PACS - Exceptionalism (3 Types)

ExceptionalismDistinguishing Types of American Exceptionalism : 

ExceptionalismDistinguishing Types of American Exceptionalism Based on American Exceptionalism and Human Rights Michael Ignatieff, Ed., Princeton University Press, 2005.

3 Types of U.S. Exceptionalism : 

3 Types of U.S. Exceptionalism

Exemptionalism: : 

Exemptionalism: Signs on to conventions & treaties, but then exempts itself from their provisions through: explicit reservation nonratification noncompliance

exemptionalism : 

exemptionalism

Exemptionalism, revisited 1a. explicit reservation : 

Exemptionalism, revisited 1a. explicit reservation Pick ‘n choose Right to life: Signed on to CCPR, but exempted ourselves from juvenile execution.

1b. noncompliance : 

1b. noncompliance inform UN human rights bodies when derogating from treaty standards cooperate with UN human rights rapporteurs seeking access to U.S. facilities order stays of execution in compliance with the Vienna Treaty on Consular Obligations.

Because of exceptional political importance, U.S. forms of noncompliance have more impact than those of less political importance. : 

Because of exceptional political importance, U.S. forms of noncompliance have more impact than those of less political importance.

1c. nonratification : 

1c. nonratification

So women and children have no rights in the United States?! : 

So women and children have no rights in the United States?! No! Nonratification means: UN instruments & standards have no legal standing in U.S. courts.

Is that bad? : 

Is that bad? Federal & State standards international norms

We turn now to “the torture question” : 

We turn now to “the torture question”

2. Legal Isolationism : 

2. Legal Isolationism Deny jurisdiction to human rights law within our domestic law Self-contained authority of our own domestic rights tradition.

It’s tradition!U.S. political tradition tends to be more: : 

It’s tradition!U.S. political tradition tends to be more: critical of government insistent on individual responsibility concerned to defend individual freedom … compared to European socialist, social democratic, or Christian democratic traditions.

American judges resistant to using foreign human rights precedents to guide in their domestic opinions. : 

American judges resistant to using foreign human rights precedents to guide in their domestic opinions. 1-way “sharing” foreign judicial attitudes = too liberal rights tradition: “We’ve always been different from those of other democratic states.” E.g., more protective of speakers' rights than any other liberal democratic state. (Canada, France, and Germany permit the punishment of Holocaust deniers.)

Legal isolationism : 

Legal isolationism U.S. Constitution makes no reference to socioeconomic and welfare rights. entitlements to food, shelter, health care, and unemployment insurance = standard features of both international rights regimes and the constitutions of European states.

3. Double standards : 

3. Double standards Judges itself and its friends by more permissive criteria than it does its enemies.

domestic examples : 

domestic examples

foreign examples:evaluation of H.R. abuses : 

foreign examples:evaluation of H.R. abuses

Foreign Examples : 

Foreign Examples Americans are the “descendants of apes and pigs who have been feeding from the dining tables of the Zionists, Communists, and colonialists.” Muslims must attack the West: "cut the transportation of their countries, tear it apart, destroy their economy, burn their companies, eliminate their interests, sink their ships, shoot down their planes, kill them on the sea, air, or land."

Foreign examples : 

Foreign examples

Foreign examples : 

Foreign examples

Double standards … : 

Double standards … Some argue that it is this double standard in foreign policy that is the most problematic for the United States, and the most costly to our safety.

Is exceptionalismin our interests? : 

Is exceptionalismin our interests?

Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Hurting U.S. Terror FightBy Karen DeYoungWashington Post Staff Writer Sunday, September 24, 2006; Page A01 : 

Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Hurting U.S. Terror FightBy Karen DeYoungWashington Post Staff Writer Sunday, September 24, 2006; Page A01 A 30-page National Intelligence Estimate completed in April cites the "centrality" of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the insurgency that has followed, as the leading inspiration for new Islamic extremist networks and cells that are united by little more than an anti-Western agenda. It concludes that, rather than contributing to eventual victory in the global counterterrorism struggle, the situation in Iraq has worsened the U.S. position, according to officials familiar with the classified document.

Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Hurting U.S. Terror FightBy Karen DeYoungWashington Post Staff Writer Sunday, September 24, 2006; Page A01 : 

Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Hurting U.S. Terror FightBy Karen DeYoungWashington Post Staff Writer Sunday, September 24, 2006; Page A01 4 underlying factors fuel spread of the jihadist movement: Entrenched grievances, such as corruption, injustice, and fear of Western domination, leading to anger, humiliation, and a sense of powerlessness; the Iraq "jihad;“ the slow pace of real and sustained economic, social, and political reforms in many Muslim majority nations; and pervasive anti-US sentiment among most Muslims -- all of which jihadists exploit.

Global Attitudes toward U.S.Pew Research Center’sGlobal Attitudes Project Poll: Global Unease with World Powers : 

Global Attitudes toward U.S.Pew Research Center’sGlobal Attitudes Project Poll: Global Unease with World Powers

American GOV’T. vs. American PEOPLE : 

American GOV’T. vs. American PEOPLE