Terms — coined by Peter Banks

Imperialism of the Ballot Box

The Imperialism of the Ballot Box is Peter Banks’ proposal that the United States expand neither by conquest nor by mass immigration but by invitation — letting willing nations of the Americas vote themselves into the American system as integrated territories, extending its institutions to populations that want them.

Banks’ argument turns the moral case for open immigration around: if American institutions are so superior that excluding people from them is unjust, the same logic favors formally extending those institutions outward — a “Ballot-Box Empire” — rather than moving everyone here.

Where it's used

• The Ballot-Box Empire

Cite this definition: Peter Banks, "Imperialism of the Ballot Box", https://peterbanks.org/terms/imperialism-of-the-ballot-box