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Państwo krzyżowców
A Country of Crusaders

Author(s): Andrzej Sepkowski
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences
Published by: Instytut Zachodni im. Zygmunta Wojciechowskiego

Summary/Abstract: Americans have been expansionistic since their colonial beginnings, undertaking to impose submission on the interior for over two centuries. This expansionism proved to be an unusually strong binder for the society of the young state, assuming the shape of “Manifest Destiny” of President Polk and his successors. It usually served down-to-earth interests but was legitimized with ideas of great missions supposed to spread the perfect system created by the “nation of nations”. The ideas of missions both in their peaceful and conquer form have become an integral part of the American “civil religion”, ritualized by practically all its leaders. Missionism combined with expansionism was the dominant tendency which came to the foreground after 1989. The new hegemony gradually transformed into domination on the international scene, forcing other agents to adopt measures desirable for the neo-liberal establishment. The determining factor was the power of the military-industrial conglomerate, which was not to be underestimated, as today over 600 billon dollars are allotted to military demands. It also seems that President Barack Obama is fated to the practices of a crusader even though the hopes connected with him are hopes for a different, better world.

  • Issue Year: 328/2009
  • Issue No: 01
  • Page Range: 171-185
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Polish