You may have noticed that there’s a little bit of an election happening in the U.S.A this week. Will Trump be re-elected? Is it going to go to the Supreme Court? Is the Republican Party moving away from democracy? We’ve got some great analysis from students and academics at City.
We are going to kick things off with a great essay from Julia Oprzondek!
The American Election and Liberal Order by Julia Oprzondek
The liberal international order, also known as the US-led liberal order (Parmar, 2018), is “the body of rules, norms, and institutions that govern relations among the key players in the international environment” (Mazarr et al., 2016). After the Second World War, it has been led chiefly by the United States, while many events, such as the implementation of the Marshall Plan or the breakup of the Soviet Union, have only added to their position on the international arena and across global organizations. The US “has shouldered predominant responsibility for upholding such key norms as nonaggression, and it has been the primary provider of the international stability and reassurance that a successful liberal order demands” (Brands, 2016). IR theorist, G. John Ikenberry, noted that “the United States engaged in the most ambitious and far-reaching liberal order building the world had yet seen” (Ikenberry, 2012).
And this could all be stopped by Trump. Throughout his first presidential campaign, and even before in his media presence, he has been known for notoriously changing his stance on specific issues or contradicting his own statements (Jones, 2017), Thus, when Trump won the elections in 2016, no one knew where he would really take the United States. However, there has been a general idea that he would lead based on nationalist and isolationist directives, following the “America First” policy outlook (The White House, 2017). And that’s exactly what happened.
Trump has infamously withdrawn from the Paris Climate Accord in 2017, as well as many other political agreements, both multinational, such as the Optional Protocol to the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (Galbraith, 2019), or individual with either Iran or Palestine (Rampton, Wroughton and van den Berg, 2018). His most recent controversial decision regarded the move to withdraw the US from the World Health Organisation (BBC News, 2020) in July 2020. It seems as if he “hates the international organizations that are the basis of U.S. wealth, prosperity and military power” (Applebaum, 2018). This is supported by some of his earlier statements, like: “The European Union, of course, was set up to take advantage of the United States, to attack our piggy bank” (Rogin, 2018).
Additionally, alongside his international scepticism, he has given support to extreme right-wing groups across the United States. In the September 2020 presidential debate, instead of condemning the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist group, he told them to “stand back and stand by,” adding that “somebody’s got to do something about antifa and the left” (Smith et al., 2020). By doing so, not only did he encourage what they stand for, but also favoured the existence of supremacist groups. And this might have a direct impact on the legitimacy of the election results. While there are many concerns related to the voting, such as if there is enough time to get the ballots or if the polling places will be adequately staffed, the worry “that armed protesters will intimidate people trying to vote” (Dovere, 2020) seems the direst. Far-right organisations have been known for the suppression of voters in the past, and this time, with such a polarised electorate, it might be more prevalent than before. This is an extreme concern, but, nonetheless, possible.
The choice in the upcoming elections is, in reality, a choice between bad and good. Throughout his term in office, Trump managed to take the United States from a high, rather well-respected position, to a place where everyone is awaiting his yet another ridiculous declaration. His attitude constantly diminishes the strong position that the United States has been trying to uphold for decades. In 2018, halfway through his term, across 10 European nations, there was a 52 per cent tilt towards the negative perception of America (Pew Research Center, 2018).
At the same time, what Biden is good at highlighting is the need for stability at home before beginning to proverbially “change the world.” The “essential steps to reinforce the democratic foundation of our country and inspire action in others” are what he aims to do first, and only then move to “to renew the spirit and shared purpose of the nations of the Free World” (Joe Biden for President, 2019). But Biden has also emphasized that to rebound, the US needs a “close relationships with its allies and the cooperation of international institutions” (Council on Foreign Relations, 2020) – a completely different view to that of Trump.
This might however not be a case of Trump vs Biden, but Republican vs Democrat. While the former has a strict nationalist outlook on foreign policy, the latter is open to international cooperation (Jervis et al., 2018). However, no one knows where would another Republican or Democrat candidate take us. Nevertheless, after the devastating pandemic, the flood of anti-racism protests, and the lack of unity across the US, Biden seems like the right choice – because he understands that in order to lead the world, he has to lead the American people first.
Event: Decision 2020: An Academic Live Review
4 November: 9:00am – 10:30am
Be sure to tune into election coverage on 4 November featuring a team of students from City in collaboration with the BBC and students from 12 other universities across the globe!
Stream Link: Here!
Podcast: The City Politics Podcast: Election 2020 Special Edition
And if that is not enough. Be sure to listen to the City Politics Podcast’s special edition on the Election. Trump! Biden! Gramsci! Kardashian! Konstantin Vossing, Inderjeet Parmar and David Blunt have got you covered.
Available on Spotify, SoundCloud, and Apple Podcasts!