Unmaking an Exception: A Critical Genealogy of U.S. Exceptionalism

David Hughes

doi:10.1017/S0260210514000229

Unmaking an Exception: A Critical Genealogy of U.S. Exceptionalism

David Hughes

Department of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

US exceptionalism is a hot topic in contemporary political discourse in the United States and in recent years it has attracted increasing attention from International Relations (IR) scholars. Unfortunately, however, analysis of US exceptionalism in IR has been compromised by its failure to historicise the concept and by its reliance on myths cultivated in other disciplines. This article offers a critical genealogy of US exceptionalism in order to expose it for what it is: a discourse that works to legitimate the United States’ exceptions to domestic and international law in the minds of its citizens and foreign observers.

Original language	English
Number of pages	25
Journal	Review of International Studies
Early online date	9 Oct 2014
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210514000229
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 9 Oct 2014

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10.1017/S0260210514000229

Cite this

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