Jacob Mercep
Thomas Habinek
Clas 320
4 December 2018
Evolution of America from Emmanuel Todd’s Perspective
The United States is thought to be one of the most powerful countries in the world. Since the discovery of America in 1492, America has essentially been founded on conflict and was later developed by its founding fathers. The country was developed upon the principle that everyone has an equal opportunity for success. This principle has evolved over the years into what many call achieving the “American Dream.” The United States is portrayed as being strong through its military and being prosperous through its trade and reported rising economy ahead of most if not all countries. What is ignored is the fact that America is a land of credit. From its beginnings, America was built on IOUS, credit, and loans. Like most developed countries in the world and even third world countries, America is in fact in debt. All of these factors make up politics.
Since the ancient world, politics have been present in every civilization in some form. Stemming from ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, several philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato, Philo, and many others set the foundation for political philosophies present today. In the United States our country is considered to be democratic, however Todd analyzes the United States from its beginnings to point to how our country is capitalist and even beyond that imperialist. Throughout his argument he points to several figures to support his arguments that the United States is imperialist and in fact, rather than actually growing like data suggests, the United States is actually losing its imperial position and in a decline.
Democracy, capitalism, and imperialism are very different yet similar political philosophies. Democracy stems back to Athens and states that choices of the government should be in the hands of the people. Capitalism on the other hand, while it is focused greatly on the economic aspect, it is also built similar to democracy but instead of giving equal power to all, it places power in the hands of those that dominate economically. This could be compared to an oligarchy where power is in the hands of a select few, typically the nobles. Reading, Todd’s analysis of the United States, with the current state of the country in mind, power is theoretically distributed democratically, but America from an economic standpoint is capitalist. In addition to capitalism, imperialism is also a key political philosophy that is present in the case of the United States to a certain degree. While the United States, in theory, is not ruled by an emperor, military force is used as a resource in order to exert power and influence of the United States.
Emmanuel Todd begins After The Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order, by going back to the founding fathers and why America was created. Many US history books cite that one of the main reasons for America’s creation and separation from the monarchy in order to be independent. Todd begins by citing that the separation of America from the Old World is perhaps one of the most important myths on the founding of the United States. He continues to support his argument with the fact that the United States economy benefitted greatly from Europe which provided capital and labor via investment and immigration to America. This is true considering the fact that America is essentially a country of immigrants.
Beyond immigration and the economic advantages, it provided for the United States, Todd mentions literacy as another factor in rise of America to become “the most powerful and self-reliant economy on the planet (13).” After the United States split from the Old World and grew economically, they became independent not only from Europe, but the rest of the world. This could have ultimately been a contributing factor in the rise of America as a policing nation that moved from being a problem solver initially, to a threat to the rest of the world. Todd compares the rise of the United States to Roman history and the drive of acquiring territory.
Over time, in the early stages of America, the equal opportunity for all was very appealing and brought increased migration from other countries. The United States soon become a diverse melting pot of cultures, races, and religion. For a while, as America was rising to what the founding fathers envisioned, it was also an area for conflict to erupt due to the melting pot. In order for the economy to rise, America to be self-sustaining, and to increase trade, maximizing both profit and labor become crucial. This unfortunately led to slavery in the United States for a significant time period.
Through Todd’s perspective of America, the evolution of America is fueled by an obsession. An obsession for power, anti-communism, oil, money, and even race and religion. To simplify America’s eventful, yet short history, Todd brings to attention a shift from building America to be a prosperous land like the founding fathers envisioned that was driven by a productive economy and other founding principles enlisted in the Bill of Rights granting rights such as free speech and equal opportunity, to a land that is driven by obsession. When comparing America to Rome and Athens, it seems as if America is a merger of the two.
In the case Rome, like America, Todd cites that it was driven by economic and social dimensions. Eventually, military became a dominant force leading to distortion of the social order caused by the accumulation of capital wealth. In the case of Athens, the birthplace of philosophy and democracy, is similar to the United States since it was found on the principles of democracy.
