American Exceptionalism

From RationalWiki

American Exceptionalism is a belief that the United States is unique, or exceptional, when compared with the historical development of other countries. It would be easy to pigeon-hole as 'nationalism', but it is more expansive and more concentrated than that. A popular ideal held by US conservatives, though not entirely limited to the right. Several liberal historians and politicians have embraced certain aspects of American Exceptionalism in their thought processes.

One major characteristic of American Exceptionalism from a historiographical viewpoint is its tendency to 'gloss over' what it would consider 'bad' history^[1] and emphasise and in many cases mythologise the founding struggles^[2] and subsequent consolidation^[3] of what is the modern United States.

[edit] Impact on American Foreign Policy

From the colonial days, the residents of what was to become the United States have long viewed their system and culture as unique. It was called a "City on the Hill" by colonial preachers. This worked itself into the foreign policy of the new country. Diplomacy with the European countries was mostly shunned, with a focus instead of establishing a hegemony over its own sphere of influence (Latin America)^[4].

There were some good effects of this, such as more reluctance in outright imperialism.^[5] It also led the US to employ idealistic and democratic rhetoric, even when getting involved in brazen "sphere of interest" or geo-political engagements.^[6]

To this day, the US still tends to be more idealistic in its interventions. Many scholars^[7] have a hard time understanding this part of US foreign policy.^[8]

[edit] Footnotes

1. ↑ Such as slavery, treatment of the Native American, segregation, the Jim Crow South
2. ↑ The founding fathers as demigods, the Constitution, Washington as the supreme example of commander-in-chief
3. ↑ The frontier, the western tradition, the immigrant tradition, the capitalist tradition
4. ↑ See The Monroe Doctrine. The focus was not on the intangling alliances Europeans got wrapped up in, but on ensuring Europeans did not interfere with what was by right an American sphere of influence. This had dual effects, such as protecting Latin America from undue European interference, but also insured America kept itself out of the struggles to assert a 'balance of power' in Europe. It is often said that the US was sympathetic to Britain diplomatically, but played little part in the 'great game' of European diplomacy.
5. ↑ Though, it should be noted that the US still managed to acquire a few colonies, like Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Guam, Philippines, and Cuba. Latin America however, did feel the weight of US influence in the formation of their political institutions.
6. ↑ Like the various coups in Latin America, or World War I.
7. ↑ Like Samuel Huntington, in this book Clash of Civilizations, or the entire realist school of IR
8. ↑ Today, it rests on the assumption that the US military is naturally a force for good (Think the neo-conservative hawks of the Bush administration) and that any country they get involved in would recognise this fact. However, an Iraqi villager watching his Mosque being burnt by an American cluster bomb may have a differing opinion on this.