tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/inauguration-4614/articlesInauguration – The Conversation2021-01-28T17:31:59Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1534182021-01-28T17:31:59Z2021-01-28T17:31:59ZMemes like Bernie Sanders’ mittens spread through networks the same way viruses spread through populations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380936/original/file-20210127-19-a69qsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C0%2C2059%2C1377&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sen. Bernie Sanders (far right) attended the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 20, 2021.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Caroline Brehman/Pool via AP)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>None of us escaped the Bernie Sanders mitten memes following President Joe Biden’s inauguration. <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/bernie-sanders-photographer-1118174/">The photographer Brendan Smialowski captured the image of Sen. Sanders seated at the inauguration that went viral</a>, resulting in an explosion of thousands of memes that spread rapidly across the world.</p>
<p>Memes aside, we are in the middle of a deadly global pandemic, unlike anything we’ve faced in modern times. At the time of writing, <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/?utm_campaign=homeAdvegas1?">there are more than 100 million COVID-19 cases and two million deaths worldwide</a>. When a person becomes infected with COVID-19, they may infect others physically close to them at their home, workplace or in a crowded public space. Despite mitigating efforts such as physical distancing and face masks, new hotspots of infection may readily appear.</p>
<p>Over the past year, we’ve heard a lot in the news cycle about epidemiology, focusing on the science of how infections spread in populations. Terms like the “R number” and “exponential spread” are <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/e/coronavirus-words/">now part of our everyday lexicon</a>. Close physical interactions between people are the cause of the spread of viruses like COVID-19 through social networks.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CKc4E39pFAZ","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>Physical and digital networks</h2>
<p>Networks permeate our lives at every level, from the interactions of proteins in our cells to our followers on social media and Bitcoin transactions. Over the past 20 years, a sizeable interdisciplinary field emerged to study what makes networks tick. Network science focuses on the modelling and mining of networks, informed by mathematics, physics and computational sciences.</p>
<p>Networks are collections of dots called <em>nodes</em> and lines called <em>edges</em> representing interactions between objects. Imagine a network with nodes representing people in a city and edges formed by those within two metres apart. Such a contact network maps how contagions like COVID-19 spread. </p>
<p>For a different example, consider accounts on Twitter as nodes, with edges linking to those accounts’ followers. We may then visualize Twitter as a network with <a href="https://blog.hootsuite.com/twitter-demographics/">340 million nodes</a>, swarming with tens of billions of edges. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An illustration showing the connections between nodes or items in a network" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379193/original/file-20210118-13-1qso5l5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379193/original/file-20210118-13-1qso5l5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379193/original/file-20210118-13-1qso5l5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379193/original/file-20210118-13-1qso5l5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379193/original/file-20210118-13-1qso5l5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379193/original/file-20210118-13-1qso5l5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379193/original/file-20210118-13-1qso5l5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In a network, nodes are linked by edges. Darker nodes in the figure have more edges.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Burning networks</h2>
<p>If a person becomes infected with COVID-19, they can infect those close to them. From there, the virus may spread to others in their contact network. A challenge with modelling a viral outbreak is that infections do not spread from one person alone <a href="https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-09-coronavirus-world.html">but from many sources</a>. Without mitigation, contagion is analogous to a fire burning up a dry forest, wreaking havoc across large areas. </p>
<p>How can we measure the speed of contagion in a network? Viruses and memes inspired the idea of <em>network burning</em>, <a href="https://www.internetmathematicsjournal.com/article/1599-how-to-burn-a-graph">which measures the speed at which contagion spreads between nodes</a>. </p>
<p>Burning spreads over discrete time-steps, and one new source of burning appears at each step of the process. The latter part is an essential feature: multiple sources pop up anywhere in the network over time. The process ends when every node is burning; for example, the process ends if every person in a population catches COVID-19.</p>
<p>From Bernie Sander’s mittens to Baby Yoda or Mike Pence’s fly, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/viral/dancing-pallbearers-mike-pence-fly-pretty-best-friends-here-are-n1252118">memes appear and spread quickly through social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mike-pences-fly-from-renaissance-portraits-to-salvador-dali-artists-used-flies-to-make-a-point-about-appearances-147815">Mike Pence's fly: From Renaissance portraits to Salvador Dalí, artists used flies to make a point about appearances</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>When it comes to viral memes, if a user posts a meme on Instagram, it shows up in their followers’ home feed. From there, it appears in the feeds of followers of those followers and outwards from there. </p>
<p>Our intuition is that a few hops are enough to reach anyone on social media, and algorithms prove that right. <a href="https://research.fb.com/blog/2016/02/three-and-a-half-degrees-of-separation/">A 2016 study suggests it only takes four hops on average to connect any two accounts on Facebook</a>. The small world of social networks predicts that popular memes would then reach most accounts in short order. </p>
<p>The minimum number of steps needed to burn every node is called the <em>burning number</em> of the network. We can think of the burning number as a quantitative measure of how fast contagion spreads. The smaller the burning number is, the faster contagion spreads in the network. </p>
<h2>Dining in is better for you</h2>
<p>Imagine nine diners at a restaurant sitting in close quarters at a round table. In that case, we have a <em>clique</em> network, in which every node links to every other one. If one person carries COVID-19, then the chances are high that all the guests will be infected because they are all within the two-metre range of the infected individual. The burning number of a clique is 1, the lowest it can be.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An illustration showing the connections between nine people sitting around a table" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379194/original/file-20210118-19-14x2r45.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379194/original/file-20210118-19-14x2r45.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=768&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379194/original/file-20210118-19-14x2r45.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=768&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379194/original/file-20210118-19-14x2r45.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=768&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379194/original/file-20210118-19-14x2r45.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379194/original/file-20210118-19-14x2r45.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379194/original/file-20210118-19-14x2r45.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A clique and line-up with nine nodes are shown. In the clique at the top representing diners at a table, the burning spreads in one step from the node 1. Burning a lineup with nine nodes takes three steps. In the first step, node 1 is burned. In the second step, burning spreads to the left and right of node 1 and we also burn node 2. In the last step, we burn node 3, and the burning spreads to every node.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contrast, think of a lineup at a grocery store with one person infected. The infection potentially spreads only to those directly in front or behind them because the distance from one end of the line to the other is too large for the virus to spread. </p>
<p>For example, in a lineup with nine people, if someone in the middle is infected, it would take four steps to infect everyone. If the infected person is at the end of the line, it takes eight steps. In either case, the spread is slower than for our unlucky, hypothetical diners. </p>
<p>Network burning predicts that lineups are among the slowest kinds of networks for the spread of contagion. If there are <em>n</em> people in a lineup, the burning number is the square root of <em>n</em>. So if nine people are in line, the burning number is three, which is the minimum number of people who must be infected to spread the disease fastest to everyone in the line.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.internetmathematicsjournal.com/article/1599-how-to-burn-a-graph">A math conjecture predicts that in any possible network with <em>n</em> nodes, the burning number is at most the square root of <em>n</em></a>. While no one has proven that conjecture yet, the best-known result is that the burning number of a network is at most the square root of 1.5 times <em>n</em>. </p>
<p>The difference between the square root of n and the square root of 1.5 times <em>n</em> may not seem large, but the gap between them grows considerably for large <em>n</em>. If <em>n</em> is the world’s population of 7.8 billion, then the square root of <em>n</em> is about 88,318, and the square root of 1.5 times <em>n</em> is 108,167. </p>
<h2>What the math tells us</h2>
<p>Burning networks gives us a simplified but concise view of how contagion propagates in a network, and a measure of how rapidly contagion spreads to each node. While network burning doesn’t directly tell us how to slow the spread of a virus or halt a meme, it highlights that our interactions significantly affect our exposure to contagion. </p>
<p>How networks of interactions are wired has a profound impact on viral outbreaks, a fact especially relevant during these times. Remember that the next time you are in a physically distanced lineup. You are doing your part to slow the spread of COVID-19. And good luck avoiding the next breaking meme.</p>
<p>The math tells us so.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153418/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Bonato receives funding from NSERC. </span></em></p>Our social connections and interactions form networks. Studying these networks reveal the ways in which both memes and viruses travel through populationsAnthony Bonato, Professor of Mathematics, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1538672021-01-26T21:58:40Z2021-01-26T21:58:40ZPoet Amanda Gorman’s take on love as legacy points to youth’s power to shape future generations<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/03/style/amanda-gorman-first-youth-poet-laureate.html">National youth poet laureate</a> <a href="https://www.theamandagorman.com/">Amanda Gorman</a>’s recitation of “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/689867/the-hill-we-climb-by-amanda-gorman/9780593465271/">The Hill We Climb</a>,” at Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration in the United States captured the attention of a nation and people globally. </p>
<p>Gorman highlighted the power of poets in our current sociopolitical context to speak unique and timely truths, while tapping into larger literary traditions. Some commentators were reminded of <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/inaugural-poet-amanda-gorman-interview">the legacy of Black women poets</a> like Maya Angelou and Elizabeth Alexander who delivered <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48990/on-the-pulse-of-morning">inaugural poems</a> respectively at <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/05/what-maya-angelous-reading-at-bill-clintons-inauguration-in-1993-meant-to-her/454389/">Bill Clinton’s</a> and <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52141/praise-song-for-the-day">Barack Obama’s</a> inaugurations. The ring <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/535091-amanda-gorman-wore-ring-gifted-by-oprah-honoring-maya-angelou">Gorman wore was a tribute to Maya Angelou</a> and a gift from Oprah Winfrey. </p>
<p>Gorman <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/youth-poet-laureate-amanda-gorman-cydney-brown-philadelphia-20210122.html">inspired people</a> of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/amanda-gorman-inauguration-poet-1.5880936">all ages</a> with the notion <a href="https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1351945187891810306">of seeing and being light</a>. The day after the inauguration <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jan/22/amanda-gorman-inauguration-poem-the-hill-we-climb-biden-book-charts">two of her books topped Amazon’s bestseller list</a>.</p>
<p>Gorman moved many in a time of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jan/22/how-amanda-gorman-became-the-voice-of-a-new-american-era">geopolitical uncertainty</a> and a pandemic with the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-57-the-sunday-magazine/clip/15805026-the-power-peril-hope-professor-katie-stockdale">power of critical hope</a>, something <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/josp.12270">that combats hollow positivity</a>. In the words of educator and literary theorist Ira Shor, critical hope asks us to “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230100893_7">challenge the actual in the name of the possible</a>.”</p>
<p>We are researchers who have studied how youth carve out legacies and how <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/adventures-in-academe/combatting-toxic-positivity-with-critical-hope/">storytelling can teach and inspire critical hope</a>. What struck us in hearing Gorman speak was how, at <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/22-year-amanda-gorman-read-poem-joe-bidens/story?id=75346294">the age of 22</a>, the poet taps into the power of generativity, a concept that refers to creating a legacy that lasts beyond our lifetimes to shape future generations. </p>
<p>As she recited: “But one thing is certain: If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright.…” </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/38Rn5WULjmc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">CBC video of Amanda Gorman reciting, ‘The Hill We Climb.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Shaping who we are by the stories we tell</h2>
<p>Research repeatedly indicates that adults in their 30s and 40s who are involved in creating something that will last beyond their lifetime <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2015.1043876">enjoy a better quality of life until death</a> in many ways.
(Parenting, teaching, social justice activism or engaging in creative projects are ways of leaving one’s mark in the world after death.) </p>
<p>Can people in their early 20s already see themselves carving out a legacy? Gorman’s poem suggests the answer is yes. She reminds people that what they do (or don’t do) will shape the legacy future generations inherit: “We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation.” </p>
<p>Gorman’s poem speaks to the creative and leadership potential of youth. Her display of being part of a lasting legacy resonates with our experiences and some of our research.</p>
<p>Psychologist <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393317725">Erik Erikson popularized</a> the idea that in middle age many adults become interested in leaving a legacy, but studies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15283488.2019.1697271">have found that many youth are also interested in</a> creating something that lasts beyond their lifetime. </p>
<p>Research in literature and the meaning of narrative reveals how <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Stories-We-Live-By-Personal-Myths-and-the-Making-of-the-Self/McAdams/p/book/9781572301887">narrative shapes our relationship to the world around us</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-we-dont-understand-about-young-peoples-motivations-129058">What we don't understand about young people's motivations</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Highly generative adults also tend to tell stories about their lives using what some psychologists call <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15427609.2006.9683363">redemptive themes</a>: a story with a negative beginning gains meaning through a positive outcome. </p>
<p>We are currently studying the life stories of 18- to 24-year-olds who have been nominated by community leaders as young people who have made lasting impacts. The young people in our study have received awards, represented Canada on international stages and founded organizations for social justice. Our research seeks to understand the relationship of their achievements to storytelling their and identity formation, and how these both inform legacy building.</p>
<p>In both the fields of psychology and literary studies, we are fascinated with how narratives shape our relationship to our present and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137021052_10">inform social change</a>.</p>
<h2>Redemptive themes</h2>
<p>The theme of redemption, like the presence of generativity, infuses passages in “The Hill We Climb” in both communal and personal references. As Gorman read: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[with] Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Gorman’s recitation also carved out a redemptive moment by reclaiming the Capitol steps where a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/01/15/957362053/january-6-inside-the-capitol-siege">violent insurrection</a> occurred only two weeks before. Those involved opposed the democratic electoral process and the crowd was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/09/us/capitol-hill-insurrection-extremist-flags-soh/index.html">populated with signs, symbols and flags of white supremacist and extremist groups</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Troops in front of the U.S. Capitol." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380742/original/file-20210126-17-zofuih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380742/original/file-20210126-17-zofuih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380742/original/file-20210126-17-zofuih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380742/original/file-20210126-17-zofuih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380742/original/file-20210126-17-zofuih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380742/original/file-20210126-17-zofuih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380742/original/file-20210126-17-zofuih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">One day after the inauguration, National Guard troops continue to be deployed around the Capitol, in Washington, Jan. 21, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By inviting her audience to envision future acts of “hope and light” on those steps, she joined this event, its larger histories and its cultural and political contexts to a meaningful and optimistic shared experience. When she spoke, no divisions were erased, but she acknowledged the possibility that together we can create a world that is better, more equitable and just. </p>
<p>Such a redemptive capacity is found in adults who show a strong commitment to legacy building. It is also what we as researchers are looking for in our study of young leaders.</p>
<h2>Journey through generations</h2>
<p>Gorman is aware that she represents the living legacy shaped by those who came before her and that her legacy belongs to future generations. She told CNN she has a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/amanda-gorman-poet-cooper-cnn-b1790463.html">mantra she recites when she performs</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I’m the daughter of Black writers. We’re descended from freedom fighters who broke their chains and changed the world. They call me.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-33096-001">Examining youth voice</a> teaches us that generativity is about understanding the redemptive journey through generations, and one’s role within the larger picture. </p>
<p>Psychologists have long connected the importance of sharing family stories at the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4665103/">dinner table</a>, and even outlined how through story, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-89825-4_5">parents and grandparents uniquely contribute to a child’s values and moral development</a>. </p>
<p>These connections also occur through outside forces like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2020.1766207">mentors</a>, advocates and youth programs that nurture talent and the <a href="https://www.youthwhothrive.ca/resources/Critical-Factors-for-Youth-Thriving-Report.pdf">capacity to thrive</a>. </p>
<p>Gorman’s journey illustrates the transformative power of intergenerational collaborations <a href="http://jyd.pitt.edu/ojs/jyd/article/view/520">documented in research</a>. Gorman acknowledged: “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/style/2021/01/21/amanda-gorman-poet-laureate-interview-inauguration-vpx.cnn">I say I am proud of us, because this really takes a village, I have so many supporters [and] so many organizations … have supported me …</a>.”</p>
<p>Oprah Winfrey tweeted about her pride at <a href="https://twitter.com/Oprah/status/1351946952808816641">seeing a “young woman rise.”</a> Gorman told the Associated Press it was <a href="https://www.vogue.fr/fashion/article/amanda-gorman-prada-joe-biden-inauguration">Jill Biden who recommended her for the inaugural occasion</a>.</p>
<p>As researchers who work with young people every day, youth inspire us to hope more and think bigger. Gorman is part of a generation of young leaders, such as <a href="https://malala.org/malalas-story">Malala Yousafzai</a>, <a href="https://time.com/person-of-the-year-2019-greta-thunberg/">Greta Thunberg</a> and gun reform activist <a href="https://variety.com/2020/biz/news/david-hogg-parkland-trump-biden-election-1234819672/">David Hogg</a> who deserve support and commitment from those around them to create space for youth generativity in education, government, community, sports and in the arts.</p>
<p>Gorman ends her poem with encouragement to begin our own journeys of critical hope: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.”</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153867/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Lawford receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She is the Co-Director of the Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement at the Students Commission of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather L. Ramey receives funding from the Social sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She is the Co-Research Director of the Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement at the Students Commission of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Riddell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The first national youth poet laureate in the United States taps into the power of generativity, a concept that refers to creating a legacy that lasts beyond our lifetimes to shape future generations.Heather Lawford, Professor, Department of Psychology and Canada Research Chair in Youth Development, Bishop's UniversityHeather L. Ramey, Assistant Professor, Child & Youth Studies, Brock UniversityJessica Riddell, Full Professor and Jarislowsky Chair of Undergraduate Teaching Excellence, Bishop's UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1528142021-01-21T16:55:06Z2021-01-21T16:55:06ZBiden’s peaceful inauguration doesn’t end America’s longtime coup addiction<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379989/original/file-20210121-23-7ivefs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4000%2C2652&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden review the troops from the east steps of the U.S. Capitol during the inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(David Tulis/Pool Photo via AP)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Joe Biden is now the 46th president of the United States. He was inaugurated under intense security following the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/06/trump-virtual-coup-turns-real-mob-breaches-capitol/6571251002/">attempted coup</a> on Jan. 6, 2021, by Donald Trump supporters after the former president called for an insurrection against his own country’s government.</p>
