This is from 2017. The motives behind the backing of certain regimes are scantly mentioned though. The article does not go beyond description. The projection of power and support of authoritarian regimes for what reaons? There is not mention of domestic power structures and power relations in the U.S. itself. No mention at all of the ideological (cultural) hegemony: the Americanisation of the globe require military power to back it up. Primacy is a preponderance vis-a-vis other powers whether they are subordinate allies or rivals. And economic expansion (investing surplus capital) requires stable and predictable world order. Thus the presence of military bases. The article has more of a moralistic tone than an analytical one. How can one talk about military hegemony without situating it the capitalist context? How U.S. Military Bases Back Dictators, Autocrats, and Military Regimes
“The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion (to which few members of other civilizations were converted) but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.” —Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilisation and the Remaking of the World Order, 1996, p. 51