American Exceptionalism Revisited

American Exceptionalism Revisited PDF

Author: A. Hadenius

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-06-16

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 1137520698

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

American Exceptionalism Revisited provides a broad overview of the various features that signify American politics. These include the upholding of an exceptional political stability, involving a particular balance between legislative, executive and judicial powers, and the permanence of a unique party system. Furthermore, special traits in the electoral realm?e.g., voter turnout, the inflow of money, and the application of primaries?are targets of analysis. Through comparisons with conditions applying abroad, particularly in Europe and Latin America, Axel Hadenius reveals a number of new insights on American political life, both today and over time

Marks of Distinction

Marks of Distinction PDF

Author: Dale Carter

Publisher:

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9788772883830

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Since colonial times, Americans have viewed themselves as distinct from the inhabitants of other lands. Today, many still do: relishing a sense of their uniqueness more than ever, upholding the superiority of their democratic ideals and the vitality of their economic system. In an era of globalization and postmodernity, meanwhile, scholarly discussion of American Exceptionalism among historians, sociologists, political scientists and literary and cultural critics has continued to pursue new directions. This issue of The Dolphin assesses the state of Exceptionalist debate at the close of what Henry Luce dubbed Aethe American CenturyAe. Some of the essays revisit well-established expressions of Exceptionalism in American cultural history, while others draw on recent work in newer academic fields, including feminist and African-American studies, to develop or revise Exceptionalist discourses. Still others examine the concept in little-studied contexts, connecting it with such phenomena as judicial activism, regionalism and the Information Age. Embracing critical and sympathetic viewpoints alike, Marks of Distinction combines new scholarship from both sides of the Atlantic for an up-to-date survey of Exceptionalism, one of the most long-standing concerns of American Studies, from its origins to the present.

The American Exceptionalism Revisited

The American Exceptionalism Revisited PDF

Author: Marcello Fantoni

Publisher: Viella Libreria Editrice

Published: 2016-02-26T00:00:00+01:00

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 8867286196

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

When looking at the US from a European perspective a sort of paradox immediately emerges. On the one hand, the ‘American way of life’ has been penetrating in depth our everyday life and, even more, our Western culture through the music, the movies, the literature and all possible consumerist habits. But, on the other hand, all recurrent statements have been emphasizing the ‘American exceptionalism’ of political institutions, that is, how different and distant the North American institutions are from the European ones with regards to the government leadership, the relationships between existing powers, the connections with the citizens and even the very notion of democracy. This book will not analyze the reasons of such exceptionalism. It addresses a more salient and up to date question: how much exceptionalism is today still present if we compare US democratic institutions to the European ones? In other words, has there been a convergence or are the differences still very strong and accentuated? And if there has been convergence, in what directions? Or if resilient divergences, on what aspects? Moreover, how to explain the convergence, if there has been one?

American Exceptionalism

American Exceptionalism PDF

Author: Ian Tyrrell

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2022-01-19

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 022681209X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Introduction: The Peculiar Tale of American Exceptionalism -- The Puritans and American Chosenness -- Looking Back, Looking Forward: Remembering the Revolution -- Cultural Nationalism and the Origins of American Exceptionalism -- Lyman Beecher, Personal Identity, and the Christian Republic -- Women and Exceptionalism: The Self-Made Woman and the Power of Catharine Beecher -- Race, Anglo-Saxonism, and Manifest Destiny -- In the Hands of an Angry God: The Antislavery Jeremiad and the Origins of the Christian Nation -- Fin de Siècle Challenges: The Frontier, Labor, and American Imperialism -- Two Isms: Americanism and Socialism -- The Dream and the Century: The Liberal Exceptionalism of the New Deal State, 1930s-1960s -- The Newly Chosen Nation: Exceptionalism from Reagan to Trump.

American Exceptionalism and the Legacy of Vietnam

American Exceptionalism and the Legacy of Vietnam PDF

Author: Trevor McCrisken

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2003-12-19

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1403948178

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

American Exceptionalism and the Legacy of Vietnam examines the influence of the belief in American exceptionalism on the history of U.S. foreign policy since the Vietnam War. Trevor B. McCrisken analyzes attempts by each post-Vietnam U.S. administration to revive the popular belief in exceptionalism both rhetorically and by pursuing foreign policy supposedly grounded in traditional American principles. He argues that exceptionalism consistently provided the framework for foreign policy discourse but that the conduct of foreign affairs was limited by the Vietnam syndrome.