<p>In his inauguration address, Biden made reference to the coup attempt and once again held up the U.S. as an example to the rest of the world: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world. That is what we owe our forebears, one another, and generations to follow.”</p>
</blockquote>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Biden makes his inaugural address, via CTV News.</span></figcaption>
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<p>World responses to the raid on the U.S. Capitol had taken a similar tone, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s incredulous claim that the “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-55568492">United States stands for democracy around the world</a>.”</p>
<p>But as Biden takes power and the U.S. Senate prepares to hold Trump’s second impeachment trial, it’s important to keep in mind that there was nothing unique about the attempted coup except that it happened at home. Both Republican and Democratic administrations have backed military coups around the world for decades, from Iran in 1953 to Bolivia in 2019.</p>
<p>One study counted <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09636412.2020.1693620">64 covert and six overt coups</a> backed by the United States. Yet the erasing of the history of U.S.-backed coups allows the United States to forget its own acts in toppling other governments, retroactively washing itself clean. </p>
<p>Take George W. Bush, who is increasingly gaining some grudging respect since the end of his presidency. <a href="https://people.com/politics/president-george-w-bush-addresses-violence-at-the-u-s-capitol/">Bush spoke out clearly</a> against the “mayhem unfolding at the seat of our nation’s government” on Jan. 6. “This is how election results are disputed in a banana republic — not our democratic republic,” he tweeted. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/by-inciting-capitol-mob-trump-pushes-u-s-closer-to-a-banana-republic-152850">By inciting Capitol mob, Trump pushes U.S. closer to a banana republic</a>
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</em>
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<hr>
<p>The dismissive reference to “banana republics” is more polite than Trump’s comments about “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/01/shithole-countries/580054/">shithole countries</a>” but it amounts to the same preaching of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-u-s-capitol-raid-exposes-the-myth-and-pathology-of-american-exceptionalism-152668">American exceptionalism</a> and the same contempt for non-white non-Americas. </p>
<h2>Guatemala</h2>
<p>Take one of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/books/review/Kurtz-Phelan-t.html">original supposed “banana republics,”</a> Guatemala. In the early 1950s, president Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, following the recommendations of the World Bank, began a campaign for economic independence that threatened the interests of the United Fruit Company, now Chiquita Brands International. The U.S. company’s highly profitable business in Guatemala was affected by the end of exploitative labour practices in the country.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1347569588674965504"}"></div></p>
<p>The father of modern advertising, Edward Bernays, <a href="https://www.modernmarketingpartners.com/2017/06/01/chiquita-pr-campaign/">set about</a> “engineering consent” for the false accusation that Arbenz was a communist. American officials then egged on Guatemalan army officers to overthrow Arbenz, which they <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674019300">did in 1954</a>. </p>
<p>Military regimes continued for decades, inflicting <a href="https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/military-rule-threatens-guatemalas-highland-maya-indians">violence upon Indigenous Peoples</a>. Guatemala’s truth commission concluded that civil war had claimed <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-19636725">200,000 lives</a> and that the army committed 93 per cent of all human rights violations. </p>
<h2>South Korea, Iran</h2>
<p>This U.S.-backed coup wasn’t the first. In the wake of the Second World War, an American army occupation in <a href="https://thewire.in/history/uncovering-the-hidden-history-of-the-korean-war">South Korea</a> throttled grassroots Korean democracy and imposed U.S. ally Syngman Rhee as president. Several coups followed until the arrival of lasting democracy in the 1980s. </p>
<p>South Korea’s <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2012/04/truth-commission-south-korea-2005">truth commission found</a> that tens of thousands of people had either been killed or suffered human rights violations, 82 per cent of them at the hands of the South Korean military. </p>
<p>Most famously, the U.S. helped topple Iran’s first democratic president, Mohammad Mossadegh, in 1953. When Mossadegh echoed the doctrine of governments like Canada that oil resources belonged to the people, he upset British and American oil companies. Their home governments then painted Mossadegh as a dangerous leftist. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379349/original/file-20210118-17-1wh6k55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh rides on the shoulders of cheering crowds." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379349/original/file-20210118-17-1wh6k55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379349/original/file-20210118-17-1wh6k55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379349/original/file-20210118-17-1wh6k55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379349/original/file-20210118-17-1wh6k55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379349/original/file-20210118-17-1wh6k55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379349/original/file-20210118-17-1wh6k55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379349/original/file-20210118-17-1wh6k55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this September 1951 photo, Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh rides on the shoulders of cheering crowds outside the parliament building after reiterating his oil nationalization views to his supporters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo, File)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>U.S. media reports painted him as effeminate and weak. “<a href="https://iranbeyondthenews.wordpress.com/2010/02/21/the-man-who-made-the-world-say-%E2%80%9Cwhat-if%E2%80%9D/">He favoured pink pyjamas</a>,” according to the <em>New York Times</em>. <em>Time</em> magazine called him the “weeping, fainting leader of a helpless country.” Kermit Roosevelt, a CIA operative in Iran, hired paid protesters, and Iran’s army soon toppled the government. </p>
<h2>South Vietnam, Indonesia, Chile</h2>
<p>U.S. governments even approved coups against pro-American rulers. Ngo Dinh Diem’s tenure as president of South Vietnam ended unceremoniously in 1963 when President John F. Kennedy approved a plan for Vietnamese army officers to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1971/07/01/archives/us-and-diems-overthrow-step-by-step-pentagon-papers-the-diem-coup.html">overthrow him</a>. The U.S. would then work with a revolving door of military rulers in South Vietnam until 1973, when it withdrew its forces from the country. </p>
<p>President Lyndon Johnson encouraged a <a href="https://www.insideindonesia.org/accomplices-in-atrocity">coup against Sukarno</a>, Indonesia’s first president, by pro-western army officers. Sukarno was no democrat, but the United States was content with him until he took steps against western oil companies. Yet while trying to isolate his government, the U.S. government kept in contact with pro-western economists and the Indonesian army, as historian Bradley Simpson <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=7853">chronicles</a>. The U.S. embassy aided the mass killing of as many as a million people in 1965-66. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379352/original/file-20210118-13-tf732q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chilean Gen. Augusto Pinochet is seen in full military garb." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379352/original/file-20210118-13-tf732q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379352/original/file-20210118-13-tf732q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379352/original/file-20210118-13-tf732q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379352/original/file-20210118-13-tf732q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379352/original/file-20210118-13-tf732q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379352/original/file-20210118-13-tf732q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379352/original/file-20210118-13-tf732q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chilean Gen. Augusto Pinochet is seen in this March 1998 photo in Santiago, Chile.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Santiago Llanquin)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“Jakarta is coming,” graffiti in Chile proclaimed as President Salvador Allende’s policies increasingly irritated U.S. President Richard Nixon. The “<a href="https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/05/18/how-jakarta-became-the-codeword-for-us-backed-mass-killing/">Jakarta method</a>” saw an attempt to copy the “success” in Indonesia. Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s forces seized power in 1973, then <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2003/09/commission-inquiry-chile-03">“disappeared” and tortured thousands of people</a>. </p>
<h2>Bolivia</h2>
<p>America’s addiction to coups survived the end of the Cold War. The U.S. has backed coups in Haiti, Honduras and elsewhere. Most recently, the Trump administration <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/18/silence-us-backed-coup-evo-morales-bolivia-american-states">cheered the toppling</a> of Bolivia’s president Evo Morales in 2019 after the Organization of American States implied Morales was rigging votes. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-zimbabwe-to-bolivia-what-makes-a-military-coup-127138">From Zimbabwe to Bolivia: what makes a military coup?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Later investigations showed the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/26/bolivia-dismissed-its-october-elections-fraudulent-our-research-found-no-reason-suspect-fraud/">claims were groundless</a>. As has often been the case, U.S. corporate interests were at stake.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/07/29/we-will-coup-whoever-we-want-elon-musk-and-the-overthrow-of-democracy-in-bolivia/">We will coup whoever we want</a>,” said Telsa founder Elon Musk, long <a href="https://socialistproject.ca/2020/07/elon-musk-overthrow-of-democracy-in-bolivia/">interested in the country’s lithium</a>, needed for electric car batteries. </p>
<p>Coup addiction overseas has now come home to Washington. We can draw three lessons. </p>
<h2>Lessons learned</h2>
<p>Firstly, “American exceptionalism” insists that the U.S. is different from all other countries. In fact, it’s derivative. Trump’s forces followed a well-thumbed script. Consent must be manufactured, the enemy demonized — a pattern laid out in the 1950s by Bernays and Roosevelt. If necessary, crowds are mobilized in the pursuit of “regime change.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-u-s-capitol-raid-exposes-the-myth-and-pathology-of-american-exceptionalism-152668">The U.S. Capitol raid exposes the myth and pathology of American exceptionalism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Second, the method of the coup must be made acceptable via demonization and imagining coups as an acceptable way to transfer power. The American penchant for coups normalized this mindset long before Trump. Americans accept violence as simply another item in the political arsenal. </p>
<p>Finally, it helps to bring racism and sexism into play. Mossadegh was deemed weak and effeminate. Diem’s alleged weakness helped convince Kennedy that he had to go. It was easy to convince the American public to accept these faraway coups. Trump’s innovation was to convince millions of Americans that their fellow citizens, especially racialized Americans, were destroying the U.S. at home — <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-u-s-capitol-raid-was-a-failed-self-coup-previously-seen-in-dying-regimes-152917">and that a self-coup to remove that threat</a> was perfectly acceptable. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/30/biden-america-is-back-team-insiders-repeat-mistakes-us-trump">America is back</a>,” says Joe Biden. The many victims of U.S.-backed coups might wish for America to stay home from time to time.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152814/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Webster receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, but no funds from this grant supported this publication. </span></em></p>From a global perspective, there was nothing unique about the recent raid on the U.S. Capitol. Both Republican and Democratic administrations have backed military coups around the world for decades.David Webster, Associate Professor of History / Professeur Agrégé, Département d’Histoire, Bishop's UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1534412021-01-20T17:06:32Z2021-01-20T17:06:32ZBiden presidency marks a return to normalcy after chaotic Trump years<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379788/original/file-20210120-23-triank.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C0%2C4491%2C3021&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Jill Biden holds the Bible during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 20, 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The end of Donald Trump’s dysfunctional tenure in the White House means the start of a relatively normal presidency under Joe Biden. But what does normal even mean after four years of a presidency and a president that have been anything but?</p>
<p>Biden <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/20/us/biden-inauguration">emphasized unity in his inaugural address</a> in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the dangerous scourge of misinformation and bitter partisan divisions in modern-day America:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“To overcome these challenges, to restore the soul and secure the future of America, requires so much more than words and requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy: unity.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>His <a href="https://thefederal.com/from-the-wires/bidens-long-political-evolution-leads-to-his-biggest-test/">success over his long political career</a>, in fact, has come from seeking gradual reforms, building coalitions and aiming for bipartisan compromise rather than pursuing or leading a revolution. </p>
<p>That’s in stark contrast to political novice Trump, whose successes in his short-lived political career came from brazen actions that provoked intense reactions from both supporters and opponents. </p>
<h2>Quieter politics</h2>
<p>Partisan loyalties will continue to be rampant in Washington, but the flames of the divisions between Republicans and Democrats will not be fanned by Biden, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/accountability-lies-lawbreaking-biden-s-bipartisanship-will-be-tested-n1254427">who has signalled repeatedly</a> that he’ll act with much more civility than his predecessor. </p>
<p>Executive orders will still be signed, but likely without the fanfare Trump courted and without partisan supporters surrounding the president in the Oval Office. Quieter politics are expected to be the hallmark of the early months.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Trump is surrounded by manufacturers and media cameras in the Oval Office." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379766/original/file-20210120-13-4qye08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379766/original/file-20210120-13-4qye08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379766/original/file-20210120-13-4qye08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379766/original/file-20210120-13-4qye08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379766/original/file-20210120-13-4qye08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379766/original/file-20210120-13-4qye08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379766/original/file-20210120-13-4qye08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trump speaks during a meeting with American manufacturers in the Oval Office of the White House in January 2019 after signing an executive order pushing those who receive federal funds to ‘buy American.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Presidential tweets will probably emphasize unity rather than focus on airing petty presidential grievances. Biden will not use the presidency as a bully pulpit to foster division, but as a tool to nurture social cohesion. Vice-President Kamala Harris, <a href="https://nptelegraph.com/news/national/govt-and-politics/what-biden-can-and-cant-get-from-an-evenly-divided-senate/collection_31aa102b-0a17-50a4-ab67-da2f1ab5e7f9.html#1">cabinet members</a> and White House officials will play a large role in communicating the Biden agenda, in contrast to the focus that Trump placed on himself. </p>
<p>Policy directions will likely be signalled well in advance of decisions being made, or at least ahead of decisions being announced. As a politician for more than half a century, Biden knows that preparing the groundwork is essential for successful policy implementation, while blindsiding stakeholders is a sure way to fire up the opposition. In practice, this entails slower and less centralized decision-making. </p>
<h2>Working with Congress</h2>
<p>Working closely with the Congress — the legislative branch of government comprised of the Senate and the House of Representatives — is a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/20/joe-biden-mitch-mcconnell-history-senate">major objective of the new administration</a>. Biden invited Mitch McConnell, now the Senate minority leader, to attend church with him on the morning of Inauguration Day — <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/01/20/biden-meets-mcconnell-and-pelosi-at-church-before-inauguration/">and the Kentucky politician accepted the invitation</a> instead of attending Trump’s sendoff at Andrews Air Force Base a few miles away. That’s a hopeful sign of bipartisan healing.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao, in masks, stand behind a church pew." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379771/original/file-20210120-21-wf1jv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379771/original/file-20210120-21-wf1jv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379771/original/file-20210120-21-wf1jv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379771/original/file-20210120-21-wf1jv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379771/original/file-20210120-21-wf1jv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379771/original/file-20210120-21-wf1jv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379771/original/file-20210120-21-wf1jv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao attend Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle during Inauguration Day ceremonies in Washington.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Biden was elected to the Senate 48 years ago in 1972, when Richard Nixon won his second term as president. Fewer than half of current American voters were alive when Biden travelled to Washington for the first time.</p>
<p>No president has spent more time in Congress. His 36 years in the Senate chamber is more than triple that of the next most experienced senator to reach the White House — <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/04/24/lesson-lyndon-johnson-joe-biden-progressives-bernie-sanders-column/2999880001/">Lyndon B. Johnson</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379774/original/file-20210120-13-v5tkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Joe Biden speaks in 1972." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379774/original/file-20210120-13-v5tkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379774/original/file-20210120-13-v5tkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379774/original/file-20210120-13-v5tkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379774/original/file-20210120-13-v5tkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379774/original/file-20210120-13-v5tkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379774/original/file-20210120-13-v5tkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379774/original/file-20210120-13-v5tkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Joe Biden, seen here as the newly elected Democratic senator from Delaware, speaks in Washington in December 1972.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Henry Griffin)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Congress makes laws, is the voice of voters and of the 50 states in Washington. As Trump learned, it has the authority to investigate the executive branch, so a combative relationship with legislators is dangerous and ultimately brings no benefits. </p>
<p>Although the Democrats have a majority in both houses at the moment, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/17/joe-manchin-democrat-split-senate-leverage">the Senate majority is razor-slim</a>. With weak party discipline, Biden will need to spend time courting individual senators to gain their support for his administration’s policies and priorities. At the same time, he must prepare for the possibility that mid-term elections in 2022 might <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/12/joe-biden-plan-midterms-shellacking-458316">restore a Republican majority in the Senate.</a></p>
<h2>Foreign policy</h2>
<p>An awareness that the United States — as the dominant global superpower — has special responsibilities in shaping the world order will guide foreign policy. Biden isn’t likely to diverge from the foreign policy objectives that have explicitly or implicitly driven the country’s politicians since 1776. </p>
<p>At the end of the day, heads of government — whether in Washington, Beijing or Berlin — must protect and advance the interests of their nations and voters. But there will be a more nuanced application of this objective in the White House. The national self-interest will not be as naked under Biden it was with Trump. </p>
<p>The Paris climate accord is an example of a largely symbolic agreement that gains legitimacy when the U.S. participates. Nothing is lost by the U.S. by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/19/biden-environment-paris-climate-agreement-keystone-xl-pipeline">rejoining the accord as indeed Biden has done on his first day in office</a>. </p>
<p>The Biden administration is expected <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/15/joe-biden-foreign-policy-relationships-united-states/">to pay more attention to American allies</a> and those it seeks to influence, including Canada. Tough negotiations on trade, troop levels in countries like South Korea and in the Middle East, as well as the role of China, will be part of Biden’s daily briefings. </p>
<p>But the president isn’t likely to publicly comment on, or tweet, the details. Symbolic trips like <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/05/27/479691439/president-obama-arrives-in-hiroshima-the-first-sitting-commander-in-chief-to-vis">Barack Obama’s visit to Hiroshima</a> in Japan may find their way into the president’s itinerary as means to extend goodwill and solidify alliances. </p>
<p>A normal presidency with clear objectives and strategies seems easy in the exhilarating first weeks of a new administration. Then, invariably, the unforeseen occurs, events escalate uncontrollably and crises ensue. Only then will the character of Biden and his presidency be fully revealed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153441/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Klassen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>After four tumultuous years under Donald Trump, Joe Biden becomes president and pledges to advocate for unity and healing.Thomas Klassen, Professor, School of Public Policy and Administration, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1502432021-01-20T15:38:38Z2021-01-20T15:38:38ZPost-inauguration, restoring the soul of Biden’s America must be truly inclusive<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379801/original/file-20210120-19-16m3hhy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C566%2C3156%2C2576&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Joe Biden has cast his campaign to "restore the soul of America" as an antidote to the turmoil of the Trump presidency.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Scott Applewhite</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past few months, I’ve been editing a book about soulful beliefs, practices and feelings that overflow from their religious and spiritual origins into secular and profane spaces. I’ve also been wondering what Joe Biden means when he talks about <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/95268089-1178-4bbe-b41f-ce3e3d5dac8a">restoring the soul of America</a>. </p>