The pattern that the United States followed in the early periods was very similar to other early civilizations as well. For example, slavery was present in the Greco-Roman world, and freedom had a high value. The treatment of slaves in any ancient or even present civilization is often times compared to the treatment of animals where they are restricted, expected to abide to a master’s commands, and even live by a certain daily regime. A notable debate by Aristotle and slavery examined the slave and master relationship. As Aristotle politics argue that there is no difference between a freeman and slave by nature and that the relationship between the master and slave is unjust. However, Aristotle, further develops this by examining the relationship between man and animals. This thought develops to conclude that “slavery is not natural by conventional.” Slavery is an example of America driven by the obsession of race.
Beyond race, Todd also cites how the United States moved away from Universalism which is defined as the capacity to treat all men and peoples as equals (101) towards differentialism. Universalism is exactly what the founding fathers envisioned. Todd supports his claim for the shift away from universalism by looking at American census statistics from 2000 focusing on interracial marriages. The census statistics showed a slight increase in the number of interracial marriages amongst black men by 2.3%for those aged 55 and over and 11% for those aged between 15 and 24. There is a significant gap between the age groups which can support a change in mentality across generations. But when examining the statistics for women there was no increase. Looking at education level, there was an increase amongst those with a college degree.
The evidence that Todd provides for his argument on the shift from universalism to differentialism is not very compelling given the fact that the evidence he provides acts as a “double-edge sword.” In the way that Todd presents the evidence, he leads the reader to believe that in fact America has shifted away from universalism. However, the evidence can be looked at from a different perspective where it can be argued that America has actually shifted more towards universalism over the years. In the case of the data for interracial marriages, the rate has increased amongst the younger generation more than the rate has increased for the older generation which could signify that the nation is shifting more towards universalism as compared to before. In addition, the increase amongst college educated individuals could also be used to counter Todd’s argument because compared to early America when it was founded with the universalism principle, it can be argued that more people today are attaining higher education than before.
Todd continues to argue the shift away from universalism by examining infant mortality rates in the United States. He observed a slight increase in black infant mortality and uses this to fuel his argument that after more than fifty years since segregation racial integration has still not been achieved. What Todd does not consider in his argument is what potential factors that cannot be controlled for could explain why rates are higher in black infants.
Another obsession of the United States that Todd brings up in his work is Russia. Europe, Russia and Japan are key players that Todd cites could bring America to a decline. In turn, American politics often try to strengthen relations with these types of nation. The obsession with Russia stems from the fact that throughout history, Americans have often questioned the politics and how the nation is run. The government of Russia is an unfamiliar territory for the United States that was built upon democracy and has only been under a democratic government. Russia on the other hand has shifted political models throughout history.
Russia is a nation that is considered to be totally literate, with advanced higher education. In addition, Todd cites that Russia is universalist, and according to Todd, his arguments combine to suggest that Russia is more universalist than the United States. On a global scale, Russia is not concerned with the image abroad but rather with the development of their own country. The United States on the other hand is concerned greatly with the image portrayed abroad.
Going back to United States and being a policing nation, and its similarity to the Roman Empire, there have been several examples throughout Todd’s work where this hold true. Todd examines the behavior of the United States towards other nations by specifically examining the obsession for power as well as international image portrayal. The United States wants to continue to exert the image of not only the land of opportunity, but the image of being the most powerful nation. Like the Romans it accomplishes this through immense architecture as well as their military. Todd points to the fact that the United States military while it portrays itself as the most powerful, it in fact is not when compared to other nations such as Russia and even other countries in Europe. Instead of the United States exerting its power on nations of similar levels, it exerts dominance over nations that cannot fight back. Often times these are countries that are economically behind, not completely literate, and cannot compare in regard to defense.
Throughout After The Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order, Todd ties back his arguments to the United States’ behavior overall as a nation. While some of the Todd’s arguments are compelling, others lack sufficient evidence. Often times throughout the text, Todd uses data, which is in fact credible, but only to the degree to support his argument without considering the counterargument or other data that is related. This is called confirmation bias. It also must be noted that the Emmanuel Todd is a researcher at the French National Institute for Demographic studies which could explain the numerous arguments that are related to demographics as well as the attitude towards the United States given the fact that he is in Europe which is one of the continents that could potentially dominate the United States especially if they allied with Russia. The majority of the arguments that Todd brings up are often a double-edged sword where they can support or can actually contradict his arguments. In addition, a lot of the arguments that Todd brings up as well as examples need to be considered separately because if they are combined, they often conflict each other.