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Anti-Americanism, often Anti-American sentiment, is opposition or hostility to the people or culture of the United States. In practice, a broad range of attitudes and actions critical of or opposed to the United States have been labeled anti-Americanism and the applicability of the term is often disputed. Contemporary examples typically focus on opposition to United States policy, though historically the term has been applied to a variety of concepts.

Interpretations of anti-Americanism have often been polarised. Anti-Americanism has been described as a belief that configures the United States and the American way of life as threatening at their core—what Paul Hollander has called "a relentless critical impulse toward American social, economic, and political institutions, traditions, and values." However, it has also been suggested that Anti-Americanism cannot be isolated as a consistent phenomenon and that the term merely signifies a rough composite of stereotypes, prejudices and criticisms towards Americans or the United States.

Whether sentiment hostile to the United States reflects reasoned evaluation of specific policies and administrations, rather than a prejudiced belief system, is a further complication. Globally, increases in perceived anti-American attitudes appear to correlate with particular policies, such as the Vietnam and Iraq wars. For this reason, critics sometimes argue the label is a propaganda term that is used to dismiss any censure of the United States as irrational.

Use of the term

The use of the term anti-Americanism has been catalogued from 1948, entering wide political language in the 1950s. The related term "Americanization" (which is thought often to elicit anti-Americanism) has been dated to a French source as early as 1867. Labeling earlier attitudes and commentary "anti-American" is thus partly a retroactive exercise, though there are numerous examples of hostility directed at the country from at least the late 18th century onwards.

Contemporary usage is often controversial. The term itself does not imply a critical attitude based on rational objections but rather a prejudiced system of thought and it is therefore rarely employed as a self-identifier (i.e. "I am anti-American...") as this implies bias. Instead, it is often used as a pejorative by those who object to another individual or group's stance toward the United States or its policies. Advocates of the significance of the term argue, for instance, that Anti-Americanism represents a coherent and dangerous ideological current, comparable to anti-Semitism. Anti-Americanism has also been described as an attempt to frame the consequences of difficult U.S. policy choices as evidence of a specifically American moral failure, as opposed to what may be unavoidable failures of a complicated foreign policy that comes with superpower status.

Propaganda term

Its status as an "-ism" is a greatly contended aspect and it is often called a propaganda term by critics who feel it is used to dismiss any censure of the United States as irrational. American academic Noam Chomsky, a prolific critic of U.S. policy, asserts that the use of the term within the U.S. has parallels with methods employed by totalitarian states or military dictatorships; he compares the term to "anti-Sovietism", a label used by the Kremlin to suppress dissident or critical thought, for instance.

Other scholars have also suggested that a plural of Anti-Americanisms, specific to country and time period, more accurately describe the phenomenon than any broad generalization.

History

Since the founding of the United States of America, anti-Americanism has existed in different forms and for different reasons. Some anti-American views derive from ideological resistance to American values and culture. Other views are expressions of group identity, racism, and xenophobia. Still other anti-American sentiments are reactions to the policies of the United States government.

The degeneracy thesis

Anti-American sentiment originated with Europe's first contact with this land mass, the study of the Native Americans, and the examination of its flora, fauna, and climate. The first anti-American theory, the "degeneracy thesis," portrayed America as a regressive and culturally bankrupt continent. The theory that the humidity and other atmospheric conditions in America physically and morally weakened both men and animals was commonly argued in Europe, and occasionally debated by early American thinkers such as Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson.

In 1768 Cornelius de Pauw, court philosopher to Frederick II of Prussia and chief proponent of this thesis, described America as "degenerate or monstrous" colonies and argued that, "the weakest European could crush them with ease."

The theory was extended to argue that the natural environment of the United States would prevent it from ever producing true culture. Paraphrasing Pauw, the French Encyclopedist Abbé Raynal wrote, "America has not yet produced a good poet, an able mathematician, one man of genius in a single art or a single science." (So virulent was Raynal's antipathy that his book was suppressed by the French monarchy.)

A derivative of the thesis regarding the soullessness of America and its inherent threat to Europe was also used in Fascist rhetoric and in German and Japanese propaganda during World War II.

Anti-technology and Romantic hostility

Nazi propaganda poster addressing the Dutch public in 1944 with the words: "The USA are supposed to save European culture".