<p>In a country fatigued by COVID-19, Zoom calls and a president who thought he was entitled to grab the bodies and attention of his fellow Americans, it appears that Biden wants to offer us some solace. A politics of kindness that permits intentional listening and introspection. Or at least a news cycle that is less taxing, chaotic and demanding. </p>
<p>Such discussions of the American soul are often interpreted through the prism of Biden’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/01/11/catholic-grief-joe-biden/">Catholicism</a> and Irish ancestry. On occasion, they are also read as a sign that we will be returning to the tone and texture of the Barack Obama years and the calm authority of “<a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95054388">no-drama Obama</a>.” Yet they are rarely connected to what the African American intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois called the “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/292303/the-souls-of-black-folk-by-w-e-b-du-bois-introduction-by-ibram-x-kendi-notes-by-monica-e-elbert/">souls of Black folk</a>.”</p>
<p>It remains difficult for Americans who live in a racially segregated country to consider how African American social and political thought might have informed the thinking of an “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/17/us/politics/joe-biden-college-1960s.html">average Irish guy</a>” about soul.</p>
<h2>Communicating with a post-soul generation</h2>
<p>Even though Biden was a moderate Irish American who was psychically distant from the activist fervour of the 1960s, he participated in an American culture transfixed by Martin Luther King Jr.’s soulful call for people to be judged on the content of their character rather than the colour of their skin. </p>
<p>He also lived through a period in which Black artists in music, performance, dance, fashion, food, film, literature and visual culture advanced a thrilling vision of soul power.</p>
<p>Obama and Kamala Harris are too young to have participated in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and are, in age or temperament, part of a “<a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780190221911/obo-9780190221911-0012.xml">post-soul generation</a>.” Yet, because of their skin colour and Biden’s ability to work with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/19/us/politics/biden-segregationists.html">segregationist senators in the 1970s and ‘80s</a>, the American media remains more likely to associate them with the soulful, redemptive humanism of the 1960s than Biden.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379799/original/file-20210120-13-10b0y6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Kamala Harris raises her right hand while being sworn in as Vice President." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379799/original/file-20210120-13-10b0y6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379799/original/file-20210120-13-10b0y6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379799/original/file-20210120-13-10b0y6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379799/original/file-20210120-13-10b0y6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379799/original/file-20210120-13-10b0y6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379799/original/file-20210120-13-10b0y6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379799/original/file-20210120-13-10b0y6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kamala Harris is sworn in as U.S. Vice President.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The outcry over one of Biden’s gaffes during the 2008 presidential campaign is one revealing example of what Obama might call the “<a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88478467">chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races</a>.” After describing Obama as “<a href="http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1895156_1894977_1644536,00.html">the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy</a>,” Biden was thought to have perpetuated antiquated stereotypes about African American intelligence and cleanliness. Or, at the very least, was portrayed as a political dinosaur surprised by the existence of an African American candidate who appeared articulate, bright and clean to mainstream America. </p>
<h2>'People like us’</h2>
<p>While Biden was criticized for his ham-fisted attempts to make it clear that he did not think “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/20/nyregion/the-science-behind-they-all-look-alike-to-me.html">all Blacks look alike</a>,” a younger generation of post-soul politicians were praised for strategically using the phrase “people who look like me.” </p>
<p>After George Zimmerman deemed Trayvon Martin a suspicious young man wearing a hoodie <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/06/05/us/trayvon-martin-shooting-fast-facts/index.html">and fatally shot him</a> in 2012, Obama didn’t point out that Martin was vulnerable to such violence because of racialized ways of seeing and stereotypes about young Black men wearing hoodies. Instead, he chose to acknowledge the power of family metaphors in American popular culture and noted that, if he had a son, he would “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/03/quote-of-the-day-obama-if-i-had-a-son-hed-look-like-trayvon/254971/">look like</a>” Trayvon Martin. </p>
<p>When Harris became Vice-President-elect, we were similarly bombarded with articles about how she sent a message of hope to young women of colour who “<a href="https://www.ktvu.com/news/that-looks-like-me-mixed-race-girl-notes-while-looking-at-video-of-kamala-harris">looked like</a>” her. Harris is also featured on the front cover of <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Leadership-Looks-Like-Me-Affirmations/dp/B08KBQS9D6"><em>Leadership Looks Like Me</em></a>, a colouring book containing affirmations meant to inspire children and adults alike.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379573/original/file-20210119-13-15ac58n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A mural depicts Martin Luther King on the left and Kamala Haris on the right." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379573/original/file-20210119-13-15ac58n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379573/original/file-20210119-13-15ac58n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379573/original/file-20210119-13-15ac58n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379573/original/file-20210119-13-15ac58n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379573/original/file-20210119-13-15ac58n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379573/original/file-20210119-13-15ac58n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379573/original/file-20210119-13-15ac58n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A mural depicting Kamala Harris and Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington, D.C. Getting individual people of colour into powerful positions should be a means to tackle structural inequalities, not a goal in and of itself.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For my book about the history of soulful resistance, I interviewed African Americans who participated in a civil rights movement or produced work that was deeply inspired by a 1960s protest ethic. Many noted their discomfort with the contemporary discourse of “people who look like me.” </p>
<p>Some associated it with an image-based and superficial culture. Others connected it to profiteers and schemers who appropriate collective struggles for personal or career advancement. All were convinced that getting individual people of colour into powerful positions was a means to tackle structural inequalities, not a goal in and of itself. </p>
<p>They were concerned that a smattering of new faces in slick, official forms of multiculturalism may distract or co-opt campaigns to challenge racial hierarchy and neo-colonialism wherever it may be in the world.</p>
<p>If we are to include the substantive contributions of African Americans in our discussion of an American soul, we cannot presume that this is limited to the mere inclusion of African Americans in a Biden cabinet that “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/24/joe-biden-climate-crisis-cabinet-picks-john-kerry">looks like America</a>.” After all, such visual diversity may divert people away from a Black political identity that is defined by mental attitude and consciousness rather than skin tone.</p>
<p>We may feel too fatigued to question who benefits from the discourse of “people who look like us.” But if we are to deepen and develop our understanding of the American soul, we can’t ignore the seriously soulful campaigns in the 1960s that talked about building solidarity with “people who feel like us” and participate in the struggle for freedom and justice with us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150243/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel McNeil does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Joe Biden has said he wants to create a cabinet that “looks like America.” But getting racialized people into powerful positions should be a means to tackle structural inequalities, not a goal in and of itself.Daniel McNeil, Associate professor of history, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1530622021-01-19T17:07:17Z2021-01-19T17:07:17ZWhy do presidential inaugurations matter?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378435/original/file-20210112-17-dlalnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4920%2C3372&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An important ceremony: the U.S. Capitol during President Donald Trump's 2017 inauguration.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BidenInauguration/c24f606b827343ab87fb216f6d3d9f1b/photo">AP Photo/Patrick Semansky</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As one president’s term ends and another begins, there is a ceremony. Its importance is one of symbolism rather than substance. The Constitution is clear: On Jan. 20, <a href="https://theconversation.com/president-trumps-term-ends-on-jan-20-the-constitution-is-clear-148065">there will be a transfer of power</a>. There is no mention of an inauguration.</p>
<p>By definition, ritual acts have no direct effect on the world. A ceremonial event is one that symbolically affirms something that happens by other, more direct means. In this case, the election – not the inauguration – makes the president, although an oath is required before exercising his power. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, ceremonies matter. Having spent two decades <a href="https://www.sapiens.org/culture/perennial-power-ritual">studying ritual</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=misuSsoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I</a> can attest to that. So can the recent history of inaugurations: In 2009, Barack Obama misplaced one word when reciting the presidential oath of office. As a result, he decided to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jan/23/barack-obama-oath-inauguration">retake the oath</a> the next day. And in 2017, Donald Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/21/us/politics/trump-white-house-briefing-inauguration-crowd-size.html">insisted</a> that his inauguration was attended by a record-setting crowd, even as everyone’s eyes saw otherwise. He saw the size of the attendance as a measure of his legitimacy.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378654/original/file-20210113-13-zbmyxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting of George Washington's first inauguration" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378654/original/file-20210113-13-zbmyxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378654/original/file-20210113-13-zbmyxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378654/original/file-20210113-13-zbmyxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378654/original/file-20210113-13-zbmyxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378654/original/file-20210113-13-zbmyxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378654/original/file-20210113-13-zbmyxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378654/original/file-20210113-13-zbmyxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first inauguration of a president of the United States, George Washington, happened in New York City on April 30, 1789.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Washington%27s_Inauguration.jpg">Ramon de Elorriaga, via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ritual efficacy</h2>
<p>Throughout history, all human societies have used rituals to mark major events and transitions: personal landmarks like birthdays and weddings, group accomplishments such as graduations, and government transitions of power. Those ceremonies send signals that command our attention and strengthen the perceived importance of those moments.</p>
<p>Ritual actions involve formality, precision and repetition. A priest must wear a special garment; a prayer must be uttered word for word; and a mantra might be recited 108 times. These features make rituals appear similar to more goal-directed actions: A judge banging a gavel resembles a carpenter hammering a nail. Due to these similarities, our brains assign those acts actual power.</p>
<p>This is what my collaborators and I found in a soon-to-be-published study. We showed people videos of basketball players shooting free throws and asked them to predict the outcome of each shot. Half of those videos showed the players performing a brief ritual, such as kissing the ball or touching their shoes before shooting. The other half did not include any ritual. </p>
<p>Participants predicted that the ritualized shots would be more successful. They were not. But their minds unconsciously tied the arbitrary actions preceding those shots with their expectations for the outcome.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378659/original/file-20210113-21-h2qcdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="President Ronald Reagan is sworn in, Jan. 20, 1981." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378659/original/file-20210113-21-h2qcdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378659/original/file-20210113-21-h2qcdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378659/original/file-20210113-21-h2qcdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378659/original/file-20210113-21-h2qcdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378659/original/file-20210113-21-h2qcdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378659/original/file-20210113-21-h2qcdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378659/original/file-20210113-21-h2qcdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Ronald Reagan is sworn in, Jan. 20, 1981.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75854999">U.S. National Archives</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Special moments</h2>
<p>Collective rituals carry the weight of tradition, which gives them an aura of historical continuity and legitimacy. Even though they do change from time to time, they are often perceived as unchanged and unchangeable. </p>
<p>For instance, Thanksgiving celebrations have been modified several times, <a href="https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/thanksgiving">often by presidential decree</a>. Yet, a recent study reported that people found the mere suggestion of altering holiday traditions <a href="https://behavioralscientist.org/understanding-the-outrage-over-altering-holiday-celebrations-despite-covid-19/">morally offensive</a>. Rituals “represent group values and hence seem sacred.”</p>
<p>Public ceremonies like inaugurations are wrapped in pageantry. They involve music, banners, speeches and more – the more important the moment, the more extravagant the ceremony. When we attend a ritual loaded with splendor, it is as if a little voice inside our brain is telling us: “Pay attention, because something important and meaningful is happening.”</p>
<p>The only provision in the Constitution is that the new president must be sworn in. Thirty-five words is all that is required: “<a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript#toc-section-1--2">I do solemnly swear</a> (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”</p>
<p>When Jan. 20 falls on a Sunday, the inauguration is held on the following day. In that case, <a href="https://www.aoc.gov/what-we-do/programs-ceremonies/inauguration">the oath is administered twice</a>: privately on the Sunday, when the actual transfer of power takes place, and publicly again on Monday, for ceremonial reasons.</p>
<p>The exuberance and theatricality transforms what could be a mundane, ordinary moment into something memorable and noteworthy. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378662/original/file-20210113-15-1huxl2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The Capitol during Bill Clinton's inauguration" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378662/original/file-20210113-15-1huxl2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378662/original/file-20210113-15-1huxl2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378662/original/file-20210113-15-1huxl2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378662/original/file-20210113-15-1huxl2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378662/original/file-20210113-15-1huxl2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378662/original/file-20210113-15-1huxl2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378662/original/file-20210113-15-1huxl2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Banners and flags adorn the U.S. Capitol during Bill Clinton’s first inauguration in 1993.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2133026">U.S. National Archives</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Intuitive appeal</h2>
<p>Ceremonies speak directly to some of our basic instincts, triggering intuitions about their efficacy, symbolism and importance. Human institutions have adapted to reflect – and harness – those instincts to strengthen the perceived importance of our social institutions and the unity of civil society. </p>
<p>This is, in fact, why heads of state who are not popularly elected tend to hold more flamboyant public ceremonies than their democratically chosen counterparts. Even in countries where kings and queens are powerless, their enthronements are <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/21/asia/japan-enthronement-emperor-intl-hnk/index.html">celebrated with far more splendor</a> than the inaugurations of elected leaders.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>But there is a flip side to this. Populist leaders, who are successful thanks to their ability to capitalize on people’s instincts, are almost always fond of ritual exuberance. For his inauguration, Donald Trump reportedly requested a military march, complete with <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-military-equipment-inauguration_n_58811f4ae4b096b4a23091f7">tanks, missile launchers and jet fighters</a>. </p>
<p>The Department of Defense <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-military-inaugural-parade/">apparently declined</a> most of these requests, out of worry that the inauguration would look like a totalitarian power display. But many of Trump’s supporters liked the idea precisely for that reason.</p>
<p>When Trump finally managed to get <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/02/politics/trump-military-parade-july-4/">tanks in the streets</a> for a July Fourth parade in 2019, one of his fans wondered: “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-48862971">If Korea can have a military parade, why can’t we?</a>”</p>
<p>Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Joe Biden’s inauguration will be <a href="https://www.axios.com/biden-inauguration-virtual-parade-covid-pandemic-d9c6fba9-ec67-4f2b-8f76-ad19ae4e351c.html">scaled down and mostly virtual</a>. Donald Trump is not planning to attend, thereby missing the opportunity to see a smaller inauguration crowd than his own.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153062/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dimitris Xygalatas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Formal ceremonies and rituals can trigger psychological signals that command people’s attention and strengthen the perceived importance of those moments.Dimitris Xygalatas, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Psychological Sciences, University of ConnecticutLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1501122021-01-13T16:52:56Z2021-01-13T16:52:56ZJoe Biden and Kamala Harris could transform American childhood<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378313/original/file-20210112-23-1wlv14i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C718%2C6000%2C3269&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children wave American flags before an event with President-elect Joe Biden in November 2020, in Wilmington, Del. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Inauguration Day approaches in the United States after a bitterly divisive election and the unprecedented events surrounding <a href="https://theconversation.com/pro-trump-rioters-storm-u-s-capitol-as-his-election-tantrum-leads-to-violence-149142">the confirmation of Joe Biden’s electoral college victory</a>. The world is waiting to see what changes a Joe Biden/Kamala Harris administration might bring to the beleaguered nation. </p>
<p>Many believe that the president-elect bears the responsibility for the <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-coup-election-michigan/">future of American democracy</a>, while others assert that what’s at stake is the fate of the nation’s <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-biden-administration-must-double-down-on-science/">scientific capacity</a> to respond both to the pandemic and to the climate crisis. </p>
<p>As researchers who study childhood, we believe that the new administration could also play an important role in determining the future of another important ideal — the “<a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0003-066X.34.10.815">American child</a>.” What happens over the next four years could have a lasting impact on how childhood is understood and experienced in the United States and beyond.</p>
<h2>Inventing the ‘American child’</h2>
<p>Children were central to political debate throughout the 2020 presidential election. From unfounded fears of a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/27/technology/pizzagate-justin-bieber-qanon-tiktok.html">bogus child-trafficking conspiracy</a> to inspiring messages of <a href="https://www.parents.com/news/kamala-harris-acceptance-speech-was-a-message-of-hope-for-kids-of-all-genders-this-is-a-country-of-possibilities/">possibility and equity</a>, the child was an important campaign tool for winning hearts and minds on both ends of the political spectrum. </p>
<p>As Yale psychologist William Kessen pointed out more than four decades ago, the “<a href="https://quote.ucsd.edu/childhood/files/2013/04/kessen-amerchild.pdf">American child</a>” at the heart of these debates is a cultural invention. What Kessen was pointing out was that childhood is not an undisputed truth, but a malleable and changing social construct. </p>
<p>In the U.S., and in the western world more broadly, one of the most common beliefs about childhood has been that it should be a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0907568218811484">universal time of innocence</a>, or separation from “adult” realities like work, politics and war. This belief became widespread in the late 19th century when concern over the living and working conditions of the poor led to a crusade for child protection. </p>
<p>The preservation of childhood innocence became a guiding factor for laws and policies on child care, education and labour. </p>
<h2>Questioning innocence</h2>
<p>In recent decades, this assumption of innocence has increasingly been recognized as a myth. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-isnt-the-end-of-childhood-innocence-but-an-opportunity-to-rethink-childrens-rights-134478">Coronavirus isn't the end of 'childhood innocence,' but an opportunity to rethink children's rights</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Particularly in 2020, given the twin crises of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-protests-coronavirus.html">COVID-19 pandemic and police violence</a> in the U.S., it’s clear that few people, including children, escape adversity. Yet innocence is a persistent fantasy that has real consequences. </p>
<p>As the articles featured in the newest issue of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rcui20/50/4?nav=tocList"><em>Curriculum Inquiry</em></a> illustrate, the myth of childhood innocence is continually employed as a political tool that diminishes difficult lived experiences, limits historical understanding and shapes social interactions. In other words, advocating for the protection of innocence does not actually protect children. </p>
<p>As we observe in the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03626784.2020.1851521">issue’s editorial</a>, when childhood innocence is held up as an unquestioned ideal, its politics — the colonial and racist beliefs and practices on which it is founded — are erased.</p>
<p>More specifically, campaigning for the protection childhood innocence can be understood as an act of <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/preserving-my-childrens-innocence-is-an-act-of-preserving_b_57d2d8f4e4b0273330ac3dae">preserving white supremacy</a>, as seen numerous times in outgoing President Donald Trump’s political rhetoric. </p>
