American exceptionalism is a double-edged sword, often taking the form of a cultural predisposition to promote universal values to the world, but also taking a form of exempting the United States from scrutiny regarding living by those values itself. As 46.1 percent of the American public voted for the latter version of American exceptionalism in 2016, this essay examines several areas of that self-exemption, including treaties the United States fails to sign or ratify, trade policies, trafficking in persons policy, torture in counterterrorism policy, targeting Muslims indiscriminately in drone strikes and screening refugees, transparency lacking in campaign finance, trust in institutions, and the style of populism emergent in the 2016 election. There are prospects for renewal when such a gap emerges between ideas and institutions, based on earlier cycles in American history. U.S. legitimacy as a powerful catalyst for a world order favoring human dignity depends on being an exemplar.
American Society of International Law. 2001. “U.S. Signing of the Statute of the International Criminal Court.” The American Journal of International Law95 (2): 397–400. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2661410 (accessed May 12, 2017).
BlanchfieldLuisa. 2011. “United Nations Reform: U.S. Policy and International Perspectives.” Congressional Research Service, July7. http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4e3907c72.pdf (accessed May 12, 2017).
6.
BlanchfieldLuisaBrownCynthia. 2015. “The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Issues in the U.S. Ratification Debate.” Congressional Research Service. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42749.pdf (accessed May 15, 2017).
Environmental Working Group. 2017. “EWG’s Farm Subsidy Database.” https://farm.ewg.org (accessed May 15, 2017).
16.
ErnstJulia. 1995. “U.S. Ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.” Michigan Journal of Gender and Law3 (1): 299–367. http://repository.law.umich.edu/mjgl/vol3/iss1/8 (accessed May 14, 2017).
HuntingtonSamuel P.1981. American Politics: The Promise of Disharmony. Cambridge: Belknap Press.
29.
ICC Forum. 2013. “Africa Question: Is the International Criminal Court (ICC) Targeting Africa Inappropriately?” http://iccforum.com/africa (accessed May 12, 2017).
30.
IgnatieffMichael, ed. 2005. American Exceptionalism and Human Rights. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
KepplerElise. 2009. “Stefan A. Riesenfeld Symposium 2009: The United States and the International Criminal Court: The Bush Administration’s Approach and a Way Forward under the Obama Administration.” Publicist: Berkeley Journal of International Law, September24. http://bjil.typepad.com/publicist/2009/09/kepplerpublicistvol2.html#_ftnref1 (accessed May 15, 2017).
34.
KingMartin Luther. 1968. “Remarks during the Poor People’s Campaign at a Church in Mississippi.” Video of the speech incorporated in the “The Two Nations of Black America.” Hosted by GatesHenry LouisJr.Frontline, Public Broadcasting System, aired February10, 1998. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4vdfugMFbg (accessed May 15, 2017).
35.
KirkpatrickJeane J.1990. “A Normal Country in a Normal Time?”The National Interest21:40–43.
36.
KrasnerStephen D., ed. 1983. International Regimes. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
37.
KristolIrving. 1990. “Defining Our National Interest”The National Interest21:16–25.
38.
LagonMark P.2011. “The Global Abolition of Human Trafficking: The Indispensible Contribution of the United States.” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs12 (1): 89–98.
39.
LagonMark P.ArendAnthony Clark. 2014. Human Dignity and the Future of Global Institutions. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
MaloneJames L.1983. “The United States and the Law of the Sea after UNCLOS III.” Law and Contemporary Problems46 (2): 29–36.
42.
MayerAnn E.1996. “Reflections on the United States Reservations to CEDAW: Should the Constitution Be an Obstacle to Human Rights?”Hastings Constitutional Law Journal23:727–823.
PowerSamantha. 2002. A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide. New York: Basic Books.
53.
ReaganRonald. 1989. “Farewell Address to the Nation.” Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project, January11. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29650 (accessed January 2, 2017).
U.S. Department of State. 2010a. “Second Periodic Report Concerning the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography and Response to Recommendations in Committee Concluding Observations of June 25, 2008.” January22. https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/136023.pdf (accessed May 21, 2017).
61.
U.S. Department of State. 2010b. “Second Periodic Report Concerning the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict and Response to Recommendations in Committee Concluding Observations of June 25, 2008.” January22. https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/135988.pdf (accessed May 21, 2017).