The French Revolution created a new type of anti-American political thought, hostile to the political institutions of the United States and their impact upon Europe. Furthermore, the Romantic strain of European thought and literature, hostile to the Enlightenment view of reason and obsessed with history and national character, disdained the American project.

The German poet Nikolaus Lenau encapsulated the Romantic view, "With the expression Bodenlosigkeit (absence of ground), I think I am able to indicate the general character of all American institutions; what we call Fatherland is here only a property insurance scheme."

With the rise of American industry in the late nineteenth century, intellectual anti-American discourse entered a new form. Mass production, the Taylor system, and the speed of American life and work became a major threat to some intellectuals' view of European life and tradition.

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, "The breathless haste with which they (the Americans) work - the distinctive vice of the new world - is already beginning ferociously to infect old Europe and is spreading a spiritual emptiness over the continent."

It has been argued that this thesis transformed into a Heideggerian critique of technologism. Heidegger wrote in 1935: "Europe lies today in a great pincer, squeezed between Russia on the one side and America on the other. From a metaphysical point of view, Russia and America are the same, with the same dreary technological frenzy and the same unrestricted organization of the average man." Oswald Spengler had made similar claims in 1931's Man and Technics and his 1934 bestseller The Hour of Decision. In 1921, the Spaniard Luis Araquistáin wrote a book called El Peligro Yanqui (“The Yankee Peril”), in which he condemned American nationalism, mechanization, anti-socialism (“socialism is a social heresy there”) and architecture, finding particular fault with the country’s skyscrapers, which he felt diminished individuality and increased anonymity. He called the United States “a colossal child: all appetite...”

Anti-globalism

See also: Anti-globalization
Anti-CAFTA graffiti in San José, Costa Rica

According to its opponents, neoliberal globalization has magnified the visibility of trade conflicts and decreased job security, and is often attributed to either U.S. or Anglo-American influence Anti-globalist sentiments stem from perceptions that the United States was the inspiration and architect for globalization and neoliberal free trade policy, which those opposed to it claim is exploitative, and leads to conditions that either impoverish or do not enrich developing nations. According to some critics, globalization also exposed previously isolated countries to the spread of the English language and American popular culture, a process that some have labeled cultural imperialism (see American Cultural Imperialism). The 'Anglo-American' corporate business model is the subject of much opposition ("the EU constitution on offer, Laurent Fabius had argued, was too low on social protection and too high on shameful Anglo-Saxon economic liberalism")

National Identity

Anti-U.S. banner in a demonstration in Brazil, stating: USA It is necessary to resist. Long live Brazil!!!

Just as the United States itself has defined itself against Monarchical and Communist countries during its history, and is now defining itself against terrorism and radical Islam, anti-American ideologies have sometimes been used for propaganda purposes. In Iran for instance, the cry of "Death to America" has been used in the parliament and at political rallies. Certain forms of social identity theory argue that the existence of "an other" is crucial to the development of group identity. In the case of a European strand of anti-Americanism, some authors, like A.S. Markowitz in Uncouth Nation: Why Europe Dislikes America, argue it would be linked to the creation of a coalescing European identity.

Others, such as Minxin Pei of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, suggest that the unique character of American nationalism is the cause of some anti-Americanism. According to Noam Chomsky, the concept is totalitarian.

Perceived ideological contradictions

File:Anti-US Tehran.jpg
Tehran, Iran, 2004
File:Vitrenkoposter.jpeg
Ukrainian 2004 election poster of Nataliya Vitrenko depicting a hand symbolizing the United States and NATO with a Nazi swastika

The fall of the Soviet Union may have brought an increase in anti-Americanism because the U.S. was left as the world's only superpower and people who formerly saw the United States as a bastion against Communism or needed the American security umbrella no longer felt the need to support the United States. Where the governments of allied states in particular had felt disinclined to openly criticize U.S. policy during the Cold War, they have had fewer such qualms since. "By cultivating an anti-American position, Europe feigns membership in a global opposition of the downtrodden by America." In addition, criticism of American economic sanctions and embargos toward various countries, including Cuba, Sudan, North Korea and Iran, while maintaining commercial relations with countries such as the PRC generates resentment.

French author Jean-François Revel wrote that "For skeptics of democratic capitalism, the United States is, quite simply, the enemy. For many years, and still today, a principal function of anti-Americanism has been to discredit the nation that stands as the supreme alternative to socialism. More recently, Islamists, anti-modern Greens, and others have taken to pillorying the U.S. for the same reason."