<h2>Strict immigration policies</h2>
<p>In 2016, Trump <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/donald-trump-immigration-address-transcript-227614">campaigned on strict immigration policies</a>, in part, he claimed, as a response to the loss of innocent lives due to insecure borders. He described the need to control future immigration as an obligation to the American children of newcomers “to ensure assimilation, integration and upward mobility.” </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yxD5QkzmVOA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">At the 51-minute mark, Trump talks about the obligation to American-born children. Via CNN.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Once elected, Trump made it clear which children he believed were entitled to innocence and protection with the enactment of his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/04/trump-administration-family-separation-immigrants-joe-biden">family separation policy</a> that tragically split <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/more-5-400-children-split-border-according-new-count-n1071791">more than 5,400 children</a> from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. </p>
<p>Trump’s supposed efforts to protect innocent children have actually undermined children’s safety and well-being. His exclusionary actions, including <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/31/us/politics/trump-travel-ban.html">Muslim and African travel bans</a>, his repeated attempts to repeal the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2020/06/18/all-the-times-trump-promised-to-repeal-daca/?sh=66d6f26d679a">Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA)</a> and his frequent refusals to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/09/30/918483794/from-debate-stage-trump-declines-to-denounce-white-supremacy">denounce white supremacy</a> have <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/donald-trump-asks-children-to-build-the-wall-on-halloween">normalized cruelty and incited fear</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Guatemalan mother cries at a news conference." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378187/original/file-20210112-13-5fr021.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378187/original/file-20210112-13-5fr021.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378187/original/file-20210112-13-5fr021.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378187/original/file-20210112-13-5fr021.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378187/original/file-20210112-13-5fr021.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378187/original/file-20210112-13-5fr021.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378187/original/file-20210112-13-5fr021.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A mother from Guatemala who was separated from her two children after entering the U.S. in May 2018 weeps while speaking at a news conference in Boston in September 2018. She was among plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Trump’s administration for separated kids from their parents at the border.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Steven Senne)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Not only have Trump’s attacks on racialized people left marginalized children afraid for themselves and their families, they have also made racial hostility and violence more acceptable. </p>
<p>As former first lady Michelle Obama pointed out in a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/14/michelle-obama-speech-transcript-donald-trump">high-profile speech</a> in 2016 in support of Hillary Clinton, electing Trump would mean telling “kids that bigotry and bullying are perfectly acceptable in the leader of their country.” While <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/06/1065572">racism and violence</a> have a long history in the U.S., Trump’s tenure may mark the first time that young American children have regarded <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/early-childhood/news/2017/01/27/297352/when-president-trump-speaks-our-children-are-listening/">their president as someone to fear</a>.</p>
<h2>Choosing justice over innocence</h2>
<p>Although the impact of the Trump presidency will not be easily overcome, a Biden-Harris administration offers hope for the nation’s children. Biden has vowed to “<a href="https://joebiden.com/immigration/">reverse the Trump administration’s cruel and senseless policies that separate parents from their children at our border</a>” and to reinstate the DACA program. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Joe Biden speaks from a stage with Kamala Harris on video screen behind him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378182/original/file-20210112-19-wgzv8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378182/original/file-20210112-19-wgzv8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378182/original/file-20210112-19-wgzv8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378182/original/file-20210112-19-wgzv8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378182/original/file-20210112-19-wgzv8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378182/original/file-20210112-19-wgzv8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378182/original/file-20210112-19-wgzv8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Biden speaks as Harris looks on via video during a news conference in Wilmington, Del., in December 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Kevin Lamarque/Pool via AP)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He’s also committed to <a href="https://joebiden.com/racial-economic-equity/">advancing racial equity</a> by addressing racial disparities in health care, policing and education. </p>
<p>These efforts will go a long way toward assuring all children in the U.S. that they are valued members of society who deserve to have their <a href="https://theconversation.com/world-childrens-day-young-people-deserve-to-be-heard-during-covid-19-149904">rights supported and protected</a>. </p>
<p>However, we believe that there’s more Biden and Harris can do to transform childhood for the better. Instead of relying on the rhetoric of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03626784.2020.1851521">childhood innocence</a>, we hope that the new administration focuses on justice. This requires asking questions that address children’s basic <a href="https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention/what-are-human-rights">human rights</a>, which include the right to be healthy, safe and free from discrimination.</p>
<p>As cultural historian <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/26/opinion/black-kids-discrimination.html">Robin Bernstein</a> explains: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“All children deserve equal protection under the law not because they’re innocent, but because they’re people.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Addressing racial and economic disparities in education, health care and criminal justice is a step toward expanding equal protection for all children, but true reform requires that politicians look to children themselves to inform the policies that govern their lives.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Children, one wearing red eyeglasses, wave U.S. flags." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378184/original/file-20210112-15-1ri7liv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3099%2C2064&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378184/original/file-20210112-15-1ri7liv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378184/original/file-20210112-15-1ri7liv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378184/original/file-20210112-15-1ri7liv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378184/original/file-20210112-15-1ri7liv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378184/original/file-20210112-15-1ri7liv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378184/original/file-20210112-15-1ri7liv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children join their parents watching Joe Biden speak during a campaign rally in March 2020, in Kansas City, Mo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Harris’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/07/kamala-harris-victory-speech-transcript/">victory speech</a>, in which she spoke directly to kids, suggests a willingness to take seriously children’s rights and to address the doubts and fears that a Trump administration fuelled.</p>
<p>In her address, Harris invited children not simply to dream of what they can do in the future, but to be leaders and agents of change in this moment. Inviting young people into the political process in this way can undermine the political power of childhood innocence by recognizing children as knowing, experienced and capable human beings and valued members of society in their own right.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150112/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie C. Garlen has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil Ramjewan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What happens over the next four years in Joe Biden/Kamala Harris administration could have a lasting impact on how childhood is understood and experienced in the United States and beyond.Julie C. Garlen, Associate Professor, Childhood and Youth Studies, Carleton UniversityNeil Ramjewan, PhD candidate, Pedagogy, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1482362020-12-08T17:15:26Z2020-12-08T17:15:26ZCan Joe Biden win the transition?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373416/original/file-20201207-17-r9aoj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C4648%2C3218&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President-elect Joe Biden introduces his foreign policy and national security team on Nov. 24 in Wilmington, Del. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-elect-joe-biden-introduces-key-foreign-policy-and-news-photo/1287464372?adppopup=true">Mark Makela/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/07/us/politics/biden-election.html">Joe Biden won the election</a>, but whether he wins the transition is another question. The <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/why-presidential-transition-process-matters">peaceful transfer of power always tests</a> an incoming president, but this time promises to be particularly perilous.</p>
<p>The coronavirus pandemic is accelerating, <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/11/jobless-claims-rise-again-as-virus-surges.html">taking lives and jobs as it spreads</a>. The incumbent, President <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/11/23/nation/ap-source-us-agency-allows-formal-biden-transition-begin/">Donald Trump, has only reluctantly agreed</a> to the transition and knows how to dominate the national conversation. He seems determined to deny his successor’s legitimacy and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/trump-considers-2024-campaign-kick-inauguration-day-n1249595">appears to be planning a 2024 campaign rally</a> on Inauguration Day. </p>
<p>In the transition time remaining, I believe Biden needs to establish two kinds of legitimacy. He should show the nation that he possesses the competence to plan an administration, in order to create substantive legitimacy. And he should perform important ceremonial rituals, in order to establish symbolic legitimacy.</p>
<p><a href="https://communication.illinois.edu/directory/profile/jmmurphy">As a scholar of the presidency</a>, I’ve written about John Kennedy’s transition, which culminated in his <a href="https://msupress.org/9781628953480/john-f-kennedy-and-the-liberal-persuasion/">superb inaugural address</a>. Biden seems unlikely to match that rhetorical achievement, but he is off to a solid start.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373415/original/file-20201207-17-1pyifue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="President Donald Trump speaks behind a podium." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373415/original/file-20201207-17-1pyifue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373415/original/file-20201207-17-1pyifue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373415/original/file-20201207-17-1pyifue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373415/original/file-20201207-17-1pyifue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373415/original/file-20201207-17-1pyifue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373415/original/file-20201207-17-1pyifue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373415/original/file-20201207-17-1pyifue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Donald Trump speaks during a rally to support Republican Senate candidates in Valdosta, Ga. on Dec. 5, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-donald-trump-speaks-during-a-rally-to-support-news-photo/1229968797?adppopup=true">Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>This one’s different</h2>
<p>The president-elect has sought to craft his substantive legitimacy through comparison and contrast. One of these presidents, Biden suggests, is not like the other. </p>
<p>This is not an unusual strategy. Democratic political consultant <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/25/opinion/campaign-stops/the-obama-theory-of-trump.html">David Axelrod</a> long ago coined the opposites theory of presidential elections, noting, “Voters rarely seek the replica of what they have.” President-elect Biden appears to assume that he won at least in part because voters rejected Donald Trump, and so he has reinforced the difference between the two during the early transition.</p>
<p>When the election hung in the balance, the former vice president waited for the results with the rest of us. Unlike Trump, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joe-biden-speaks-election-night-live-stream-2020-11-04/">Biden refused to declare victory, noting</a> only that “We feel good about where we are.” His humility contrasted to Trump’s behavior throughout his term.</p>
<p>When the result became clear, Biden not only promoted national unity in his <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/read-full-text-joe-bidens-speech-historic-election/story?id=74084462">Nov. 7 speech</a>, he also shared the stage with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. That was a perk denied Biden on election night in 2008 and an indication that he planned to govern not as a rogue individual but as part of a team. </p>
<p>His first staff and cabinet choices have reinforced the teamwork theme. “Competence is making a comeback,” the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-cabinet-picks-experience-kerry-9438f090cdd7c5cc67aaa967e6224768">Associated Press declared</a> in its analysis of Biden’s national security selections. The president-elect quietly made his decisions, with no public auditions or press leaks. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT1qeCWRHPk">introduced them as a team in a sober setting</a>. Each gave remarks emphasizing their commitments to morality and honesty.</p>
<p>For example, his nominee for Secretary of State, <a href="https://www.axios.com/tony-blinken-biden-holocaust-e8cb99e2-58a5-437a-98f8-e544d73f827b.html">Anthony Blinken, movingly told</a> the Holocaust survival story of his stepfather, announcing a moral mission for the United States in the world. <a href="https://www.axios.com/tony-blinken-biden-holocaust-e8cb99e2-58a5-437a-98f8-e544d73f827b.html">Avril Haines</a>, nominated for Director of National Intelligence, said she would speak truth to power, “knowing that you would never want me to do otherwise and that you value the perspective of the intelligence community, and that you will do so even when what I have to say may be inconvenient or difficult.”</p>
<p>Joe Biden is clearly determined to dissociate his administration from the previous one, which was characterized by <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/01e7b9a6-a665-11ea-92e2-cbd9b7e28ee6">neither moral commitment</a> nor <a href="https://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/">faith in truth</a>. He is crafting his substantive legitimacy by demonstrating his belief in teamwork, morality, competence and experience. His administration, he claims with these choices, is ready to lead.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373423/original/file-20201207-13-yuroa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Biden and Harris appearing at an announcement event" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373423/original/file-20201207-13-yuroa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373423/original/file-20201207-13-yuroa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373423/original/file-20201207-13-yuroa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373423/original/file-20201207-13-yuroa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373423/original/file-20201207-13-yuroa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373423/original/file-20201207-13-yuroa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373423/original/file-20201207-13-yuroa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Biden, left, and Harris, right, appear jointly at many events.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-elect-joe-biden-arrives-with-vice-president-elect-news-photo/1229892322?adppopup=true">Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Symbolic legitimacy</h2>
<p>Biden is among the most experienced candidates elected to the presidency. Yet assuming the office will be difficult, even for him. He has been a senator and vice president, but he has not been in charge. </p>
<p>To become the president requires ritual.</p>
<p>A president is both the legislative leader and the head of state, the equivalent of a British prime minister and the queen in one. The trappings of the office make the office. Americans need to see Biden invested with the presidency, much as a Prince of Wales becomes the king by assuming the robes and powers of his office in a ceremony. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.aoc.gov/what-we-do/programs-ceremonies/inauguration">inaugural ceremony on Jan. 20</a> is a ritual of transition that transforms “Joe” into a head of state, into Mr. President. The inaugural address gives him the opportunity to demonstrate his presidential capacity, to unite partisans as one people, and display himself as their leader. </p>
<p>[<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=experts">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get expert takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em>]</p>
<p>The Founders understood the human need for political ceremony at times of transition. <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/297691/washington-by-ron-chernow/">George Washington learned</a> of his first election to the presidency on April 14, 1789 and soon <a href="https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/the-first-president/inauguration/">left his Mount Vernon estate in Virginia</a> for the then-capital of New York City.</p>
<p>Washington’s journey turned into a grand celebration of the new nation. <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3c00505/">In Trenton, New Jersey, for example</a>, 13 young women, dressed in white, walked before him, strewing flowers from baskets as he rode underneath a magnificent floral arch. Washington was no longer a gentleman farmer nor even a general. He was about to become the president and these sorts of rituals marked the way.</p>
<p>Biden is unlikely to undertake such a journey from Wilmington to Washington, <a href="https://www.axios.com/joe-biden-inauguration-day-amtrak-60f59228-68ca-4a59-bced-45635898229f.html">although Axios has reported</a> that Biden could ditch the recent inaugural tradition, “the typical flourish of arriving in Washington on an Air Force plane, pulling in instead on the same Amtrak train he rode to and from Delaware for 30 years as a senator.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373424/original/file-20201207-17-1vb7nut.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A lithograph showing George Washington being greeted by 'ladies' in Trenton." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373424/original/file-20201207-17-1vb7nut.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373424/original/file-20201207-17-1vb7nut.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=863&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373424/original/file-20201207-17-1vb7nut.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=863&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373424/original/file-20201207-17-1vb7nut.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=863&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373424/original/file-20201207-17-1vb7nut.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1084&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373424/original/file-20201207-17-1vb7nut.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1084&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373424/original/file-20201207-17-1vb7nut.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1084&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A lithograph of Washington’s reception by ladies, on passing the bridge at Trenton, N.J., April 1789, on his way to New York to be inaugurated first president of the United States.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/washingtons-reception-ladies-6080">Nathaniel Currier/Smithsonian American Art Museum</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If Biden is to establish his symbolic legitimacy as a rightful president of the United States, he will need a ceremony displaying that legitimacy, one that looks and sounds like those of his predecessors. This will be hard in a pandemic, as the campaign showed. He was unable to campaign as a candidate normally would or give his election night speech in front of a roaring crowd, as, for example, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/obama.transcript/">Barack Obama did</a> in Chicago’s Grant Park in 2008.</p>
<p>Now, it seems unlikely that he will be able to take the oath in a large ceremony or enjoy many of the traditional trappings of a presidential inauguration. Biden has said his inauguration could “<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bidens-inauguration-affected-covid-19-trumps-absence/story?id=74561254">resemble the Democratic National Convention</a>.” </p>
<p>Although the 2020 convention was successful, it didn’t look like the traditional inaugural ceremonies. As a model, it would deprive the nation of many of its comforting rituals. It would substitute a small, televised ceremony at the Capitol and virtual activities from around the nation.</p>
<p>The president-elect and his advisers will have to find ways to make these new traditions authorize his presidency as well as the old ones. I do not envy them this task.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148236/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John M. Murphy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In order to establish his legitimacy, President-elect Joe Biden has to accomplish several big tasks.John M. Murphy, Professor of Communication, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1022142018-08-28T08:49:08Z2018-08-28T08:49:08ZZimbabwe: a future finely balanced between democracy and militarisation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233680/original/file-20180827-75972-16eekkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Emmerson Mnangagwa being sworn-in as the second president of Zimbabwe.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA-EFE/Aaron Ufumeli</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo4V9qjvQ04">inauguration</a> as Zimbabwe’s second president and commander-in-chief consummated power for the main beneficiary of the <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/20/africa/zimbabwe-military-takeover-strangest-coup/index.html">November 2017 coup</a> that forced Robert Mugabe’s long delayed retirement.</p>
<p>Zimbabwean scholar and activist Brian Raftopoulos’ remarks during a public meeting at the University of Cape Town five years ago come to mind. As all were wondering what would happen in the weeks before the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10220461.2018.1474379">much-marred</a> <a href="https://www.up.ac.za/media/shared/85/Strategic%20Review/Vol%2036(1)/05-moore_pp47-71.zp39515.pdf">2013 Zimbabwean election</a>, <a href="http://www.africanbookscollective.com/authors-editors/brian-raftopoulos">Raftopoulos</a> <a href="http://africanarguments.org/2013/06/18/11-theses-with-appropriate-apologies-on-zimbabwes-moment-of-magical-realism-waiting-for-elections-in-2013-by-david-moore/">argued that</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Zimbabwe’s military-economic élite – a new capitalist class at an early stage – will not be removed just with elections.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Mnangagwa’s next five years may see this prediction reach its endpoint. His
billboards said he would deliver the new country Zimbabweans want: the promise remains poised on tenterhooks. <a href="https://transformationjournal.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/T84_Part7.pdf">The classic dynamic</a> in politics everywhere – the interplay between militarisation and democratisation – looms large. </p>
