quality:corruption
US military alliances

Scholars label the US network of alliances as "hub-and-spokes" system where the United States is the "hub." Spokes do not directly interrelate between and among themselves, but all are bound to the same hub. The "hub-and-spokes" analogy is used in the comparative studies of empires. By contrast to earlier empires, however, the American "imperial" presence was largely welcome. Ostrovsky says that although all earlier empires, especially persistent empires, were in a measure by bargain, cooperation and invitation, in the post-1945 world this took an extreme form. In 1989, Samuel Huntington counted that most democratic states of the world entered “hegemonic” alliances and Charles Krauthammer summarized that “Europe achieved the single greatest transfer of sovereignty in world history.” Krauthammer meant West Europe. Just as he published this summary, East Europe followed suit. In 2009, France reintegrated into the NATO Command.