Who believes in American Exceptionalism?

hmmm, that's not the definition of american exceptionalism as i've read it. or it is not the whole definition, as there are quite a few differeing ones. This here from wikipedia (full article:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Exceptionalism):

"Some interpret the term to indicate a moral superiority of Americans, while others use it to refer to the American concept as itself an exceptional ideal, which may or may not always be upheld by the actual people and government of the nation. Dissenters claim "American exceptionalism" is little more than crude propaganda, that in essence is a justification for a America-centered view of the world that is inherently chauvinistic and jingoistic in nature. Historians and political scientists may use the term to simply refer to some case of American uniqueness without implying that an innate superiority of Americans resulted in the development of that uniqueness."


I've mostly encountered the term in poli sci texts (thus that would be the latter camp of definitions) - as a description of some features of american political structure and philosophy rather than an ideal....
from this structuralist definition that i'm familiar with, exceptionalism has to do with history of the development of american political system - capitalism without creating such antagonism between capital and labor as it was in europe, stress on egalitarianism and merit at the same time. it grew to include history of isolationism, presidential system with majority elections -- simply things that set america aside form others (read: europe).
critique of AE includes arguments against equality in America (in fact the income gap is growing for years), and propensity towards violence, missionary attitude, etc....
From this perspective it is not a battle of who believes in it and who doesn't - as it is a concept that is connected to much of american reality, a description that doesn't necessarily put evaluative labels on things.

Dag

Perhaps I misunderstand you. I think if we take the term to refer merely to those structural elements which are unique to America (ie if we remove "evaluative labels" and consider structure as something akin to the physical dimensions of the landmass of the US) then I don't know how the term has any great usefulness. After all, as each nation has unique structural elements, we could equally appropriately say Canadian Exceptionalism or Dutch Exceptionalism, etc etc.

I don't think we can avoid the "evaluative" without missing some utterly important information. One wouldn't want to end up concluding that Imperial Japan or Germany ought not to be differentiated from Switzerland or Canada in elements of national self-regard (and obviously, the consequences that are sure to follow).

Anatol Lieven's America Right or Wrong is available from the LathamLoanerLibrary.

Blatham - not my invention. I merely report how the term is used in poli sci.

Was that in studies you did here or back home?

that's what they taught me at B.U. ;-)

no, it's not pure structuralism, that's just what i called it. it includes, as i say, political philosophy heritage. the only difference is that political scientists pretend to describe the unique features 'objectively' - but as you rightly point out, it rarely is objective or without an agenda to begin with.

Well, I understand and empathize with that goal, even if we can't get quite to it before realizing that the baby is floating down the river along with her bath water.

ps...did you ever bump into this definition of 'mythology' from Hofstadter?

"By myth I do not mean an idea that is simply false, but rather one that so effectively embodies mens' values that it profoundly influences their way of perceiving reality and hence their behavior" (from The Age of Reform, 1955).

Re: Who believes in American Exceptionalism?

At long last, you feel yourself able to carry on both sides of an argument with us by yourself. You'll probably win that way.