<p>Raftopoulos’ proviso that a “partnership to prevent militaristic moves” was necessary in 2013 may be more apposite (and trickier) now than ever. The prospects for the next elections in 2023 (barring constitutional changes – possible because Zanu-PF MPs make up more than the two-thirds in Parliament needed to change that hard-won <a href="http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/democrats/">document</a>) could take stark contours. </p>
<p>The contest is, and will be, far beyond a battle of two parties and their main protagonists. It will be between increasing democratic participation – starting with the classic precepts of free and fair elections – or a securitisation process <a href="https://www.theindependent.co.zw/2016/04/08/securocrat-state-zim-transition/">much less stealthy</a> than before.</p>
<p>This is the most important point to consider about Zimbabwe’s <a href="http://sites.clas.ufl.edu/africa-asq/files/Moore-Vol-7-Issues-23.pdf">medium-term prospects</a>. The others are moves within Zanu-PF itself, dynamics within the MDC-Alliance and what happens to the economy.</p>
<h2>MDC-Alliance</h2>
<p>After the Constitutional Court’s ruling confirming Mnangagwa as the “duly” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/zimbabwe-court-to-rule-on-oppositions-election-challenge/2018/08/24/e51d7fdc-a778-11e8-ad6f-080770dcddc2_story.html?utm_term=.aad1db3b10a7">elected president</a>, MDC-Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FAS5WOdZIw">suggested</a> that he and Mnangagwa needed a serious discussion that would lead to the breaking of Zimbabwe’s legacy of violent and jimmied elections. </p>
<p>It’s still an open question whether such a discussion would lead to a coalition government, or the space for the faction-ridden MDC-Alliance to flex the muscles of a loyal opposition and to rebuild. Its bad experience during the <a href="http://weaverpresszimbabwe.com/index.php/store/history-and-%20politics/the-hard-road-to-reform-detail">2009-2013 “government of national unity”</a> might militate against a repeat. But the wider need to cushion the new régime from militarisation is worth considering. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233681/original/file-20180827-75990-19ciyf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233681/original/file-20180827-75990-19ciyf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=951&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233681/original/file-20180827-75990-19ciyf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=951&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233681/original/file-20180827-75990-19ciyf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=951&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233681/original/file-20180827-75990-19ciyf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1194&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233681/original/file-20180827-75990-19ciyf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1194&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233681/original/file-20180827-75990-19ciyf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1194&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Zimbabwean opposition leader Nelson Chamisa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA-EFE/Yeshiel Panchia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The cautionary note to the MDC-Alliance about any such new dispensation might be: don’t neglect your badly fractured party and its allies needing to be in the fold; and don’t sideline your <a href="https://www.dailynews.co.zw/articles/2018/07/21/chamisa-khupe-in-fresh-war-of-words">enemies within precipitously</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, many among the MDC-Alliance and its supporters fear the Zanu-PF machine is poised to wipe them out permanently.</p>
<h2>Zanu-PF</h2>
<p>Much related to the above and perhaps the key, is Zanu-PF itself. The battle between Mnangagwa and Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/zimbabweNews/idAFL5N1V520O">could be overdrawn</a>, but the <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-zimbabwes-messy-election-get-messier-or-will-a-new-path-be-taken-101196">tragic killings of August 1</a> have thrown it into stark relief. </p>
<p>Can no one in power know who shot the demonstrators and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-07/zimbabwe-army-chief-is-said-to-demand-who-ordered-crackdown">innocent bystanders?</a> Could Chiwenga really say that news of the shootings was <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-07/zimbabwe-army-chief-is-said-to-demand-who-ordered-crackdown">“fake”</a> and aver the MDC-Alliance deployed cadres to do the shooting to <a href="https://www.theindependent.co.zw/2018/08/17/zims-cold-blooded-killings-great-leap-to-global-isolation/">discredit Zanu-PF</a>? </p>
<p>In any case, a military unit came in, because - so says “the state” - the police <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-zimbabwe-election-police/zimbabwe-police-requested-army-help-to-quell-post-election-protests-spokeswoman-idUSKBN1KM5L3">could not contain the violence</a>. On site observers, however, attest that the police and the demonstrators were enjoying a friendly encounter, including selfies and dancing. Then the soldiers arrived. </p>
<p>The journalists who were there say the men with guns were the Presidential Guard, under Chiwenga’s control: after they arrived and started killing, the violence and car burning ensued.<br>
One analysis says this tragedy has exposed Zimbabwe’s <a href="http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52861&catid=74&Itemid=30">parallel states</a>. Furthermore, the senior soldiers have just had their <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/zim-vp-chiwenga-extends-soldiers-retirement-age-report-20180811">retirements deferred</a>. Perhaps Mnangagwa’s inaugural Freudian slip – when he failed to acknowledge his vice- presidents – revealed his inner desire to be rid of Chiwenga. </p>
<p>One can only hope that the promised <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2018/08/26/watch-live-emmerson-mnangagwa-sworn-in-gives-inaugural-address">commission of inquiry</a> will unearth what happened, and deal with it summarily. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.thepatriot.co.zw/top-news/unmasking-csu/">The Patriot</a>, one of the fractured ruling party’s media mouthpieces, reveals some party propagandists’ thinking about democracy and human rights. ‘Unmasking CSU’ (Counselling Services Unit, a long-serving source of succour for wounded democracy activists, as well as an advocacy NGO) paints the CSU and other human rights organisations writing “fake reports” to fan “tribalism and violence to achieve regime change”. Only words? If they turn into bullets Zimbabwe will have stepped down the ladder a long, long way.</p>
<h2>The economy</h2>
<p>Ticking like a time bomb is the ruined economy. No real <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00083968.2017.1411285">money</a> and a gargantuan number of unemployed embedded in the precarious “informal sector”, if they’re not eking out a penurious peasant’s existence. Their situation is so miserable that they are easily bribed – with flour and <a href="https://www.irinnews.org/analysis/2017/12/22/bumper-zimbabwe-harvest-prompts-bigger-bet-command-agriculture">subsidised prices for their maize</a> backed by <a href="http://www.customcontested.co.za/chiefs-and-zanu-pf/.">intimidation from the chiefs</a> – to vote.</p>
<p>Help from elsewhere might not be forthcoming either, or not helpful if it is. The rulers’ faux pas against the demonstrators has worried even its dedicated <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/02/zimbabwe-edge-ahead-election-results-three-opposition-protesters/">supporters in the wider world</a>, imperilling even the demanding strictures of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank re-engagement. The “West” dangled the slightly less rigorous chalice of <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/2018-05-25-how-theres-hope-for-zimbabwe-as-it-starts-tackling-legacy-debt/">Heavily Indebted Poor Country status</a> in front of Mnangagwa’s finance bureaucrats before the elections. Even though Zimbabwe is considered “too rich” for the easier debt-relief packages that comes with the status, broad hints were made. It’s doubtful if those whispers will get louder now. </p>
<p>In any case, as civil society activist Takura Zhangazha <a href="https://www.newsday.co.zw/2018/05/zim-2018-election-trading-democracy-for-neoliberal-foreign-policy/">has written</a>, IMF and World Bank policies are woefully inadequate for Zimbabwe’s problems: it is highly unlikely that its poor majority will be lifted to a decent life under their aegis.</p>
<p>As for private investment: Zimbabwe will again be fair game for <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/18/africa/looting-machine-tom-burgis-africa/index.html">the cowboys</a> - from the east as well as the west these days.</p>
<p>Zimbabwe is in a precarious position. Its immediate future rests under the sword of Damocles. The threads of democracy have to be thickened. One hopes the chronicle of its demise cannot be foretold.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102214/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David B. Moore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Zimbabwe’s new president promised to deliver the country citizens want but the nation remains on edge.David B. Moore, Fellow, Clare Hall, University of Cambridge; Professor of Development Studies, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/717332017-01-23T16:23:00Z2017-01-23T16:23:00ZHow Donald Trump turned the presidency into greatest reality TV show on Earth<p>Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president will go down as one of the great spectacles of our age. While <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-lefts-response-to-trump-and-alt-right-must-be-international-71647">protesters</a> have been venting their anger, his supporters <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/20/donald-trump-supporters-inauguration-interview">have been</a> cheering his victory. Almost half of Americans <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/14/us-election-2016-voter-turnout-fell-to-58-per-cent-this-year-est/">may not have</a> bothered to vote on November 8, but, oh boy, will most of them be watching the show now. </p>
<p>If you are among those trying to make sense of the rise of Donald Trump, you <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268210904_Puppets_of_Necessity_Celebritisation_in_Structured_Reality_Television">have to</a> first understand reality television. The new president’s bewildering journey from The Apprentice to the Oval Office has been made possible by what he learned behind the cameras about the voting public and their relationship with modern televised entertainment. The media widely refers to Trump as a reality TV star. In fact, Trump and his advisers have turned the election and the presidency into the greatest reality TV show on Earth. </p>
<p>The Apprentice is a lesser example of a genre known as “structured reality TV”. Epitomised by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1086761/">Keeping Up With the Kardashians</a>, other classics would include <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0306370/">The Osbournes</a>, <a href="http://www.itv.com/hub/the-only-way-is-essex/1a9310">The Only Way is Essex</a> and <a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/made-in-chelsea">Made in Chelsea</a>. The genre is an intriguing hybrid of dramatisation and real life. </p>
<p>We all know the scenes are scripted or at least “directed” to maximise the drama, but the events are also based to some extent on the stars’ real lives. We buy in to a paradox, since it’s less entertaining if you have to wait for the action to happen, like on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/channel5bbuk">Big Brother</a>, or if stories are completely fictional, like in soap operas. </p>
<p>Trump has used exactly the same style to win power. Millions of people enjoy consuming news of his latest activities, sharing the latest and speculating about what will happen next. It doesn’t matter that we broadly acknowledge that Trump’s rhetoric is often false or unfounded – <a href="https://theconversation.com/donald-trumps-chaotic-use-of-metaphor-is-a-crucial-part-of-his-appeal-61383">as does</a> the man himself <a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/08/05/donald-trump-admits-doesnt-understand-sees-television/">on occasions</a>. He has manufactured a parallel structured reality, real enough to be compelling but fantastical enough to be entertaining. </p>
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<h2>Trump’s best bits</h2>
<p>When we <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268210904_Puppets_of_Necessity_Celebritisation_in_Structured_Reality_Television">looked at</a> what engages people with this kind of structured reality, we identified three key factors that could be applied to <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0267257X.2014.988282">existing academic theories</a>: a competition between different characters, a spectacle that exaggerates or stylises reality; and cultural hallmarks that help us to understand the environment. </p>
<p>This applies equally to Trump: he made the campaign a <a href="http://www.thehungergames.co.uk">Hunger Games</a>-style fight to the death between him and Hillary Clinton, turning on a clash of personalities. He took his political positions to their extremes during public rallies, such as <a href="http://www.reuters.com/video/2017/01/21/mexicans-build-makeshift-wall-around-us?videoId=370967850">proposing</a> a wall with Mexico; and he painted a picture of his America by drawing caricatures in crayon for the electorate, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/05/pence-yes-trump-called-mexicans-rapists-and-criminals-but-you-keep-forgetting-about-the-other-part/?utm_term=.379493e43521">such as</a> calling Mexicans rapists and criminals. </p>
<p>He also shared another important feature of structured reality TV, which is that people’s consumption is not restricted to watching the shows. We intensify the viewing experience by engaging with these people on social media and seeing them discussed in the media outside the limitations of the actual show. </p>
<p>Shows like Big Brother and <a href="http://www.itv.com/xfactor">The X Factor</a> hinge on the audience’s ability to influence participants’ outcomes through voting. Structured reality TV goes one stage further by embedding the sensation of voting in the normal rhythms of viewers’ social activity through mechanisms like social media. Donald Trump gave viewers the best of both: furious Twitter activity and an actual vote at the end, and something no other reality TV show can match – the prospect of influencing real life in a major way. </p>
<p>Trump played a similar trick on viewers as when we see someone like Kim Kardashian on the screen. Kardashian’s apparently stylised, exaggerated and idealistic world is dragged into reality by her seeming accessibility to viewers through social media. This bridges the gap between viewers’ desire to be like her and being able to fulfil that aspiration. Since we know what we’re seeing isn’t real but we persuade ourselves it’s a reality we can aspire to, we’re in on the delusion. </p>
<p>So too with Trump’s run for president – the man who became a billionaire property tycoon and then a household name as host of The Apprentice. This American dream fairytale has been undermined by ambiguity over his <a href="http://time.com/4521851/donald-trumps-wealth/">true wealth</a> and <a href="http://ijr.com/opinion/2015/09/247749-donald-trump-is-a-mediocre-businessman-and-his-record-proves-it/">business success</a>, yet his supporters use it as proof of his eligibility for office all the same. </p>
<p>They also use his inflammatory and divisive rhetoric as an excuse to display extreme views and normalise them. It echoes the way that after The Only Way is Essex appeared on British screens, many people from Essex became “more like” the stereotypical view of people from the county as they aspired to live like the stars of the show. </p>
<h2>There to serve</h2>
<p>The really neat trick from producers of the best structured reality TV is using our audience participation to know which way to steer the “drama” next. Do this and, hey presto, we feel like we are getting exactly what we want. </p>
<p>Trump’s supporters and opponents must have come away with a similar feeling from his “America first” <a href="https://theconversation.com/death-and-rebirth-reading-between-the-lines-of-trumps-inauguration-speech-71667">inauguration speech</a> and the subsequent spat over the number of people who attended the ceremony. Trump’s press secretary Sean Spicer <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2017/01/trumps-press-secretary-just-told-4-whoppers-in-5-minutes-233984">delivering</a> inauguration facts widely seen as false is a beautiful metaphor for people’s fears that Trump will worry more about appearances than getting on with the job – and potentially use it as a smokescreen for policy vacuums. </p>
<p>Trump’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus, meanwhile, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38712182">accused</a> the media of “talking about delegitimising the election” from day one, saying the administration would fight press coverage “tooth and nail every day”. Clearly The Hunger Games analogy continues, with the team now fighting the press. Over the next few weeks, Hillary Clinton is also likely to be replaced by <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/22/theresa-may-donald-trump-hold-talks-trade-deal-cuts-tariffs/">Theresa May</a>, the UK prime minister, and the <a href="http://www.voanews.com/a/trump-to-meet-with-mexican-president-nieto-pena/3687690.html">Mexican</a> and <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/us-president-trump-and-prime-minister-trudeau-plan-to-meet/article33699643/">Canadian</a> premiers as the next round of supporting actors in the Trump show to take to the stage. </p>
<p>Like the Kardashians, don’t be surprised if the Trump family become more prominent, too, or if this show runs for multiple seasons. When it’s worked this well until now, after all, why on earth would Donald Trump change direction?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71733/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Kim Kardashian et al taught Trump everything he knows.Kevin O'Gorman, Professor of Management and Business History, Heriot-Watt UniversityAndrew MacLaren, Lecturer in Marketing. I research team and field dynamics within cultural and business contexts, Heriot-Watt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/716472017-01-20T18:10:41Z2017-01-20T18:10:41ZThe left’s response to Trump and alt-right must be international<p>With Donald Trump’s inauguration as American president, one more event considered by many to be beyond the realm of possibility has come to pass. Protests <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-inauguration-protests-20170119-story.html">may have been</a> taking place in America and around the world, but the crisis of the left is all too apparent. </p>
<p>The social democrats have long since accepted the right’s tenets of globalisation and deregulation. They offer a managerial capitalism where taxes from a marketised system are used to sustain and, where possible, expand the welfare state within national boundaries. This looks almost meaningless in the face of an ageing population, as Western economies compete for jobs and investment with resurgent Asia and struggle for growth. The more radical left has meanwhile found a foothold in some countries, but it has tended towards protest rather than offering a genuine alternative. </p>
<p>I believe these groups have to return to something central to their 19th-century <a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/">founding principles</a> that has been overlooked. A global problem does not need the response of national movements but rather a fully coordinated international movement. The challenge for the left is to bring this about. </p>
<h2>Left in the cold</h2>
<p>The story of our times is the journey of socialism during the 20th century. It transformed from an explicitly international movement dedicated to radical alternatives to the status quo into political parties confined within national boundaries. These focused on raising and managing resources for public services and welfare within a global capitalist order forged on globalisation and technological change. </p>
<p>The abject <a href="http://en.internationalism.org/internationalreview/201502/12081/1914-how-2nd-international-failed">failure</a> of a planned Europe-wide general strike on the eve of World War I was an early portent. By the 2008 financial crisis, the absence of any serious discussion, let alone an attempt, to mobilise a cross-national movement to combat austerity even within the eurozone was a severe indictment of European social democracy. Governments run by social democrat parties colluded in institutional processes that led to harsh austerity in <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/austerity-ireland-europe-open-your-eyes">Ireland</a>, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/c65d21a2-703d-11e6-9ac1-1055824ca907">Portugal</a>, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/30/mariano-rajoy-re-elected-as-spains-prime-minister-as-thousands-o/">Spain</a> and <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/12/greece-anti-austerity-measures-incur-creditors-wrath-161215210859640.html">Greece</a>. </p>
<p>Movements like Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain mobilised national anti-austerity coalitions but had little to say about coordinated action. In the US, Bernie Sanders’ take on democratic socialism <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-bernie-sanders-democratic-socialism-20160223-story.html">builds on</a> guaranteeing the economic rights of all Americans. Jeremy Corbyn and his leftist colleagues in the Labour Party also <a href="https://theconversation.com/facing-a-hostile-press-jeremy-corbyn-cant-win-but-he-could-at-least-try-63557">oppose</a> UK austerity and pay plenty of lip service to international solidarity, but they are not trying to bring it about. Movements such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/anarchy-in-the-usa-five-years-on-the-legacy-of-occupy-wall-street-and-what-it-can-teach-us-in-the-age-of-trump-68452">Occupy</a> did try to coordinate internationally, but focused on the symptoms of the problem and not the causes. Why this global failure?</p>
<h2>The target constituency</h2>
<p>The left’s big conundrum is how to persuade the key voting constituency of the alt.right that it has a better solution to their problems. Populists, including Trump, Nigel Farage and Marine Le Pen, have primarily mobilised white voters on low to middle incomes working in skilled or semi-skilled jobs in industry and services or running small businesses – plus pensioners. Theresa May’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-shared-society-article-by-theresa-may">favoured term</a> for this group is people who are “just getting by”. </p>
<p>They have seen their incomes and future prospects stagnate; stable jobs in manufacturing replaced by lower-paying less stable ones in services; and their access to welfare become restricted – and even contested – following the financial crisis. </p>
<p>This has stoked their opposition to mass immigration, political correctness and reckless banks and corporations. They increasingly believe the welfare state shouldn’t give special treatment to minorities or the “undeserving poor”. They are patriotic both for cultural reasons and because they believe the nation state can protect them against the excesses of globalisation and technological change. </p>
<p>In other words, they agree with many of the key arguments of the left’s critique of global capitalism but believe in an isolationist solution. As Trump put it simply during his inauguration speech, “America first”. </p>
<p>The left has to convince them that the protection they believe they receive from the nation state is temporary. The huge problem facing Western democracies is that their populations <a href="http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/ageing/WPA2015_Report.pdf">are getting older</a> and therefore need more workers to sustain them – low birth rates dictate that these workforces have to come from other countries. Leaders like Trump may temporarily reduce immigration, but you can only defy gravity for so long. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, economic theory <a href="http://internationalecon.com/Trade/Tch60/T60-14.php">makes clear</a> that in a relatively free global market, there would be a tendency for people with similar skills to get paid the same. An often-cited example <a href="http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/120457/2/jaae453.pdf">is that</a> following the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), unskilled labour wages gradually fell in the US while rising in Mexico. In an era of globalisation and technological change, until workers with similar skills in the East and South receive wages on a par with those in the West, those people “just getting by” can expect their standard of living to keep falling. </p>
