An Analytical Look at Anti-Americanism

Abstract

Anti-Americanisms in World Politics. Edited by Peter J. Katzenstein, Robert O. Keohane Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007. 368 pp., $55.00 (ISBN: 0-8014-4517-0), $24.95 paper (ISBN: 0-8014-7351-7). “Yankee Go Home—and Take Me with You!” This slogan, observed at an anti-US rally in the Philippines, exemplifies the ambivalent attitudes of some critics of the United States. (The complete story behind this quote can be found in Kiester and Kiester 1999) The message also captures a central puzzle in Peter Katzenstein and Robert Keohane's Anti-Americanisms in World Politics . Although increasing numbers of people criticize the United States and reject its international influence, many of these same people continue to embrace US culture and purchase US products. Anti-Americanism is a polarizing topic that tends to produce explanations based on catch phrases like “racist envy” and “cultural imperialism.” Increasing anti-Americanism has been documented by dozens of polls in recent years, and this information has fueled both speculation and research into its causes and implications. Anti-Americanism has been depicted as based on prejudice akin to anti-Semitism (O'Connor 2004) and as failing to consider the rich diversity of US culture (Markovits 2007). At the other extreme, Ziauddin Sardar and Merryl Wyn Davies (2002) argue that US cultural dominance has spawned a “hamburger virus” that eradicates indigenous cultures everywhere. Moses Naim (2003) posits two distinct strains of anti-Americanisms: “murderous anti-Americanism” in the radical Islamic world and “anti-Americanism lite” in Europe. Citing the importance of system structure in promoting the current negative climate, Farheed Zakaria (2004) argues that anti-Americanism fills the ideological vacuum left at the end of the Cold War. In this context, Katzenstein and Keohane have advanced the study of anti-Americanism by leaps and bounds with this tightly crafted volume. They establish a much needed framework for the analysis of anti-Americanism, and they begin the difficult task of assessing its impact in a systematic way. One of the most important innovations in Anti-Americanisms in World Politics is the adoption of the plural …