tirsdag 24. januar 2017

Donald Trump tror ikke på amerikansk eksepsjonalisme

Jeg er med i den første utgaven av et nytt digitalt tidsskrift om amerikansk politikk og idehistorie som heter Starting Points journal, hvor jeg skriver om Trump og amerikansk eksepsjonalisme. Det virker nemlig på meg som om Trump ikke helt er på nett med den ideologiske definisjonen av konseptet (som hans parti jo er besatt av), og at han heller er opptatt av USAs relative materielle verdi i verden.


"Since World War II, U.S. foreign policy has been operating under the assumption that the world needs U.S. leadership not just because of American military might, or because of the dollar, but also because of American ideals. This foreign policy tradition and its justification in American exceptionalism is opposed by the new American president.


In February 1941, owner of Life Magazine Henry Luce argued in the pages of his own publication that the United States should replace Great Britain as the world leader and rule the world through American principles. In fact, Luce argued, the world was about to enter the “American century” – if only the United States would accept its international responsibility. Luce was in the short term arguing for U.S. entry into the Second World War, but in the long term arguing for a liberal world order. The United States and its western allies set up that order in the waning years of the war. This order, and the prominent role the United States plays in it, has been a cornerstone of U.S. grand strategy since 1945. Twenty-four years short of the completion of the “American Century,” however, the United States finds itself lead by Donald Trump, who has explicitly rejected support for this world order. What now for the United States in the world?"


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