<p>One of the main consequences of globalisation is that it has created a world market in which workers in different countries see themselves as competing for wages, jobs and investment. This has exacerbated divisions that help to explain why coordinated international action is never even mentioned as a possibility – never mind that smartphones and the internet could make it much easier than for previous generations.</p>
<h2>Common interests</h2>
<p>The answer is for people to stop competing with workers in other countries and start recognising their common interest in winning a greater share of global wealth. This means everything from coordinated wage bargaining positions within multinationals and global supply chains to eurozone-wide general strikes against austerity. It means that retail workers on zero-hours contracts selling clothes made by Bangladeshi sweatshop workers need to recognise their common interests and mobilise to act together. </p>
<p>Political entrepreneurs such as Trump have blurred the traditional differences between left-wing and right-wing concerns by offering a bulwark to the effects of change in an increasingly complex world. They have singled out migrants and minorities as the physical embodiment of the problem. The left’s big failure is not to explain or even perhaps understand why this is the wrong answer. There is no reason why it could not make Trump’s inauguration a line in the sand.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71647/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sayantan Ghosal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The people who voted for the new American president may not be as hard for the Left to reach as it may appear.Sayantan Ghosal, Professor of Economics, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/713632017-01-20T07:19:54Z2017-01-20T07:19:54ZWhat does the world expect of a Trump presidency?<p>Today, Donald J Trump, the New York City real estate mogul whose outsider campaign led to an upset electoral victory became the 45th President of the United States.</p>
<p>The Conversation Global has invited a panel of international scholars – many of whom also shared their <a href="https://theconversation.com/donald-trump-wins-us-election-scholars-from-around-the-world-react-68282">reactions to Trump’s win</a> – to reflect on his presidency and assess its significance for their region.</p><p></p>
<p>As a candidate, Trump’s campaign promises included <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-wall-and-the-beast-trumps-triumph-from-the-mexican-side-of-the-border-68559">building a border wall with Mexico</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/misunderstanding-confusion-and-relief-the-muslim-world-and-president-elect-donald-trump-69068">banning Muslims immigrants</a> from the US. As president-elect, he called NATO <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-nato-obsolete-idUSKBN14Z0YO">“obsolete”</a> and the European Union <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/1f7c6746-db75-11e6-9d7c-be108f1c1dce">“basically a vehicle for Germany”</a>, put the One China policy up for <a href="http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2017/01/14/489403/Trump-says.htm">negotiation</a>, and threatened to <a href="http://fortune.com/2016/11/09/donald-trump-u-s-trade-policy/">renegotiate most trade agreements</a>. </p>
<p>On inauguration day, all eyes are on Washington, with the world hoping to better understand the unpredictable leader now entering the White House – and determine what comes next. </p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Richard Maher: European leaders brace themselves</strong></p>
<p>While campaigning for president, Donald Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/30/us/politics/unnerved-by-donald-trump-european-diplomats-seek-reassurance-from-democrats.html?_r=0">unnerved European leaders</a> by disparaging the NATO alliance, celebrating the British vote to exit the European Union, and praising Russian President Vladimir Putin.</p>
<p>Following his surprise victory last November, many European leaders hoped that, now elected and poised to assume the presidency, he would clarify his earlier remarks and adopt positions on NATO’s relevance and the value of a strong and united EU more in line with those of his predecessors over the past six decades.</p>
<p>But that was not to be, as <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/17/politics/donald-trump-nato-europe/">Trump’s interview last weekend with two European newspapers</a> confirmed. He again called NATO “obsolete,” proclaimed that the British vote to leave the EU would “end up being a great thing”, described the EU as “basically a vehicle for Germany,” and condemned German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to let in more than a million refugees fleeing violence and persecution as a “catastrophic mistake.” </p>
<p>He also <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-germany-autos-idUSKBN1500VJ">threatened</a> to impose duties of 35% on German and other foreign cars made in Mexico and imported into the United States, predicted that other countries would follow Britain’s lead and vote to leave the EU, and stated that he would start his presidency <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-avoids-trust-vladimir-putin-angela-merket-russia-president-germany-chancellor-interview-a7529271.html">trusting</a> Putin — who once led the FSB, the KGB’s successor organisation — just as he will Merkel, the leader of one of America’s closest allies.</p>
<p>European leaders still do not know how much — if any — of Trump’s comments will become official US policy. They are thus bracing themselves for perpetual
unpredictability and inconsistency regarding Trump’s intentions and beliefs, as well as his tendency to contradict himself and his cabinet. (In their senate confirmation hearings, for example, his nominees for secretary of state and defence <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/16/politics/trump-nato-cabinet/">affirmed</a> the vital role NATO and the EU continue to play in US foreign policy.)</p>
<p>Europe faces an inflection point. No American president in modern history has entered office with such ambivalence over the core institutions linking the United States and its European allies. Trump’s actions will unite or yet further divide Europeans. Or as Merkel <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/16/europes-fate-is-in-our-hands-angela-merkels-defiant-reply-to-trump">said</a> in response to his latest comments, “We Europeans have our fate in our own hands.”</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Andrea Peto and Weronika Grzebalska: Trump is good news for populist right-wing leaders in Europe</strong> </p>
<p>For right-wing populists in Central Europe, Trump’s presidency is a game changer. It signifies the steady decline both of the United States as a guarantor of military security in the region and of the dominant global paradigm of the connections between the free market, liberal democratic values and human rights. </p>
<p>In Hungary and Poland, Obama <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/04/25/remarks-president-obama-address-people-europe">criticised</a> the dismantling of the rule of law and attacks on civil liberties under the radical-right parties FIDESZ and PiS. Trump, on the other hand, has begun his presidency <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/donald-trump-hungarian-pm-viktor-orban-invited-washington-a7438291.html">by cordially inviting</a> Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán to Washington. </p>
<p>With Trump in power, these leaders are no longer the black sheep among Western political elites but rather partners in the building of a new <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/1997-11-01/rise-illiberal-democracy">illiberal international order</a> that rejects liberal democratic values and freedoms.</p>
<p>Among the first victims of transnational illiberalism in Central Europe will surely be <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-van-til/whos-afraid-of-the-big-ba_5_b_7478806.html">progressive and human rights NGOs</a>, already struggling with cuts to government funding. That money has been redirected to faith-based and conservative organisations supporting the right-wing populist party agenda. </p>
<p>President Trump opens a window of opportunity to go even further toward de-globalisation, including – we predict – restricting the presence of international organisations like Amnesty International and expelling foreign-funded human rights donors like <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/george-soros-donald-trump-open-society-foundation-hungary-crackdown-a7521381.html">the Open Society Foundations</a>.</p>
<p>In the short run, restructuring the NGO sector will harm feminist and human rights causes in the region, and activists may face personal security risks. In the long run, though, losing their financial and institutional basis will force activists to reconceptualise their political strategy. That could be a good thing: the <a href="https://euroalter.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Civil-Society-in-Eastern-Europe.pdf">post-1989 NGO-isation of Central Europe’s civil society</a> has largely depoliticised resistance, turning it into a technocratic process. </p>
<p>By returning to older forms of political resistance, social activism might also regain grassroots support and find a new voice in the process. At least, that’s what we hope. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153297/original/image-20170118-26585-1pf2c7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153297/original/image-20170118-26585-1pf2c7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153297/original/image-20170118-26585-1pf2c7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153297/original/image-20170118-26585-1pf2c7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153297/original/image-20170118-26585-1pf2c7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153297/original/image-20170118-26585-1pf2c7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153297/original/image-20170118-26585-1pf2c7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán arrives at a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, December 15 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://pictures.reuters.com/archive/EU-SUMMIT--RC1F9BA5D240.html">Francois Lenoir/Reuters</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>Jonathan Rynhold: Hope for Israel, concern over Iran and Syria</strong></p>
<p>We should see a generally positive tone toward Israel from Donald Trump, but there are very large questions about what the administration’s policies will be on the substantive issues affecting the country.</p>
<p>For example, his son-in-law Jared Kushner has been tapped <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-to-tap-kushner-to-broker-mideast-peace-deal/">to deal with the peace process</a>. He has no background whatsoever in this area, and we have no idea what his positions might be. </p>
<p>Regarding the settlement issue, my sense — in contrast to what the settlement movement believes — is that the administration is not necessarily pro-settlement. His nominee for the UN said that settlements could “<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.765916">hinder peace</a>” and when the UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement was passed, Trump’s comment was that “<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.761134">this makes peace harder</a>” — not that it was wrong. </p>
<p>Israel may follow the line suggested by Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, which is to try to reach an agreement with the US about stopping settlement building outside the blocs, but allowing it <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4880028,00.html">within them</a>. It would fit in with <a href="https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040414-3.html">George W Bush letter of 2004</a> and follows <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-12-27/obama-fulfills-his-prophecy-on-israeli-settlements">Obama’s statements</a> on different kinds of settlements. That would be a step forward, and relatively doable. The Obama administration wasn’t prepared to do that, perhaps Trump might be.</p>
<p>On a symbolic level, we will probably see something regarding the idea of <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21712098-death-knell-or-defibrillator-peace-process-moving-us-embassy">moving the American embassy to Jerusalem</a>, which may be that the ambassador will work from the consulate there; but I doubt we will see a shift America’s position on Jerusalem. </p>
<p>In any case, it is accepted that at least West Jerusalem will be formally recognised as the capital of Israel in any peace deal and the consulate is in West Jerusalem. In Israel everyone is <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-envoy-urges-trump-to-move-us-embassy-to-jerusalem/">in favor</a> of moving the embassy. But some would say it’s not necessarily the most important thing to deal with now, because it could possibly lead to an upsurge of violence.</p>
<p>The largest concerns for Israel is how the Trump administration will deal with Iran. On one hand, Trump seems to have a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/iran-nuclear-deal-is-in-the-crosshairs-and-may-not-survive-a-trump-administration/2017/01/11/b56313d4-d744-11e6-9f9f-5cdb4b7f8dd7_story.html?utm_term=.e869c48d07f4">stronger stance</a> than the Obama administration, which Israel felt did not hold Iranians to account sufficiently. </p>
<p>But there’s also concern that Trump’s good relations with Russia may actually lead to a worsening of the situation in Syria from an Israeli point of view. If he gives <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-assad-iran-and-russia-are-the-only-partners-i-see-in-syria_us_57fb0087e4b0e655eab57d13">a free hand to Russia in Syria</a>, it could strengthen Iran there, which is the strongest force on the ground. The Russians would then give Tehran greater freedom to operate.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Miguel Angel Latouche: Latin America is seen as a problematic region</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37049855">Trump is an enigma</a>. For the first time in the contemporary history of the US, a genuine <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/306851-outsiders-take-power-in-trumps-washington">outsider has become president</a>. </p>
<p>We do know a few things about Trump, though. He is a strongman who <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-conversation-global/trumpus-andronicus-what-t_b_14232606.html">does not belong to the establishment and enjoys polemics</a>. He is intolerant of criticism and seems perfectly willing to use force, in the <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/04/12/donald-trump-has-a-coherent-realist-foreign-policy/">style of an old political realist</a>. But Trump’s vision on Latin America is uncertain. </p>
<p>What priorities will <a href="http://www.the-american-interest.com/2016/12/30/latin-america-and-donald-trump/">guide foreign policy toward the region</a>? </p>
<p>We don’t know whether the Trump administration perceives Latin America as a potential partner or a threat. If it’s the former, there should be opportunities to do business and strengthen open markets. If it’s the latter, there is little good to come of it. Indeed, Trump is most likely to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/10/donald-trump-britain-greatest-fear-isolationist-president">promote an isolationist stance</a>. </p>
<p>Trump does appear to perceive Latin American as a problematic region. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/riskmap/2016/11/16/what-will-the-trump-presidency-mean-for-latin-america/#b98a5d9d45cf">He has expressed concerns</a> about illegal immigration and US jobs lost as a consequence of trade agreements, open markets and industrial relocation.</p>
<p>Would Trump build a wall along the US-Mexican border? He certainly seems capable of it, and to want to do it. Regardless of whether he can make it happen, we must consider that he is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-latin-america-policy-economy-violence-2016-11">disposed to impose an ideological barrier</a> on Latin America. </p>
<p>So far, all we know to expect is the reduction of concessions to Cuba, a strongman’s posture towards strongman-led Venezuela and a distancing from Mexico. For other countries in the region, there is a huge question mark.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153320/original/image-20170118-26577-ju7ia8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153320/original/image-20170118-26577-ju7ia8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153320/original/image-20170118-26577-ju7ia8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153320/original/image-20170118-26577-ju7ia8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153320/original/image-20170118-26577-ju7ia8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153320/original/image-20170118-26577-ju7ia8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153320/original/image-20170118-26577-ju7ia8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cuban Caridad Hernandez celebrates the death of Fidel Castro in Miami.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Javier Galeano/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p><strong>Salvador Vazquez del Mercado: Uncertainty for Mexico</strong></p>
<p>Donald Trump’s campaign was geared towards pushing the buttons of voters who, as the result of shifting economic opportunities, have seen their economic prospects decline in recent years: it was Mexico that took the jobs, and Mexico that sent the bad immigrants. </p>
<p>In a clear example of what Robert Shiller calls the power of <a href="http://cowles.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/pub/d20/d2069.pdf">narratives</a> to shift economic and social outcomes, Trump put Mexico in the centre of his attacks. He made economic and cultural insecurity the topics that would attract the attention of his voters, framed as the purported fight against fleeing employment and the assumed woes of immigration.</p>
<p>For Mexico, that’s quite a vulnerable position to be in. The <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-01-18/why-trump-s-tariff-threats-get-taken-so-seriously-quicktake-q-a">imposition of tariffs</a> has the potential to spark a trade war that Mexico, with its smaller share of goods exported to the US, will find difficult to win. The threatened renegotiation of NAFTA will, by itself, damage the Mexican economy by aggravating investment expectations. Then there’s the eventual results of the negotiation itself: imposing taxes on remittances or blocking their delivery will deprive many Mexican families of much needed resources. </p>
<p>In fact, Trump’s campaign has already damaged the Mexican economy: the peso continues to slide as Trump keeps making <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-peso-trump-idUSKBN14V20S">announcements</a> related to the transnational automobile industry. </p>
<p>It is to be expected, then, that it will fall further when he begins earnestly pursing his agenda. As a result, the International Monetary Fund has already <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-imf-growth-idUSKBN1501P9">downgraded</a> its forecast for the growth of the Mexican economy.</p>
<p>It is difficult to know what Trump will do in power because of the lack of clarity in his policy proposals. This uncertainty will be aggravated as his cabinet picks continue to sort out whether to follow <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-cabinet-nominees-keep-contradicting-him/2017/01/12/dec8cccc-d8f3-11e6-9a36-1d296534b31e_story.html?utm_term=.dab0bf4e0d7f">their policies</a> or his. </p>
<p>Some of this uncertainty may benefit Mexico: while the Republican love affair with free trade seems to have <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/gop-senators-trade-228403">ended</a> during the campaign, the passion could be rekindled once the president is sworn in and trade negotiations start.</p>
<p>A weaker peso will also benefit Mexican exports, and Mexican <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-will-mexico-deal-with-the-donald-71067">diplomatic efforts</a> and public relations should profit from the rifts that will open between Trump, his cabinet and the Republican-led congress. </p>
<p>These benefits are not minimal, if the country plays them right, which only serves to underscore the many challenges that Mexico will face starting January 20 2016.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Subarno Chattarji: a welcome change, but points of conflict in India</strong></p>
<p>Donald Trump’s election was welcomed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who said that India could take some credit for Trump’s victory since he used <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-ad-indian-american-vote-2016-10">a version of Modi’s election slogan</a> to appeal to Indian American voters (“<em>Ab ki Baar, Trump Sarkar</em>” – “Next time, a Trump government”). </p>
<p>The welcome message reveals the ideological and political affinities between Modi and Trump, particularly regarding attitudes toward Muslims, terrorism, political correctness, liberal elites and minorities.</p>
<p>Policy outlooks, however, are mixed. For instance, Trump’s call with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif whom he described as “<a href="http://time.com/4586503/donald-trump-pakistan-prime-minister-readout-nawaz-sharif/">a terrific guy</a>” didn’t go down well in India. Trump has also said <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/1300758">he can solve the Kashmir crisis</a> – again a touchy subject, since India’s official position is that all Kashmir is an integral part of India and any dispute must be resolved bilaterally. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153316/original/image-20170118-26536-1w4h6ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153316/original/image-20170118-26536-1w4h6ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153316/original/image-20170118-26536-1w4h6ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153316/original/image-20170118-26536-1w4h6ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153316/original/image-20170118-26536-1w4h6ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153316/original/image-20170118-26536-1w4h6ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153316/original/image-20170118-26536-1w4h6ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A member of Hindu Sena, a right wing Hindu group, holds a placard of Donald Trump during a protest in New Delhi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adnan Abidi/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another area of contention and anxiety is the lottery of H1-B Visas given for workers in technology and computing industries, which are largely corralled by Indians. Trump has promised <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/17/us/politics/donald-trump-wants-to-cut-visa-program-he-used-for-his-own-models.html?_r=0">to reduce these visas</a>. In keeping with his promise to “Make America Great Again”, he also plans to push back against the outsourcing of jobs – an additional potential point of conflict.</p>
<p>While ideologically distinct from Modi, president Obama forged <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/06/world/asia/india-narendra-modi-obama.html">a close connection with India</a>, part of his administrations’ broader pivot toward Asia. That pivot may or may not be sustained by the Trump administration. Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has made no public statements on India. </p>
<p>Notwithstanding these misgivings, Trump will receive a warm welcome from the Indian government (and members of the Hindu Sena) should he visit the country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71363/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Salvador Vázquez del Mercado is a director of public opinion in the office of the President of Mexico. All opinions and errors herewithin are his own.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Peto, Jonathan Rynhold, Miguel Angel Latouche, Richard Maher, Subarno Chattarji, and Weronika Grzebalska do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The world is on edge as Donald Trump enters the White House.Richard Maher, Research Fellow, Global Governance Programme, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University InstituteAndrea Peto, Professor of Gender Studies, Central European UniversityJonathan Rynhold, Director, Argov Center for the Study of Israel and the Jewish People, Bar-Ilan UniversityMiguel Angel Latouche, Associate professor, Universidad Central de VenezuelaSalvador Vázquez del Mercado, Lecturer on Public Opinion and Research Methodology, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)Subarno Chattarji, Associate Professor, University of DelhiWeronika Grzebalska, PhD researcher, Graduate School for Social Research, Polish Academy of SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/714522017-01-19T16:55:55Z2017-01-19T16:55:55ZTrump’s inaugural address will probably end up as just a footnote in history<p>All eyes are now on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-35318432">Donald J. Trump’s</a> impending <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/15/donald-trump-inauguration-washington-progressives">inauguration</a>, which takes place in Washington DC, on January 20, and whose centrepiece is the inaugural address. But despite the attention lavished on these speeches by aides, speechwriters, newspaper columnists and pundits, few of them earn a place in history.</p>
