On
September 10, Barack Obama concluded his address to the nation on Syria by
claiming America is "exceptional". In an article, published by the New York
Times the next day, Vladimir Putin wrote: "It is extremely dangerous to
encourage people to see themselves as exceptional" for "we must not forget that
God created us equal". In his speech to the United Nations' General Assembly on
September 24, the American president repeated his belief that " America is exceptional" . This exchange between the two presidents raises
a question: is America exceptional?
What makes
a country exceptional? We are "exceptional', Barack Obama told the U.N.
assembly, " because we have shown a
willingness, through the sacrifice of blood and treasure, to stand up not only
for our own narrow self-interest, but for the interests of all". "Exceptional" thus
means a country behaving unselfishly, for the good of the world community as it
were. In his seminal
work, Alexis de Tocqueville looks at it from a different angle: " The position of the Americans is" quite
exceptional, and it may be believed that no democratic people will ever be
placed in a similar one. Their strictly Puritanical origin, their exclusively
commercial habits", a thousand special causes" have singularly concurred to fix
the mind of the American upon purely practical objects." According to
Tocqueville's definition, exceptionalism is a purely American phenomenon due to
Americans' self-absorption in practical matters. From a foreign policy
standpoint, it is tantamount to isolationism. It reminds one of Thomas
Jefferson's inaugural address: "peace, commerce, and honest friendship
with all nations, entangling alliances with none". Has either one of these
definitions been ever proven true?
In his U.N. speech, the president
obviously refers to the United States' participation in World War I and World
War II to justify the United States' exceptionalism. Truth be told, the
American engagement in both wars was self-motivated. A hegemonic Germany in
Europe is a direct threat to the United States' security. (1) From the war of
1812 down to George W. Bush's "coalition of the willing" the United States has
been everything but an isolationist nation. The United States fit neither
Obama's nor Tocqueville's definition of exceptionalism.
Robert Kagan, founder of "The
Project for the New American Century" with William Kristol, would agree with
this conclusion. In an article, (2) he states unequivocally that an
international order is not the result of an evolution, as stated by Francis
Fukuyama in "The end of history", but the effect of an "imposition" the
domination of one vision over others", the domination of the United States, of
course. To prove his point, he asked rhetorically in another article (3) what
would happen if "the U.S. Navy was no longer able to defend" sea trade routes
and waterways. He's got a point. Were the United States to disappear, world
trade would most likely collapse. Yet, this does not give the American
president carte blanche to do as he wishes. As noted by Dilma Rousseff,
president of Brazil at the opening of the 68 th session of the United
Nations on the same day Barack Obama spoke: "A sovereign nation can never
establish itself to the detriment of another sovereign nation". Rules exist and
must be abided by. Bombing Syria without the Security Council's approval goes
against those rules. Vladimir Putin is right to remind Barack Obama that nobody
is above the law for indeed in the eyes of God we are all equal.
(1) "Europe, The struggle for supremacy",
Brendan Simms, Allen Lane, 2013.
(2) "Why the world needs America", Robert
Kagan, The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 11, 2012.
(3) "Not fade away: against the myth of
American decline", Robert Kagan, The New Republic, January 17, 2012.
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