Like many other nations in the world, the people of the United States of America has wandered into a trap of conceiving their own nation as the “greatest”. Far from being the first nation to assume superiority over others, Americans often believe that their culture is somehow richer than of those on the other side of the World – regardless of how advanced a nation is in the first place. But “exceptionalism” – as it has come to be known – does not appear in a day to night fashion. As a very contentious theme, exceptionalism needs to be explored and have its origins analyzed in order to further understand the conception of “cultural superiority” amongst Americans. In The Myth American Exceptionalism, Stephan M. Walt dispels the myths of American
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Republicanism is an ideology based on the notion that a nation’s sovereignty belongs to the people, opposed to a select few (Sellers 9). The true advocates of Republicanism were Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and later, figures Abraham Lincoln who would speak of America as a country "conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" at the Gettysburg Address of 1863, starting a new trend of American self-righteousness (Wood 122). Since, American politics seemed to frequently foster its own morals overseas as seen in the World Wars of the 20th century as well as in the Cold War. However, critics have argued that national self-interest is commonly attributed the blame for risqué American policy in many of the political engagements, rather than the imposition of beliefs and morals on other nation states. Prominent conflicts include the United States setting up puppet states in many South American Nations through history, Cuba and Chile being an example of such. Since the United States is a major military force, it has encountered little problems in implementing and/or supporting authoritarian regimes, however dealing with them once a conflict breaks out is not so easy (Braudel 587). This is a result of what we now see as an American Century, the notion that the USA has been the global dominant force in political, economic, and cultural terms since the mid-20th century (Harvey 7). Likewise, the conception that the USA, supposedly a firm believer of national sovereignty, has fallen into patterns of “exemptionism”, creating exceptions for itself in the world of politics seen through the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, has become one of the most prevalent issues with the American Century that has required addressing (Ignatieff
Republicanism is an ideology based on the notion that a nation’s sovereignty belongs to the people, opposed to a select few (Sellers 9). The true advocates of Republicanism were Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and later, figures Abraham Lincoln who would speak of America as a country "conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" at the Gettysburg Address of 1863, starting a new trend of American self-righteousness (Wood 122). Since, American politics seemed to frequently foster its own morals overseas as seen in the World Wars of the 20th century as well as in the Cold War. However, critics have argued that national self-interest is commonly attributed the blame for risqué American policy in many of the political engagements, rather than the imposition of beliefs and morals on other nation states. Prominent conflicts include the United States setting up puppet states in many South American Nations through history, Cuba and Chile being an example of such. Since the United States is a major military force, it has encountered little problems in implementing and/or supporting authoritarian regimes, however dealing with them once a conflict breaks out is not so easy (Braudel 587). This is a result of what we now see as an American Century, the notion that the USA has been the global dominant force in political, economic, and cultural terms since the mid-20th century (Harvey 7). Likewise, the conception that the USA, supposedly a firm believer of national sovereignty, has fallen into patterns of “exemptionism”, creating exceptions for itself in the world of politics seen through the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, has become one of the most prevalent issues with the American Century that has required addressing (Ignatieff