Summary: <br> Recorded at the Battle of Ideas 2016<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> In 2013, historian Perry Anderson observed that it is axiomatic for <br> US foreign policy advisors that, ‘the hegemony of the United States <br> continues to serve both the particular interests of the nation and the <br> universal interests of humanity’. But troubled is the head that wears <br> the crown of world domination. The US establishment is worried by the <br> threat of domestic disorder, terrorist outrages and the rising powers in<br> the East, notably China. It is also concerned by a range of social and <br> economic problems: rising inequality, a failing school system, the <br> burden of health care and obsolete infrastructure. Furthermore, ‘energy <br> is wasted, R&D is insufficient, labour is under-skilled, finance is <br> under-regulated, entitlements are out of control, the budget is in the <br> red, the political system is overly polarised’. The current presidential<br> election campaign confirms that elite confidence in US hegemony is not <br> shared by substantial sections of the electorate. The rise of Donald <br> Trump symbolises the scale of popular disaffection. According to <br> Colombia historian Mark Mazower, his success – in parallel with populist<br> politicians in Europe – confirms that ‘nationalism is back like it <br> never went away’. Trump is riding ‘a populist insurgency’ seeking to <br> restore the USA to its ‘rightful place in the world’. Trump appeals to <br> widespread discontent over the impact of global economic forces, causing<br> increasing inequality and insecurity, particularly in blue-collar <br> communities.<br> <br> <br> Trump’s nationalist revival has an angry and defensive tone. It <br> stands in stark contrast to the vision of John Winthrop’s Puritan <br> evangelicals who, sought to build in Massachusetts Bay a ‘city on a <br> hill’, an ideal society in the New World as an example to the Old. As <br> the late Benedict Anderson observed, the spirit of nationalism forged in<br> the American Revolution, based on ‘an imagined political community’ of <br> creole pioneers, provided a model for nationalist movements – first in <br> Europe, and subsequently throughout the colonial world. But, whereas the<br> nationalist spirit of the founding fathers had a unifying and <br> democratic character, that of Trump, with its anti-immigrant, <br> anti-Hispanic and anti-Muslim tropes, seems divisive and reactionary.<br> <br> <br> Can America’s overwhelming military might continue to compensate for <br> its chronic economic stagnation? Can the USA’s global cultural influence<br> help it to hold off the competition of the rising powers of East Asia? <br> Can any political alternative overcome the exhaustion and paralysis that<br> appears to have overtaken the American system under the presidency of <br> Barack Obama?<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> speakers <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://www.battleofideas.org.uk/2016/speaker/20">Professor Sarah Churchwell</a><br> <br> chair of Public Understanding of the Humanities; Professor<br> of American literature, School of Advanced study, University of London<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://www.battleofideas.org.uk/2016/speaker/268">Dolan Cummings</a><br> <br> assoc