<p>There are, of course, some magnificent exceptions. Think of Abraham Lincoln’s (futile) 1861 appeal to “<a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/lincoln1.asp">the better angels of our nature</a>”, or his <a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/lincoln2.asp">pledge</a>, in his second inaugural, to act “with malice toward none, with charity for all” as America’s bloody Civil War neared its end. The 20th century, meanwhile, boasts <a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/froos1.asp">Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s</a> “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” and John F. Kennedy’s <a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/kennedy.asp">promise</a> to “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty”. </p>
<p>But even the most obsessive of fans would struggle to argue for Zachary Taylor’s 1849 <a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/taylor.asp">pledge</a> to “renew the declarations I have heretofore made and proclaim my fixed determination to maintain to the extent of my ability the government in its original purity”, or Lyndon Johnson’s <a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/johnson.asp">declaration</a> that “the hour and the day and the time are here to achieve progress without strife, to achieve change without hatred”. Neither have exactly echoed through the ages.</p>
<p>Inaugurals are also a far from reliable guide to presidential performance. John F. Kennedy’s rhetoric may have been stirring, but his commitment to “pay any burden” looked decidedly less clever in the aftermath of America’s disastrous experience in Vietnam. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, both George W. Bush’s promise to <a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/21st_century/gbush1.asp">govern as a compassionate conservative</a> and Barack Obama’s determination to put aside the “petty grievances” and “recriminations” that “<a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/21st_century/obama.asp">have strangled our politics</a>” ended up being swept aside by larger forces beyond their control.</p>
<p>What precedent, then, for Trump? Sixty-odd years ago, another Republican, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/dwightdeisenhower">Dwight David Eisenhower</a>, was celebrating a smashing victory over a humiliated Democratic opponent. Like Trump, “Ike’s” top advisers included some of the wealthiest men in America; wags quipped that his first cabinet consisted of “<a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-billionaire-cabinet-picks-20161201-story.html">nine millionaires and a plumber</a>” (the plumber being his labor secretary, Martin Durkin, erstwhile head of the plumbers and pipe-fitters union). </p>
<p>Like Trump, the golf-loving Eisenhower was widely viewed as bumbling and gaffe-prone, and far less clever than his vanquished opponent, Adlai Stevenson. He was also the last man to win the White House without any prior experience of elected office – but the contrasts between Eisenhower and his 21st century successor could scarcely be starker.</p>
<h2>Ideals, aspirations and hopes</h2>
<p>Whereas Eisenhower <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gRDvCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA163&lpg=PA163&dq=eisenhower+persuasion+and+conciliation+and+patience&source=bl&ots=QaRdhRHSJ2&sig=wxch-_GceWtlfDT0s_4MGxwXpMM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiFhKqMwMTRAhVC2RoKHdObAV8Q6AEIOzAG#v=onepage&q=eisenhower%2520persuasion%2520and%2520conciliation%2520and%2520patience&f=false">advocated leadership</a> through “persuasion and conciliation and patience”, Trump’s presidential campaign orbited his own ego. He has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/12/us/politics/donald-trump-paul-ryan.html?_r=0">clashed repeatedly</a> with both his own party and the nation’s <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/11/u-s-spies-to-trump-stop-comparing-us-to-nazis.html">intelligence and security establishment</a>, and thrown insults with shameless abandon; recent targets include <a href="http://variety.com/2017/film/awards/donald-trump-calls-meryl-streep-overrated-actress-1201955800/">Meryl Streep</a> and civil rights icon <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-john-lewis-20170114-story.html">John Lewis</a>. </p>
<p>While it is true that, in <a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/eisen2.asp">his second inaugural</a>, Eisenhower looked forward to “that day” when the American and Russian peoples would “freely meet in friendship”, NATO’s first Supreme Commander would likely be horrified by Trump’s apparent willingness to <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-nato-strategy-awaited-with-increasingly-frayed-nerves-in-eastern-europe-71424">undermine the Western military alliance</a>, as well as his <a href="http://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-to-look-at-recognizing-crimea-as-russian-territory-lifting-sanctions-putin/">seemingly relaxed attitude</a> towards Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea and menacing of Ukraine.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153486/original/image-20170119-26555-ximbgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153486/original/image-20170119-26555-ximbgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153486/original/image-20170119-26555-ximbgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153486/original/image-20170119-26555-ximbgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153486/original/image-20170119-26555-ximbgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153486/original/image-20170119-26555-ximbgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153486/original/image-20170119-26555-ximbgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The likeable Ike.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dwight_D._Eisenhower.tif">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While Eisenhower <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=10583">denounced</a> the “technique of pitting group against group for cheap political advantage”, Trump has suggested that women who have abortions should be “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/30/donald-trump-women-abortions-punishment">punished</a>”, <a href="http://news.sky.com/story/five-insults-donald-trump-has-fired-at-mexicans-in-the-presidential-race-10559438">denigrated Mexican immigrants</a> as “criminals” and “rapists”, <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/11/26/donald-trump-mocks-reporter-with-disability-berman-sot-ac.cnn">mocked</a> the disabled, <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j.-trump-statement-on-preventing-muslim-immigration">called for</a> a “total and complete shutdown on Muslims entering the United States”, and <a href="http://www.celebtricity.com/donald-trump-if-black-lives-dont-matter-then-go-back-to-africa/">declared</a> that “if black lives matter, then go back to Africa. We’ll see how much they matter there”. </p>
<p>He has also, as a recent <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/jeff-sessions-trumps-pick-for-attorney-general-is-a-fierce-opponent-of-civil-rights/">article</a> in The Nation put it, “chosen a white nationalist as his chief strategist and a white-nationalist sympathiser as his pick for Attorney General”.</p>
<p>Whereas Trump has promised to <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/immigration/">build a wall</a> between the US and Mexico, tear up <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/trade">free trade agreements</a>, and pursue an “<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-pledges-america-first-speech-victory-tour-n691021">America First</a>” policy, in his <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=10856&st=&st1=">1957 inaugural address</a>, Eisenhower warned that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>No people can live to itself alone. The unity of all who dwell in freedom is their only sure defense. The economic need of all nations – in mutual dependence – makes isolation an impossibility: not even America’s prosperity could long survive if other nations did not also prosper. No nation can longer be a fortress, lone and strong and safe. And any people, seeking such shelter for themselves, can now build only their own prison.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some six decades ago, Eisenhower could boast with some conviction that the Republican Party was a party that looked “<a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=10698">to the future</a>”, which represented the “ideals, the aspirations and the hopes of Americans”, and which was committed to enabling all citizens – “regardless of any accident of birth, of station, of race, religion, or color” – to share in the American Dream.</p>
<p>In his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/us/politics/trump-speech-transcript.html">victory speech</a>, Trump did speak of “reaching out” to his opponents, harnessing the “creative talents of our people”, and launching a “project of national growth and renewal”, but no amount of conciliatory rhetoric could overwrite the ugliness of the 2016 campaign. And no matter what the 45th President of the United States has to say for himself, his <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/06/the-mind-of-donald-trump/480771/">narcissism</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/robert-reich-trump-twitter-cnn_us_5848bcefe4b064104145b4a2">pettiness</a> and apparent <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/138712/donald-trump-already-acting-like-authoritarian">authoritariansim</a> are already plain to see.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71452/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Hall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Trump will be the 44th man to take to the inaugural podium. Very few have left a mark on it.Simon Hall, Professor of Modern History, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/711942017-01-19T16:21:14Z2017-01-19T16:21:14ZHow George Washington made America great again<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153411/original/image-20170119-26567-1g4o55x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">So help him God.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/inauguration-washington-swearing-ceremony-new-yorks-245963821?src=AxI03QfOj9dt4TY1GwDr7A-1-0">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>No celebrities were booked for the US’s first ever presidential inauguration, but then again, they were hardly needed. There could be no greater celebrity than the man coming to town to be sworn in as the country’s first president. </p>
<p>On April 30, 1789, on the balcony of Federal Hall on New York City’s Wall Street, George Washington took the oath to faithfully execute the office of president and to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution”. And now, after more than two centuries of American history, he has a <a href="http://presidentialhistory.com/2012/12/how-many-men-have-served-as-u-s-president.html">43rd successor</a> in Donald Trump.</p>
<p>The first and 45th presidents are as unalike as any two men could be. Where Washington was always correct and reserved, Trump thrives on flouting convention; Washington’s studied self-deprecation stands in stark contrast to Trump’s puerile braggadocio. (It’s safe to say Washington would never have used <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-undiplomatic-twitter-diplomacy-isnt-a-joke-its-a-catastrophic-risk-70861">Twitter</a>.) Yet there are certain parallels in their ascendancy to the presidency.</p>
<p>If many pundits today believe that the US is <a href="https://theconversation.com/america-feels-like-its-in-decline-again-and-trump-is-just-a-symptom-56864">in terminal decline</a>, so in 1789 many Americans and most Europeans doubted that the American experiment in republican government would last. The widespread enthusiasm that the Declaration of Independence and struggle against King George had generated on both sides of the Atlantic only a decade before was all gone. “In a sense, both Washington and Trump were elected in the hope that they could <a href="https://theconversation.com/donald-trumps-slogan-betrays-a-renewed-political-fixation-on-the-past-66470">make America great again</a>”.</p>
<h2>Divided we fall</h2>
<p>More than most incoming presidents, Washington was entitled to ask “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/HuffingtonPost/videos/10153608927336130/">what the hell was going on</a>”, in Trump’s colourful language. The War for Independence had thrown the US into a deep depression, and created a <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/loans">monumental national debt</a> that went unpaid. The world’s major economies were shutting their markets against American products and American services. </p>
<p>In the continental interior, the border existed only on inaccurate maps. European American settlers squatted on American Indian land and on occasion the Indians retaliated, sparking headlines about murders and abductions in eastern papers and secessionist sentiment in western hearts. In faraway North Africa, the Muslim <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/barbary-wars">Barbary states</a> held American sailors and citizens as slaves for ransom.</p>
<p>Washington had to deal with these and other problems with no army, no navy, no money and no credit. Where modern-day presidential hopefuls curry favour with the electorate by thumping a bloated federal bureaucracy, Washington’s problem was the reverse: there was no bureaucracy whatsoever. The executive departments and the judiciary had not only to be filled, they had first to be created. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153428/original/image-20170119-26543-79mkj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153428/original/image-20170119-26543-79mkj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153428/original/image-20170119-26543-79mkj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153428/original/image-20170119-26543-79mkj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153428/original/image-20170119-26543-79mkj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153428/original/image-20170119-26543-79mkj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153428/original/image-20170119-26543-79mkj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When America first stood tall: the Washington Monument.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/washington-monument-dc-usa-517714921?src=OwDDIgKIHHUcDjhi-5ywSw-1-57">Robert Cicchetti/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite such bleak prospects, Washington’s two terms proved remarkably successful. Alexander Hamilton restored public credit and set up a productive <a href="https://www.usmilitary.com/3201/early-years-of-the-revenue-cutter-service/">revenue service</a>. “Mad Anthony” Wayne won a decisive victory over the Native Americans at the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/fati/learn/historyculture/the-battle-of-fallen-timbers.htm">Battle of Fallen Timbers</a>. John Jay and Thomas Pinckney secured diplomatic treaties with <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/jay-treaty">Britain</a> and <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/pickney-treaty">Spain</a> that secured the US’s hold on the western borderlands. </p>
<p>Washington himself restored faith in the American experiment among his countrymen and in US bonds among foreign investors, and he won at least a modicum of respect from foreign governments. Eight years on from his inauguration, and with uncanny prescience, his <a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp">farewell address</a> identified internal division as the only real threat to the future prosperity of the US.</p>
<h2>Dawn and eclipse</h2>
<p>The political history of the founding era habitually degenerates into the mindless worship of so-called “great men”. It’s true that Washington was a tried leader, and that his status as the saviour of his country made him broadly popular; it’s also true that he picked able men for his cabinet. But Washington’s statecraft was not a matter of supernatural talent; it was astute and practical.</p>
<p>One of its hallmarks was an unsentimental awareness of America’s limitations. In a world of great powers, the US was a minor player. Like their compatriots, Washington and his cabinet were convinced that America’s day would come, but they accepted that their nation’s glorious future could be easily scotched by brash actions in the present.</p>
<p>The Washington administration was also willing to take its cue from other governments. Much more than the US’s national mythologies allow for, the young country was an emulator rather than an innovator: Hamilton found his models for reforming the public finances in Britain, and the army was modelled on European institutions. </p>
<p>Most of all, the US under Washington consistently and scrupulously adhered to the international law of nations. The aim was that the federal government and the nation it represented would act as responsibly as a member of the Old World’s “family of civilised nations”, and thereby join it.</p>
<p>The early 21st century is not the late 18th century. The American economy may no longer be what it once was, and the US’s soft and hard power alike have been terribly undermined by the disastrous response to 9/11, but when the US acts and speaks today, it still does so as the principal architect and policeman of the present world order. </p>
<p>It’s far from clear whether Trump’s unique brand of statesmanship will bring about a new dawn in America, or whether he’ll go down in history as the president of the eclipse.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71194/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Max Edling receives funding from the Swedish Research Council; the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation. </span></em></p>The first presidency began with a mandate to make America great. What’s changed?Max Edling, Reader in Early American History, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/715832017-01-19T13:29:35Z2017-01-19T13:29:35ZShepard Fairey’s inauguration posters may define political art in Trump era<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153423/original/image-20170119-26577-3pvath.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">From despair to where?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">We the People</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The American street artist Shepard Fairey created a poster for Barack Obama’s presidential election campaign. It was 2008 and the simple red, beige and blue stencilled image of Obama’s face over the word “HOPE” quickly became the iconic image of the election, the rallying cry around which it was fought and won. It remains the enduring image of his presidency. </p>
<p>But it is also now a reminder of promised hope ultimately unfulfilled, and many artists might have concluded they would stay away from politics in future as a result. Instead, Fairey has been at the centre of a <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amplifierfoundation/we-the-people-public-art-for-the-inauguration-and">Kickstarter initiative</a> to finance a protest poster campaign against Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration called “We the people: public art for the inauguration and beyond”. It has been a great success, <a href="https://qz.com/887358/the-story-behind-shepard-faireys-powerful-posters-for-donald-trumps-inauguration/">raising</a> US$1.4m in a week. This will see the posters printed as full page adverts in the Washington Post; as placards to be distributed for the inauguration; and as postcards to send to the new president.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153425/original/image-20170119-26567-x7ghc1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153425/original/image-20170119-26567-x7ghc1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153425/original/image-20170119-26567-x7ghc1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153425/original/image-20170119-26567-x7ghc1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153425/original/image-20170119-26567-x7ghc1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153425/original/image-20170119-26567-x7ghc1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153425/original/image-20170119-26567-x7ghc1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153425/original/image-20170119-26567-x7ghc1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fairey’s new images.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amplifierfoundation/we-the-people-public-art-for-the-inauguration-and">We the People</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The new images do not feature Trump or even refer to him directly, concentrating instead on the ethnic groups that campaigners fear face being excluded from this new president’s America. It’s a radical shift in focus that nevertheless retains the colours from the Obama image and Fairey’s signature stencil style. What does this tell us about his journey as a commentator – and about political art in 2017?</p>
<h2>Lost illusions</h2>
<p>Fairey’s Obama poster was not about a man but rather a heroic, idealised, abstracted icon. It showed Obama thoughtfully looking upwards and to the right, into the distance towards the future hopes of the nation. It symbolised the promise of things yet to come, yet to be imagined – in keeping with other leaders elected on aspirations for change, such as Tony Blair or John F Kennedy. In Fairey’s image, hope is promised but nothing is specific. It invites the viewer to project their own desires into the icon’s imagination. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153422/original/image-20170119-26582-1qyrjy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153422/original/image-20170119-26582-1qyrjy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153422/original/image-20170119-26582-1qyrjy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153422/original/image-20170119-26582-1qyrjy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153422/original/image-20170119-26582-1qyrjy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153422/original/image-20170119-26582-1qyrjy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1151&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153422/original/image-20170119-26582-1qyrjy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1151&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153422/original/image-20170119-26582-1qyrjy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1151&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘No we didn’t.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/arcticpenguin/3290575942/in/photolist-61M4zY-9CgPXu-4REwkG-5Ts6jZ-91byPd-9YoDfi-5JeawY-5Twnk1-6RzFcD-bHQKnz-buVYyJ-bHQKhe-buVYsw-675FXh-5KFx3X-5K7Dfq-5UjB6F-e33iMt-5K7Da1-5K3o14-9sp2R3-ecmL1D-5uKsq7-5uYPtg-7sEZ68-5TwmUb-5Twr5h-9RGBzo-dYB6Zr-ez76s6-5Twnbd-foeoGs-5Ts268-dTUJwo-hzcH5k-5Twnuq-5Ts62R-aD7ZNz-5TwnfQ-9z38Be-gSrXae-4qindR-5Yf5xE-5Nyt7J-51yqnA-5ZBfYz-dyWUTX-6WM1Vz-5Yx1SE-615fWc">Yvette Wohn</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For all its inspirational power, the poster set itself up to fail by making a personal promise it could not keep. How could one man fulfil the individual hopes of millions of citizens? Once held up as an example of how a political poster could help bring about positive change in the world, now it perhaps serves as a warning that it’s all just propaganda in the end. </p>
<p>Fairey certainly counts himself among those disappointed by Obama’s eight years in office. When asked in <a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/interviews/a35288/shepard-fairey-street-art-obama-hope-poster/">an interview</a> in 2015 whether he thought Obama had lived up to the promise of his poster, Fairey answered bluntly:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Not even close … Obama has had a really tough time, but there have been a lot of things that he’s compromised on that I never would have expected.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Npd5sLbwedQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>We the people</h2>