Regional attitudes

Anti-Americanism in some form has existed across different American presidential administrations, though its severity may wax and wane considerably depending upon particular economic or geopolitical issues. George W. Bush's presidency, for instance, is widely seen as inducing a major increase in Anti-Americanism, with the 2003 invasion of Iraq affecting global opinions of the U.S.

Australia

While not to the extent of Europe there is a rising attitude of anti-Americanism in Australia. However, anti-American sentiments have been present in Australian culture since the settlement and incorporation of the Australian continent by the British Empire in 1788, in which a mixture of anti-Americanism and Anglophilia developed in Australia and shaped the nation's views towards the United States and Great Britain. In recent years, the close relations of George Bush and John Howard, as well as unconditioned support for the War on Terror, has led some to believe that Australia has become a "lap dog" to the U.S. The continued war in Iraq has also led to an increase of anti-Americanism. The politically motivated deployment of Australian troops in the Korean War, has in recent years worsened this relation.

Europe

The reaction to U.S. unilateralism has been nourished by a complex of fears, two in particular: the presumed economic and cultural Americanization of Europe and the Americanization of the European political process. The overwhelming global power acquired by the United States in the post-Cold War era and the unilateral exercise of that power, especially after 9/11 attacks September 11, 2001 fed the anti-American sentiment contributing to its most militant manifestation. In early 2002, the #1 best seller in France was L'Effroyable imposture, which claimed that 9/11 was a conspiracy orchestrated by the U.S. government. It broke the French record for first-month book sales. In Europe in 2002, vandalism of American companies was reported in Venice, Athens, Berlin, Zürich, Tbilisi, and Moscow.

French anti-americanism predates the founding of the United States with the belief that it was a barbaric land and all who went there also degenerated.

Asia

In Japan and South Korea, much anti-Americanism has focused on the sometimes criminal behavior of American military personnel, aggravated especially by high-profile cases of sexual assaults on locals by U.S. servicemembers. The on-going U.S. military presence in Okinawa remains a contentious issue in Japan.

In South Korea, two junior high school students were killed by American military personnel in a traffic accident at the final stage of a presidential election in 2002. As a result, the Korean public opinion was enraged and Roh Moo-hyun, who advocated anti-Americanism, was elected President. President Roh Moo-Hyun and his administration considerably weakened the alliance of the United States and South Korea. In 2007 anti-Americanism spreads rapidly.

However, as Robert Hathaway, director of the Wilson Center's Asia program, wrote "the growth of anti-American sentiment in both Japan and South Korea must be seen not simply as a response to American policies and actions, but as reflective of deeper domestic trends and developments within these Asian countries. Or to put it another way: even at this moment of U.S. preeminence, not everything that happens around the world is a response to American might, or to decisions taken in Washington."

Middle East

File:Teheran US Barry Kent2.JPG
Anti-American mural in Tehran

The Middle East region has been a focal point of much anti-American sentiment in the latter decades of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, often blamed on specific U.S. policies in the region, particularly its close relationship with Israel and its stance on such matters as Sudan's civil war and Darfur.

In 2002 and 2004, Zogby International polled the favorable/unfavorable ratings of the U.S. in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. In Zogby's 2002 survey, 76% of Egyptians had a negative attitude toward the United States, compared with 98% in 2004. In Morocco, 61% viewed the country unfavorably in 2002, but in two years, that number has jumped to 88 percent. In Saudi Arabia, such responses rose from 87% in 2002 to 94% in June. Attitudes were virtually unchanged in Lebanon but improved slightly in the UAE, from 87 % who said in 2002 that they disliked the United States to 73% in 2004. However most of these countries showed a marked distinction between negative perceptions of the United States, and much less negative of Americans.

The Pew Research Institute probed more deeply the stereotypes of westerners in the Middle East. While more than 70% of Middle Easterners identified more than 3 negative characteristics of the Westerner stereotype, the three strongest were selfish, violent and greedy. Few had positive opinions of Westerners, but the strongest positive stereotypes were devout and respectful of women. The report also demonstrates strong unfavorable views of Jews and weakly favorable views of Christians predominate in the Middle East. In Jordan, 61%, Pakistan 27%, and Turkey 16% have favorable views of Christians while in Jordan 1%, Pakistan 6%, and Turkey 15% have favorable views of Jews.

