for Urban Studies · 01/06/2026

Editorial

According to the Military Times, a respected defense news outlet, since returning to office in January 2025, Donald Trump has dramatically expanded the use of U.S. military force, overseeing hundreds of airstrikes across multiple regions—including Somalia, Iraq, Yemen, Iran, Syria, and Nigeria.

His administration has also intensified military operations in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific.

These actions, combined with the overthrow of the Venezuelan government, point to a coherent imperial strategy rooted in racialized authoritarianism and permanent war.

Cartoon Image depicting the rise of U.S. Neocolonialism

For example, according to the Guardian, Trump said, “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security,” and “Hours after the US military operation in Venezuela, the right-wing podcaster Katie Miller – the wife of Stephen Miller, Donald Trump’s powerful deputy chief of staff for policy – posted on X a map of Greenland draped in the stars and stripes with the caption: “SOON.”

The immediate purpose of this escalation is to wage an undeclared imperialist war of aggression—one that relies on military force, coercive diplomacy, and intimidation rather than formal declarations of war—to expand U.S. power by destabilizing targeted states, reinforcing alliances with authoritarian right-wing governments, and asserting dominance over strategically important regions.

The broader objective is the repartitioning of global power and the consolidation of the Americas as a land-based U.S. empire, reinforced by a worldwide network of neo-colonial relationships.

Neo-colonies are formally sovereign states whose political institutions, markets, and natural resources are effectively controlled by a more powerful nation.