Recorded at the Battle of Ideas 2016

In 2013, historian Perry Anderson observed that it is axiomatic for

US foreign policy advisors that, ‘the hegemony of the United States

continues to serve both the particular interests of the nation and the

universal interests of humanity’. But troubled is the head that wears

the crown of world domination. The US establishment is worried by the

threat of domestic disorder, terrorist outrages and the rising powers in

the East, notably China. It is also concerned by a range of social and

economic problems: rising inequality, a failing school system, the

burden of health care and obsolete infrastructure. Furthermore, ‘energy

is wasted, R&D is insufficient, labour is under-skilled, finance is

under-regulated, entitlements are out of control, the budget is in the

red, the political system is overly polarised’. The current presidential

election campaign confirms that elite confidence in US hegemony is not

shared by substantial sections of the electorate. The rise of Donald

Trump symbolises the scale of popular disaffection. According to

Colombia historian Mark Mazower, his success – in parallel with populist

politicians in Europe – confirms that ‘nationalism is back like it

never went away’. Trump is riding ‘a populist insurgency’ seeking to

restore the USA to its ‘rightful place in the world’. Trump appeals to

widespread discontent over the impact of global economic forces, causing

increasing inequality and insecurity, particularly in blue-collar

communities.

Trump’s nationalist revival has an angry and defensive tone. It

stands in stark contrast to the vision of John Winthrop’s Puritan

evangelicals who, sought to build in Massachusetts Bay a ‘city on a

hill’, an ideal society in the New World as an example to the Old. As

the late Benedict Anderson observed, the spirit of nationalism forged in

the American Revolution, based on ‘an imagined political community’ of

creole pioneers, provided a model for nationalist movements – first in

Europe, and subsequently throughout the colonial world. But, whereas the

nationalist spirit of the founding fathers had a unifying and

democratic character, that of Trump, with its anti-immigrant,

anti-Hispanic and anti-Muslim tropes, seems divisive and reactionary.

Can America’s overwhelming military might continue to compensate for

its chronic economic stagnation? Can the USA’s global cultural influence

help it to hold off the competition of the rising powers of East Asia?

Can any political alternative overcome the exhaustion and paralysis that

appears to have overtaken the American system under the presidency of

Barack Obama?

speakers

Professor Sarah Churchwell

chair of Public Understanding of the Humanities; Professor

of American literature, School of Advanced study, University of London

Dolan Cummings

associate fellow, Institute of Ideas; author, That Existential Leap: a crime story (forthcoming from Zero Books)

Alex Deane

managing director, FTI Consulting; Sky News regular; BBC Dateline London panellist; author Big Brother Watch: The state of civil liberties in modern Britain

Michael Goldfarb

journalist and historian, FRDH Podcast

Dr Kwasi Kwarteng

Conservative member of parliament for Spelthorne; historian; author, Ghosts of Empire and War & Gold

Chair

Dr Cheryl Hudson

lecturer in American history, University of Liverpool