Cultural anti-Americanism in the Middle East may have its origins with Sayyid Qutb, an influential Egyptian author, who Paul Berman titled "the Philosopher of Islamic Terror". Qutb, the leading intellectual of the Muslim Brotherhood, studied in Greely, Colorado, from 1948-50, and wrote a book, The America I Have Seen based on his impressions. In it he decried everything in American from individual freedom and taste in music to Church socials and haircuts.

North America

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Anti-Americanism is fairly prevalent in Canada, with frequent allegations of American athletes cheating and of being snubbed by the US administration.

Latin America

In Latin America, anti-American sentiment has deep roots dating back to the 1830s and the Texas Revolution. Other significant 19th century events which led to a rise in anti-American sentiment were the 1846-1848 Mexican-American War. In South America, the 1855 American intervention in Nicaragua, the U.S. propiciation of the Spanish-American War of 1898, and the support for the 1954 coup in Guatemala against Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, the United States embargo against Cuba, the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état, Operation Condor, the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, the Salvadoran Civil War, the support of the Contras and the refusal to extradite a terrorist, have fueled anti-Americanism in that region. Similarly, U.S. support for dictators such as Augusto Pinochet, Anastasio Somoza, Alfredo Stroessner has influenced regional attitudes.

The perceived failures of the neo-liberal reforms of the 1980s and the 1990s intensified opposition to the Washington consensus, leading to a resurgence in support for Pan-Americanism, support for popular movements in the region, the nationalization of key industries and centralization of government. The movement saw the rise of leaders critical of United States policies throughout the region. Most vocal has been Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, who is known for his strong opposition towards the American government, particularly George W. Bush, driving him to address him in many ways; referring to him as "the devil" before the United Nations, an example of demonization. He has clearly stated his intent to use Venezuela's oil resources as a card "against the toughest country in the world, the United States."

