[moneyrunner]

There is nothing inherently wrong with an empire. European imperialism had it's bad points, but it also introduced civilization to Africa, introduced modern medicine, abolished slavery, ended cannibalism and left behind modern government. Unfortunately, a great many of the reforms did not hold when the Europeans departed.

[lds23]

I didn't mean it as a disagreement, just a semantic difference on the connotations of the word empire.

Although territorial armed occupation will be a part of it, the real spread will be of a certain set of ideas.

As you rightly point out, there are many historical comparisons.