What does it say about 🇺🇸 that it's most popular sport (more on that below) is so violent? amazon.com/New-American-M…
American Football is insular.
Football is by far the most popular sport in the United States. This can be gauged by...
...TV viewership (this is a @StatistaCharts of the most watched US sporting events in 2020. Notice anything other than football?)...
...franchise values (on Forbes 2021 list, 8 American Football Teams are in the top 20, including @dallascowboys at #1)...
...and even related video game sales (this @StatistaCharts shows the top 20 titles from 2021).
Do you know where else American football is so popular?
Canada? Nope! They have their own brand (and much older professional league)
Yep, American Football is pretty much popular in just the United States.
Sure, the Super Bowl is televised globally, but that's mostly for the benefit of Americans living abroad. foreignpolicy.com/2013/02/01/ame…
The 🇺🇸 sport that is popular globally is the @NBA. Players like @KingJames, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant can truly be considered GLOBAL figures.
Indeed, as the finale of the @espn "The Last Dance" documentary points out, the @chicagobulls were globally popular precisely because their championship run corresponded with the onset of the end of the Cold War (rise of the "unipolar moment").
Globally, the most popular sport is football, just not of the American variety.
What does it say about 🇺🇸 that it's most popular sport (more on that below) is just not that popular elsewhere? foreignaffairs.com/articles/2004-…
American football is derivative of something British.
In this case, rugby.
This terrific @GlobalHistJnl article contextualizes the not-so-uniquely-American origins of American football.
So American Football, like perhaps American Hegemony itself, is very British in its foundations. amazon.com/dp/B0753SH9Z3/…
Obviously, the US is actually not that exceptional in having features -- cultural and political -- that are derivative of the British.
Besides violent, insular, & derivative, I could also add "hubristic".
Why else would 🇺🇸 refer to the winner of the Super Bowl as "World Champions" (which, given the limited extent that the sport is played abroad, I suppose is technically correct)
In sum, I don't think "American Exceptionalism" is a myth per-se (though certain aspects are surely mythical)...
Which of these two men is most responsible for World War II?
Short answer: not Churchill
Long answer: [THREAD]
To be clear, in this thread I am dealing with the onset of the war in Europe. The War in Asia was just as important and obviously connected to Europe. But that is for another thread. For now, I do highly recommend Paine's book "The Wars for Asia"
Solving the "Europe Problem" has vexed US foreign policy since the beginning.
[THREAD]
As I wrote last week, a key trait of US "grand strategy" since the founding of the Republic was "Go West" either by expanding US territory west or seeking to maintain trade with China.
Since the founding of the republic, US foreign policy has been about one thing:
Go west (and don't let Europe get in the way).
[THREAD]
I'll write more about "don't let Europe get in the way" in another 🧵. This one will focus on the "Go west" part (which will also touch on the Europe part).
One could go so far as to argue that the Republic itself was founded because of a desire to go west. Specifically, the colonials were forbidden to go west of the 1763 Proclamation line.
When you hear "Liberal International Order", just think "the G-7, for better and for worse"
[THREAD]
While some scholars and policy makers like to speak of the "Liberal International Order" as the collection of post-World War II international institutions.... cambridge.org/core/journals/…
...the phrase itself is much more recent in origins, largely a product of the mid-1990s.
As I wrote in my latest for @WPReview, shifting patterns in population growth will inevitably influence international politics. worldpoliticsreview.com/global-demogra…
This isn't a new idea. It's one found in classic works on change in world politics.