See also

References

Notes

  1. Hollander, Paul, The Politics of Envy, The New Criterion, November 2002, accessed 29 April 2007.
  2. Hollander, Paul. Anti-Americanism: Irrational and rational, Transaction Publishers, 1995
  3. Ceaser, James W. "A genealogy of Anti-Americanism", The Public Interest, Summer 2003.
  4. Paul Hollander defined the prejudice thus: "Anti—Americanism is a predisposition to hostility toward the United States and American society, a relentless critical impulse toward American social, economic, and political institutions, traditions, and values; it entails an aversion to American culture in particular and its influence abroad, often also contempt for the American national character (or what is presumed to be such a character) and dislike of American people, manners, behavior; dress, and so on; rejection of American foreign policy and a firm belief in the malignity of American influence and presence anywhere in the world."
  5. O'Conner, Brendan. "A Brief History of Anti-Americanism from Cultural Criticism to Terrorism", Australasian Journal of American Studies, July 2004, pp. 77-92
  6. Rodman, Peter W. The world’s resentment, The National Interest, Washington D.C., vol. 601, Summer 2001
  7. Documenting the Phenomenon of Anti-Americanism By Nicole Speulda, The Princeton Project on National Security, Princeton University, 2005
  8. O'Connor, Brendan, op. cit., p 78: "... Cold War (1945-1989) ... In this period the false and disingenuous labeling of objections to American policies as ‘anti-Americanism’ became more prominent."
  9. Roger, Phillipe. The American Enemy: The History of French Anti-Americanism, introductory excerpt, University of Chicago Press, 2005.
  10. Rubin, Barry. "Understanding Anti-Americanism", Foreign Policy Research Institute, August 2004
  11. Foot, Rob. "The New Anti-Semitism?", Quadrant Magazine, vol, XLVIII n 4, April 2004.
  12. Kagan, Robert. Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order (2003)
  13. Interviewing Chomsky Preparatory to Porto: Alegre Zmagazine
  14. On Violence and Youth—Noam Chomsky interviewed by Pepi Leistyna and Stephen Sherblom, chomsky.info, quoting Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 65, No. 2, Summer 1995 , retrieved 2008-01-05 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  15. Noam Chomsky on the State of the Nation, Iraq and the Election, DEMOCRACY NOW!, October 21, 2004, retrieved 2008-01-05 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  16. Katzenstein, Peter and Robert Keohane. "Conclusion: Anti-Americanisms and the Polyvalence of America", in Anti-Americanisms in World Politics, Katzenstein and Keohane, eds., Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006 (forthcoming).
  17. de Pauw, Cornelius. Recherches philosophiques sur les Américains ou Mémoires intéressants pour servir à l'histoire de l'espèce humaine. London, 1768.
  18. Raynal, Abbé Guillaume-Thomas. Histoire philosophique et politique des deux Indes. Amsterdam, 1770.
  19. James W. Ceaser. "A genealogy of anti-Americanism" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  20. Luis Araquistáin, El Peligro Yanqui (Madrid: Publicaciones españa, 1921).
  21. Moore, Michael, Downsize This, 1997
  22. Globalization and Resistance, 1995, retrieved 2007-02-24 {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help) An Interview with Noam Chomsky by Husayn Al-Kurdi}}
  23. "A triumph of the right". New Statesman. 2005. Retrieved 2007-02-24. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  24. Scott Peterson, In Iran, 'Death to America' is back, The Christian Science Monitor, retrieved 2007-12-05 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  25. "Death To America", Iran Parliament OKs Nuke Enrichment Bill, 1 November, 2004, retrieved 2007-12-05 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  26. ^ Jean-Francois Revel (2006), "Europe's Anti-American Obsession", The American Enterprise, retrieved 2007-12-05 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) (from internet archive)
  27. Steve Schifferes (6 June, 2003), The roots of anti-Americanism, BBC News, retrieved 2007-12-05 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  28. Jacklyn Martin (December 9, 2002), Is Chomsky 'anti-American'?] Noam Chomsky, chomsky.info, requoting The Herald, retrieved 2007-12-05 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  29. Andrei S. Markovits (January 19, 2007), Western Europe's America Problem, retrieved 2007-12-05 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Unknown parameter |publishter= ignored (help) (from internet archive)
  30. Speulda, Nicole.Documenting the Phenomenon of Anti-Americanism, The Princeton Project on National Security, Princeton University, 2005
  31. CNN: Anti-Americanism in Europe deepens, February 14, 2003
  32. Cold War, Hot War, An Australian Perspective on the Korean War. by Gavan McCormack
  33. Bitterman, Jim French buy into 9/11 conspiracy, CNN, 26 June 2002.
  34. Crumley, Bruce TIME Europe Magazine: May. 20, 2002 -- Conspiracy Theory - 1, The Daily Telegraph, 20 November 2003.
  35. Bureau of Diplomatic Security (2003), Political Violence Against Americans 2002 (pdf), Department of state, retrieved 2007-12-05 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  36. "Anti-American Examined". BBC. 2007-04-12. Retrieved 2007-11-11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  37. 復帰25年世論調査, Okinawa Times
  38. Asia Times: Korea-US: Swan song for an alliance, September 16, 2006
  39. Nicole Risse, Yonsei University: ; US sergeant quizzed over Okinawa rape, BBC News, 30 June, 2001, retrieved 2007-12-05 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  40. The Making of "Anti-American" Sentiment in Korea and Japan, May 06, 2003, retrieved 2007-12-05 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  41. ^ Linzer, Dafna (2004). "Poll Shows Growing Arab Rancor at U.S." The Washington Post: A26. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  42. ^ "The Great Divide: How Westerners and Muslims View Each Other: Europe's Muslims More Moderate". Pew Global Attitudes Project. 2006. Retrieved 2006-09-12. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  43. Berman, Paul The Philosopher of Islamic Terror, New York Times Magazine, 23 March 2003, accessed 29 April 2007.
  44. David Von Drehle, A Lesson In Hate Smithsonian Magazine
  45. Nora Jacobson (2004-11-28). "Before You Flee to Canada, Can We Talk?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-11-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  46. CIA acknowledges involvement in Allende's overthrow, Pinochet's rise, BBC News, September 19, 2000, retrieved 2007-12-05 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  47. BBC News. How the US 'lost' Latin America. Online accessed 10 January 2007
  48. Foreign Affairs. Latin America's Left Turn. Online accessed 10 January 2007
  49. James, Ian At U.N., Chavez Calls Bush 'The Devil', AP, 20 Sep 2006,
  50. Blum, Justin (Washington Post, 22 November 2005)."Chavez Pushes Petro-Diplomacy". Retrieved 29 November 2005.

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