What makes America great? Donald Trump, national identity, and U.S. foreign policy

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article contributes to the debate over Donald Trump's foreign policy by bringing in perspectives on American nationalism, reframing the current debate as an identity contestation between civic and ethnic nationalism. The article argues that the Trump administration's “America First” agenda represents a radical departure from how civic nationalism and U.S. leadership in the “liberal world order” was coupled after the end of the Cold War. In the context of a civic nationalist narrative of liberal progress, Trump represents reactionary change. If we question this narrative of liberal progress, however, the conclusion is less obvious. Rather than argue for change or continuity from immediate predecessors, the article places Trump's “America First” platform in the historical context of how narratives on American nationhood have been coupled with foreign policy. The conclusion is that how one decides upon continuity vs. change depends on the underlying narrative of nationhood with which one begins.