Is the United States Exceptional?

Brian Frederking

July 19, 2006

            We tend to believe that our country is different. We live by a set of democratic values that we consider to be universal, and we see ourselves as destined to spread those democratic institutions.

Scholars call these beliefs “American exceptionalism.” Guided by these beliefs, we tend to see the use of US power as an inherently benign force in the world. We are not like all the other great powers throughout history. We can legitimately reject constraints on our own freedom of action. What we want is in everyone’s interest.

            The Bush doctrine and the war in Iraq are consistent with this type of American exceptionalism. Our national security strategy assumes that others will see the US use of force as an appropriate way to ensure global stability.

            We assumed that others would support the war with Iraq. We assumed that Iraqis would welcome us as liberators. We assumed that democracy would flourish in Iraq. We assumed that others in the region would, domino-style, begin democratic reforms.

            None of this was true. One of the many reasons they were not true is that the world did not accept our self-understanding as a benign global power. They saw us as just another global power using its military might to pursue selfish interests. They saw the war in Iraq to be about oil, or Israel, or global domination.

            Recent surveys of fourteen countries around the world (Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Spain, China, Japan, Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Nigeria, India, Indonesia, and Turkey) by the Pew Foundation confirm these recent trends. Americans cannot understand world politics without grappling with the difference between our own self-understanding and how the rest of the world sees us.

            Consider the following results of the June 2006 survey:

·        4 of the 14 countries view the US favorably.

·        6 of the 14 countries view American citizens favorably.

·        2 of the 14 countries have confidence in US international leadership.

·        1 of the 14 countries support the US war on terrorism.

·        2 of the 14 countries believe the war in Iraq made the world a safer place.

·        3 of the 14 countries believe that the effort to establish democracy in Iraq will succeed.

We need to take these results seriously. We cannot hope to succeed in the war on terrorism with this level of global support.

            However, when asked about the results showing that most people around the world see the US as the biggest threat to global security, administration officials dismissed it as “absurd” and “nonsense.” We dismissed global public opinion; to our leaders, it did not even deserve a response. We are the good guys. We should not have to defend ourselves. We were attacked, remember?

            The problem is that this is not self-evident to the majority of people around the world. When the world sees our warnings to China vis-à-vis Taiwan and to Russia vis-à-vis Chechen terrorists in Georgia and to India and Pakistan vis-à-vis each other, it sees a country that says no one can use pre-emptive force EXCEPT us.

            When the world sees the prison abuse scandals, the Iraqi civilians killed by US troops, our rejection of the Geneva Conventions regarding detainees, and our rejection of the International Criminal Court, it sees a country that says everyone must abide by accepted human rights standards EXCEPT us.

            When the world sees our support for (a nuclear) Israel and our failure to sign various arms control treaties, it sees a country that says no one can proliferate weapons EXCEPT us (where did Israel get their nukes?).

            We need to understand that the world sees us as saying that everyone needs to follow the rules EXCEPT us. We are exceptional.

            This arrangement can only work if others consent to it. Others will agree to the US having certain privileges of global leadership only if they view the overall system as in their interests. And right now the evidence suggests that they do not.

            We have to convince the world that we are unlike any other great power. We have to convince them that our global leadership is in their interests. We have to convince them that we are exceptional. We cannot simply assert it as if it were self-evident.

We cannot be the global leader if no one follows us. If we fail to have this conversation, then others will continue to reject US policy. And then we will have to start following the rules to gain their consent to our leadership. No exceptions.