Blog 7: American Nationalism and Imperialism by Matt Antezana

In Chapter 7 Benedict Anderson addresses the end of the dynastic era after World War I and the beginning nation-state as the international norm. After the second World War, the nation-state became the prominent actor on the international stage with empires becoming a thing of the past. Anderson claims that many of these new nation-states modeled the American example and had European languages of state. He writes "if they resembled the 'American' model in this respect, they took from linguistic European nationalism its ardent populism, and from official nationalism its Russifying policy orientation" (113). This quote represents what American Nationalism is, in that it shows that American Nationalism is rooted from European influences that affect its policy formulations. Anderson alludes to the historical of America which are now imagined everywhere because the "European languages-of-state they employ were the legacy of imperialist official nationalism" (113). 

These imperialist values that took part in forming American nationalism have influenced the beliefs of the community within the state and even over the rest of the world. All over the US one can see the influences of American Nationalism in the various ways whether it's through advertisements or displays of American pride with phrases such as "I'm proud to be an American". Anderson refers to this as "popular nationalist enthusiasm" that is spread through the educational system, mass media, and other institutions (114). He also argues that "industrial capitalism" such as railways and motor transport among other has aided in spreading such the nationalist ideology (115). In current times it is easy to see the effect of institutions like the media and how industrial capitalism influence the spread of ideas and values that make up communities. Within its geography America expects that its citizens to carry out duties and responsibilities, both of these are stressed from an early age usually in a civics class in the eighth grade. Some of these include voting, obeying the law, defending the nation, and/or simply spreading "patriotism" throughout our community. This affects the rest of the world in that America, like its European ancestors that influenced its imperialistic values, has sought to spread the ideology to other parts of the world. This is evident in the beliefs of Manifest Destiny and in White Man's burden; America justifies it because of the belief that our system of democracy is the best. This however has resulted in injustices being committed such as the case of the Philippines and in various Latin-American countries such as Nicaragua. The film "Amigo" shows example of this where the Americans thought their actions were justified because they believed that they were helping the natives by forcibly spreading their ideology.