Political Consequences of Anti-Americanism
Project activities have been carried out within the Center for Policy Studies until July 2006.
Since the academic year 2006/2007, the initiative has become independent and is now called Open Century Project, a separate unit within the Central European University.
Project Rationale
The rise of anti-Americanism around the globe has become a distinctive phenomenon of the post-September 11 world. Its expressions vary from acts of terrorism against American citizens and property to dramatic increases in the global public's negative attitudes toward the United States and its policies, as registered in the latest polls conducted by the Pew Research Center.[1] The burning of American flags, the boycotting of American commercial products, and the mobilization of electoral support through the use of unrestrained anti-American rhetoric have all become common in many parts of the world. Today there appears to be two basic types of anti-Americanism: murderous anti-Americanism and anti-Americanism "lite".[2] The first is the anti-Americanism of fanatical terrorists who hate the United States, its power, its values, and its policies-and who are willing to kill and to die in order to harm it. The second is the anti-Americanism of those who take to the streets and the media to campaign against US foreign policies but who do not seek the destruction of the US. The first kind can be dealt with only by "hard power." The second, however, must be better understood in order to devise effective strategies to counter it.
It is evident that anti-Americanism is not a passing sentiment and it should not be explained simply in terms of the unpopularity of the Bush administration or the widespread hostility to the American-led war in Iraq. There appears to be a growing consensus that anti-Americanism is, what could be called, a "master framework." With broad and flexible appeal, any serious attempt to analyze this phenomenon must consider not only its various sources in different corners of the world but also the variety of purposes for which anti-Americanism is becoming a political resource.
Some observers correctly point out that anti-Americanism is by no means a new phenomenon. At the same time, they often fail to grasp the importance of its present reemergence. What is new about the current rise of anti-American feeling is the way in which it is becoming an instrument in post-Cold War politics. Decoupled from communism, anti-Americanism has worked its way more than ever before into the mainstream of world politics”.[3]
A book was published on the subject: The Political Consequences of Anti-Americanism, Ed. by Richard Higgott and Ivona Malbasic. Routledge, 2008
[1] Global Opinion: The Spread of Anti-Americanism. A review of Pew Global Attitudes Project findings. January 2005, The Pew Research Center.
[2] Moisés Naím: The Perils of Lite Anti-Americanism. Foreign Policy. May/June 2003.
[3] James W. Ceaser: A geneology of anti-Americanism. The Public Interest. Summer 2003