American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion

American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion PDF

Author: John D. Wilsey

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2015-10-22

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 0830899294

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Ever since John Winthrop told his fellow colonists in 1630 that they were about to establish a City upon a Hill, the idea of having a special place in history has captured the American imagination. Through centuries of crises and opportunities, many have taken up this theme to inspire the nation. But others have criticized the notion because it implies a sense of superiority which can fuel racism, warmongering and even idolatry. In this remarkable book, John Wilsey traces the historical development of exceptionalism, including its theological meaning and implications for civil religion. From seventeenth-century Puritans to twentieth-century industrialists, from politicians to educators, exceptionalism does not appear as a monolithic concept to be either totally rejected or devotedly embraced. While it can lead to abuses, it can also point to constructive civil engagement and human flourishing. This book considers historically and theologically what makes the difference. Neither the term nor the idea of American exceptionalism is going away. John Wilsey?s careful history and analysis will therefore prove an important touchstone for discussions of American identity in the decades to come.

Reflections on American Exceptionalism

Reflections on American Exceptionalism PDF

Author: David Keith Adams

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This selection has been shaped by the desire to provide internal cohesion around the theme of democratic republicanism as expressed domestically, reflected externally and articulated in particular foreign policy exercises.

American Exceptionalism

American Exceptionalism PDF

Author: Volker Depkat

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-11-15

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 153810119X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The idea that America is exceptional, whether because of its founding creed, natural abundance, or Protestant origins, has been the subject of fierce debate going back to the founding. Rather than argue for one side or the other, Volker Depkat explores the diverse ways in which Americans have described their country as exceptional. Describing how narratives of exceptionalism have never been a purely American affair, Depkat shows how, for example, European, African, and Asian immigrants projected their own dreams and nightmares onto the American screen, contributing to the intellectual construction of America. In fact, the different groups living in America have described American exceptionalism in such differing terms that there hardly ever was a shared understanding as to what these exceptional experiences were and how to interpret them. What has unified the disparate exceptionalist narratives, Depkat explains, is their insistence on America's universalist and future-oriented way of life. In engaging and lucid prose, Depkat offers general readers and students of American history an invaluable lens through which they can evaluate for themselves the merits of the many ways in which Americans have understood their country as exceptional.

The New American Exceptionalism

The New American Exceptionalism PDF

Author: Donald E. Pease

Publisher: U of Minnesota Press

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 0816627827

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

For a half century following the end of World War II, the seemingly permanent cold war provided the United States with an organizing logic that governed nearly every aspect of American society and culture, giving rise to an unwavering belief in the nation's exceptionalism in global affairs and world history. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, this cold war paradigm was replaced by a series of new ideological narratives that ultimately resulted in the establishment of another potentially endless war: the global war on terror. In The New American Exceptionalism, pioneering scholar Donald E. Pease traces the evolution of these state fantasies and shows how they have shaped U.S. national identity since the end of the cold war, uncovering the ideological and cultural work required to convince Americans to surrender their civil liberties in exchange for the illusion of security. His argument follows the chronology of the transitions between paradigms from the inauguration of the New World Order under George H. W. Bush to the homeland security state that George W. Bush's administration installed in the wake of 9/11. Providing clear and convincing arguments about how the concept of American exceptionalism was reformulated and redeployed in this era, Pease examines a wide range of cultural works and political spectacles, including the exorcism of the Vietnam syndrome through victory in the Persian Gulf War and the creation of Islamic extremism as an official state enemy. At the same time, Pease notes that state fantasies cannot altogether conceal the inconsistencies they mask, showing how such events as the revelations of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and the exposure of government incompetence after Hurricane Katrina opened fissures in the myth of exceptionalism, allowing Barack Obama to challenge the homeland security paradigm with an alternative state fantasy that privileges fairness, inclusion, and justice.