Trails of the Great War 1914 - 2014: War and the American Century

Speakers: Philip Bobbitt, Richard Sennett
Chair: Professor Craig Calhoun

Recorded on 3 October 2014 in Shaw Library, Old Building.

World War I made the United States begin to think of Europe as part of its sphere of influence. Some flattered themselves ‘to have won the war for Britain and France’, others worried about how this sphere of influence could be made legitimate, according to a globally- applicable standard; hence the efforts of Woodrow Wilson to create the League of Nations. The same mixture of jingoism and internationalism was roused in World War II, which cemented America’s trans-Atlantic leadership and stamped her ideals on the United Nations. Have we Americans finally emerged, post-Iraq, post-Afghanistan, from this shadow? Is Europe no longer seen as part of our sphere of influence? Have we lost the jingoistic belief that America can set other people's affairs in order? Less innocent, no longer believing in the country's power to do the right thing, have we also become more amoral? No longer subscribing to international norms of justice, nor supportive of institutions which would attempt to speak truth to power?

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