<p>Fairey’s three new posters are only superficially similar to the Obama image. Choosing not to feature the incoming president as either hero or villain, they show members of the public that represent marginalised groups within society. <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amplifierfoundation/we-the-people-public-art-for-the-inauguration-and">According to</a> the Kickstarter pitch, it is about creating “a series of images that capture the shared humanity of our diverse America”. Two other images have been contributed by fellow artists Ernesto Yerena and Jessica Sabogal. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153426/original/image-20170119-26539-1j2lv6o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153426/original/image-20170119-26539-1j2lv6o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153426/original/image-20170119-26539-1j2lv6o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153426/original/image-20170119-26539-1j2lv6o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153426/original/image-20170119-26539-1j2lv6o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153426/original/image-20170119-26539-1j2lv6o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1002&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153426/original/image-20170119-26539-1j2lv6o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1002&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153426/original/image-20170119-26539-1j2lv6o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1002&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ernesto Yerena.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amplifierfoundation/we-the-people-public-art-for-the-inauguration-and">We the People</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While the central themes of <a href="http://www.artnet.com/artists/shepard-fairey/">Fairey’s art</a> have always been propaganda and power, the “Hope” poster was very much about a conventional traditional propaganda approach that operated in the future tense. There is no unspecified hope in his new images; the figures do not make promises about the future. They know what they want now. </p>
<p>Over the text “We the People are greater than fear” a Muslim woman wearing a US flag hijab piercingly locks eyes with the viewer. By staring directly in this way, the poster becomes a personal confrontation. It is a direct challenge to consider what it means to be a member of the “We the People” of the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution">American constitution</a> and to uphold common values such as freedom from fear within this society. </p>
<p>Fairey’s image of the dreadlocked African-American boy inverts Obama’s distant upwards dreaming pose by looking downwards to the left. He is not looking for a hero to save him. His eyes are not fixed on a vague dream of hope, but resolutely on the realities of living as a black American citizen today. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153427/original/image-20170119-26577-1ei2b4z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153427/original/image-20170119-26577-1ei2b4z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153427/original/image-20170119-26577-1ei2b4z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153427/original/image-20170119-26577-1ei2b4z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153427/original/image-20170119-26577-1ei2b4z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153427/original/image-20170119-26577-1ei2b4z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153427/original/image-20170119-26577-1ei2b4z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153427/original/image-20170119-26577-1ei2b4z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jessica Sabogal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amplifierfoundation/we-the-people-public-art-for-the-inauguration-and">We the People</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This work demonstrates that Fairey has learned and matured as a political communicator since 2008. By shifting the tense from future-imaginary to present-reality, and the power from the heroic politician to the individual citizen, his 2017 posters become more than propaganda. They have the potential to become, as <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amplifierfoundation/we-the-people-public-art-for-the-inauguration-and">they said</a> on Kickstarter, “symbols of hope”, offering a positive strategy to “disrupt the rising tide of hate and fear in America”. </p>
<p>As Fairey <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/shepard-fairey-launches-people-poster-campaign-trumps-inauguration/">said recently</a>, “We have Trump, so what’s the antidote? The antidote is not attacking Trump more.” These are protest posters which attack hate by refusing to attack. In doing so, they offer new hope for the role and relevance of political art in Trump’s America.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71583/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Buwert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The posters that have become the voice of protest against Trump.Peter Buwert, Lecturer, Graphic Design, Edinburgh Napier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/712012017-01-18T15:20:01Z2017-01-18T15:20:01ZIn a museum and in everyday life, Washingtonians prepare to resist a racist era<p>Just before the US presidential election, Kenya Barris, creator of the sitcom <a href="http://abc.go.com/shows/blackish">black-ish</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/11/arts/television/black-ish-creator-and-actor-again-walk-on-a-political-tightrope.html">derided</a> Donald Trump as “a rich, tall, white man who says he’s going to make America great again … a cupcake a lot of people would buy”. By the time he’s inaugurated as president, the US’s <a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/">National Museum of African American History and Culture</a> will have been open for four months. </p>
<p>The museum is an upturned pyramid running parallel with the Washington Monument, like two uplifted arms in praise. Timed day-tickets go online at 6.30am, and sell out by 10am. On a visit to Washington just before inauguration week, I spoke to receptionist Demetrius as he prepared to welcome visitors; in private, he told me, he’s praying for himself and America, and carefully choosing which guests he will implore to pray too.</p>
<p>The museum’s “Culture” section is above ground – bright, reaching up to the light. Its “roots”, noted Obama, when he opened the museum, spread “far wider and deeper than any tree on this Mall” into the the underground “History” section. Crowds are ushered into a lift that descends 70 feet below, past inscriptions of key dates in the black American story, counting backwards from today to 1450. </p>
<p>Looping and zig-zagging around and between the museum’s floors, one can see both ahead and behind, experiencing the “Yes, we can” mentality, whether enslaved or free. Intellect comprehended, reflected and projected America; skilled craft labour designed it, and menial, unskilled labour built it. This is not a linear history, but an attempt to represent the African-American experience, past and present: Black Power, next to Harriet Tubman’s shawl, beside a sugar-pan and a field whip (“Gift of Oprah Winfrey”). </p>
<p>On the top floor of the museum, the art gallery is a series of angular rooms. Guyanese-born <a href="http://donaldlocke.com/">Donald Locke</a> whose <a href="http://donaldlocke.com/?s=plantation">Plantation</a>, created in the 1970s, is a series of linked sculptures to illustrate an oppressive system, in which brown and black ceramic shapes are fixed and held down in luxury fabrics. His estate has donated <a href="http://donaldlocke.com/portfolio/era/1990-1999/">Landscape with Kwame N’Krumah</a>, celebrating the election of Ghana’s first independent leader. Towering over the main entrance space is Chakaia Booker’s 2016 <a href="http://www.imgrum.net/media/1396633869780020613_8010653">Liquidity of Legacy</a>, creating “<a href="http://newsdesk.si.edu/factsheets/public-art-first-floor">all the beauty of survival and success</a>” from the discard of urban grime.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152768/original/image-20170115-11800-1tq96sa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152768/original/image-20170115-11800-1tq96sa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152768/original/image-20170115-11800-1tq96sa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152768/original/image-20170115-11800-1tq96sa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152768/original/image-20170115-11800-1tq96sa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152768/original/image-20170115-11800-1tq96sa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152768/original/image-20170115-11800-1tq96sa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Approaching the museum from the north.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sarah Barber</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The “Culture” space features concentric circles of display cabinets. In the centre is a <a href="http://www.ancient.eu/Caryatid/">caryatid</a> by the Yoruban artist Olowe of Ise, whose corona of three tiers gives the museum its outline against the sky. It is cradled by a case of Philip Simmons’ Charleston ironwork, which is the inspiration for its latticed carapace. Emphasising heritage recorded in food culture, movement, style, activism and community, the gallery knits past and present into a four-minute montage of sound, image, quotations and film, guiding visitors in a circular path around the outer wall. </p>
<p>The “<a href="https://twitter.com/gilbertlisak/status/804517677213614080">People resist by telling their story</a>” (bell hooks); “Songs of liberation – who can lock them up?” (<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=L8BIAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=%22Songs+of+liberation+--+who+can+lock+them+up?%22&source=bl&ots=XDrLR5N6jK&sig=VhrUu1-DiCueRoNUzCjkMpgP9Pg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiRq7DGhMnRAhWjIcAKHT4uBtMQ6AEIHDAA">Paul Robeson</a>); the sound of rhythm beaten out by basketballs.</p>
<h2>Into the wind</h2>
<p>Two weeks to go till Trump takes office, I met a cab driver, Elias. As Obama himself is <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=RZppmRueQWwC&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=obama+%22an+african+and+an+american%22&source=bl&ots=9kY8mIv52A&sig=kIM0gNvomRUF65RGlKjF7drUHgM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiz6vizq8nRAhUEK8AKHcR7DyoQ6AEIPTAM#v=onepage&q=obama%20%22an%20african%20and%20an%20american%22&f=false">sometimes described</a> he’s an African and an American but not an African-American, the descendant of immigrants rather than slaves. He is Trump’s nightmare: immigrant, autodidact – citing Thomas Jefferson, Karl Marx, and Aldous Huxley in the space of one and a half miles – and proud socialist. As far as he’s concerned, Trump, Hillary Clinton and even Bernie Sanders are all corrupt. (The only politician of principle he named was Jeremy Corbyn.)</p>
<p>Just up the Potomac River in Virginia, the little town of Ashburn and Anita’s Restaurant, named after its immigrant founder, has made national news. Waitress Kelly Carter had received a note from a white couple, written at the bottom of their bill: “Great service don’t tip black people.” Staff and regulars are rallying behind her to prove racist America wrong – even as the election “seems to have created an atmosphere where people can behave that way”.</p>
<p>Resistance to racism was palpable. On January 9, to pre-empt the incoming president’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-trumps-immigration-enforcement-could-affect-families-and-communities-69019">deportation plans</a>, Washington’s Mayor, Muriel Bowser, headed to Gallaudet University to launch a bid to join other liberal locations in becoming a “<a href="http://www.fox5dc.com/news/local-news/228114942-story">sanctuary city</a>”. US$500,000 is pledged to help immigrants turn their green cards into citizenship and cover the costs of deportation hearings.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the latest edition of Ebony magazine hit the newsstands, its <a href="https://www.magzter.com/US/EBONY-Media-Operations/EBONY/Lifestyle/201724">cover</a> bearing a black version of Grant Wood’s ubiquitous painting American Gothic, with a black child holding a Stars and Stripes rather than a hay-fork. “Yes, we still can: How the black community will save itself”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71201/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Barber does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A visit to the US’s racially diverse capital finds a city girding up to survive in a racist world.Sarah Barber, Senior Lecturer, Department of History, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/117182013-01-25T03:55:29Z2013-01-25T03:55:29ZObama tightens the immigration knot on Republicans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/19630/original/sj7ypx6h-1359078329.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Obama has skilfully identified immigration as an issue that Republicans will struggle with.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For an American president, the first inaugural address sets the stage for the four years to follow. The second inaugural address, on the other hand, focuses on a much longer legacy. </p>
<p>Barack Obama’s speech on Monday made it clear he hopes his legacy will be a new era of Democratic dominance in America.</p>
<p>As countless commentators have <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/21/opinion/opinion-inauguration-roundup/index.html">noted</a>, Obama’s speech was a vigorous defence of liberalism. The first half of the eighteen-minute address sounded like an extended rebuttal of Ronald Reagan’s <a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/reagan1.asp">1981 inaugural</a>, in which the Republican standard-bearer declared, </p>
<p>“Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem.” Obama <a href="http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=ACC18557-0EC8-9ABE-C843D58BF812DCEF">countered</a>: “The commitments we make to each other through Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, these things do not sap our initiative, they strengthen us.”</p>
<p>Yet the president’s speech laid the groundwork not only for a liberal future, but for a Democratic one. Obama spoke about women’s rights and black civil rights. He made history when he used the word “gay”, a first for inaugural addresses. It was his words on immigration, however, that made it clear he had a new Democratic majority in mind.</p>
<p>The 2012 election had many stories, but perhaps the most important was the demographic one: as America’s population becomes increasingly non-white, the Democrats have assembled a “<a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/obama-wins-by-marrying-the-new-democratic-coalition-with-the-old-20121107">coalition of the ascendant</a>”. The Republicans, on the other hand, have an <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/gop-challenge-how-to-transcend-aging-white-base-20121108">ever-whiter, and ever-smaller</a>, base. Unless it attracts minority voters, the GOP will spend the next generation out of power.</p>
<p>Since the election, Republicans have made it clear they’re eying the Hispanic vote. “If Republicans do not do better in the Hispanic community,” <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/11/19/121119fa_fact_lizza?currentPage=all">said</a> Ted Cruz, a newly-elected Tea Party Republican senator from Texas, “in a few short years Republicans will no longer be the majority party in our state… If that happens, no Republican will ever again win the White House.”</p>
<p>At his inauguration, Obama sought to block Republican efforts to woo Hispanics. “Our journey is not complete,” he insisted, “until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity.” </p>
<p>Nor would it be complete, he continued, “until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country.” The sentiment carried great weight after an election in which Republicans’ most welcoming immigration stance was Mitt Romney’s <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election-2012/mitt-romney-favors-self-deportation-asked-immigration-gop-debate-article-1.1010812">call</a> for “self-deportation.”</p>
<p>Nor was the inaugural address the president’s only attempt to tighten the bonds between the Democratic Party and Hispanic voters. Associate Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotamayor, an Obama appointee and the first Hispanic justice, delivered Vice-President Joe Biden’s oath of office. Richard Blanco read the inaugural poem, the first Hispanic (and first openly gay man) to do so. The benediction came from Cuban-born Luis Leon, a <a href="http://www.pedropan.org/category/history">Pedro Pan</a> refugee.</p>
<p>Leon served as a reminder of just how much the GOP’s demographic problem is one of its own making. In 2005, Leon <a href="http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2013/01/21/presidential-inauguration-rev-luis-leon-delivers-benediction-speaks-spanish/">became</a> the first Latino to offer the inaugural benediction – thanks to George W. Bush, who had just won re-election. That year Bush <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/09/politics/latino-vote-key-election/index.html">won</a> 44% of the Hispanic vote, far more than Romney’s 27% in 2012.</p>
<p>What happened? Bush, a Texan, carefully cultivated the Hispanic vote with his relatively liberal immigration views and his “compassionate conservatism”. But in late 2005, conservative Republicans introduced <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/immig/summary-of-the-sensenbrenner-immigration-bill.aspx">a draconian immigration bill</a> that levied hefty fines and prison sentences on undocumented workers. This triggered wide-scale immigration rights protests that elicited troubling remarks from conservatives, who <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/11/us/11immig.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">called</a> the protests “ominous” and “repellent”. Hispanic support for the Republican Party plummeted.</p>
<p>Reminding Hispanics of that history helps solidify their ties to the Democratic Party. But putting immigration reform front-and-centre also wedges an already-fractured GOP. The party remains split between immigration hardliners and those who see reform as the only way to heal the rift between Hispanic voters and Republicans.</p>
<p>Leading the charge for reform is Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who has <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/rubio-immigration-plan-conservatives-love-looks-lot-obamas">moved left</a> on the issue and now shares much common ground with President Obama and the Democrats. As a front-runner for his party’s nomination in 2016, Rubio holds sway on immigration. In the process, though, he’s making enemies among <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/337590/groundhog-day-immigration-mark-krikorian">some conservatives</a>. In working with Democrats, Rubio may very well find himself with little support among the Republican base.</p>
<p>Four years ago, Barack Obama <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-obama.html?pagewanted=all">talked</a> of immigration in personal terms: his father was Kenyan, so Obama understood the experience of first-generation Americans. On Monday, he spoke in much broader language, tying the immigrant dream not only to the nation’s founding but to its future. In making immigrants – both citizens and undocumented residents – central to his vision of a liberal America, he sought to strengthen the bonds between key voting blocs and the Democratic Party. If those bonds endure, that vision is likely to become a reality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/11718/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Hemmer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For an American president, the first inaugural address sets the stage for the four years to follow. The second inaugural address, on the other hand, focuses on a much longer legacy. Barack Obama’s speech…Nicole Hemmer, Visiting Assistant Professor at University of Miami & Research Associate, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/117402013-01-23T00:44:14Z2013-01-23T00:44:14ZInauguration speech a real source of climate change hope<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/19482/original/jxnms6cb-1358892259.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">While Obama may have given little up-front attention to climate change, he's assembled a top-notch team behind the scenes.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Mark Wilson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>President Obama’s <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/president-obamas-second-inaugural-address-transcript/2013/01/21/f148d234-63d6-11e2-85f5-a8a9228e55e7_story.html">inauguration speech</a> this week presented a source of real hope for all those concerned about global climate change. With eight sentences, he devoted more of his address to this “wicked” problem than any other domestic or foreign policy challenge.</p>
<p>But what Obama said was far less significant than his choice of timing and platform. The President knew that important domestic and international audiences would be paying attention.</p>
<p>This wasn’t some Washington forum of environmentalists, scientists and business leaders. This was Obama making clear that progress on addressing climate change is going to be a key measure of the success of his second term.</p>
<p>These speeches are as important as any. They set the tone for a presidency and will structure the framework for policy development in the world’s largest economy over the next four years. And a second-term inauguration speech is especially important. It is crafted with an eye to legacy, in the knowledge that the president has fought his last election and there is only so much time to truly achieve ones policy ambition.</p>
<p>Six months before the 2005 British election, I recall standing with a small group of advisers and public servants outside the cabinet room at the back of Downing Street. Prime minister Tony Blair argued to the group that no matter the degree of enthusiasm, ability and commitment in the room, the problem with seeking a third mandate was that little one could say was fresh. When a new issue or approach was put forward, the question in the mind of the electorate was: why hadn’t it been dealt with already?</p>
<p>But the US is different. For a US president who has won a second term there is no “It’s Time” factor to worry about. Obama already knows the date he will be leaving the oval office, and every month, week and day that passes closes the window of opportunity around what he might achieve. Those are the rules: <a href="http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_Am22.html">Amendment 22 of the US Constitution</a> effectively creates the constraint to allow for policy innovation.</p>
<p>And notwithstanding the growth of economic and political power in China, India, Brazil and the other rapidly developing economies, it is the United States that still has an unparallelled hold over the world’s imagination. It isn’t that the US perspective on climate change is the key to unlocking global progress on climate change. It is just that we know that without it, progress is a good deal harder.</p>
<p>So what might Obama achieve? Can he achieve anything with the current Congress? What could be his legacy on climate?</p>
<p>Despite his silence and apparent lack of interest in the three years between Copenhagen and <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/hurricane-sandy">Hurricane Sandy</a>, from the beginning of his presidency Obama has assembled a veritable “super group” with a deep knowledge of climate science and the infrastructure required to unlink economic growth from energy and emissions growth.</p>
<p>In his Energy Secretary Stephen Chu he has a Nobel prize-winning physicist who has devoted his career to developing and promoting low carbon energy technologies and infrastructure. In John Holdren, the President’s senior advisor on science and technology, he has someone with a deep knowledge of climate change and the most effective means of reducing emissions.</p>
<p>The president failed to get Congressional support for carbon pricing in the first term. But with more than $70 billion in direct spending and tax credits for clean energy, the <a href="http://www.recovery.gov/">American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009</a> was the largest federal investment in US history in renewable energy, public transport, and energy efficiency.</p>
<p>Domestically, Obama will probably look to build on these initiatives by avoiding fights with a dysfunctional Congress. He will instead focus on administrative measures to reduce emissions from power plants and increase the carbon efficiency of the economy through a mix of demand and supply side regulations and incentives.</p>
<p>To do this, the president will have to build new alliances with environmentalists, scientists, business leaders and civil society. He knows that real progress will be impossible if the issue is viewed solely as an environmental challenge. It has to be about international competitiveness, innovation and energy security as well. Any progress will require a fundamental shift in the US, and global, energy economy. And leading this sort of change requires the ability to build a consensus across party lines that will give the policy agenda the consistency and stability required to shift investment from high carbon to low carbon infrastructure.</p>
<p>Internationally, Obama is unlikely to throw the focus to the next major UN meeting in Paris, where the rules of a post-2020 international climate regime are to be negotiated in 2015. His experience of flying into the Copenhagen negotiation makes it unlikely that he is going to want to expose himself to the anarchic and unedifying process of negotiating two pages of text to salvage a conference heading for failure.</p>
<p>More likely is the possibility of bilateral agreements between the US and other major emitters; support for an expansion and linking of carbon pricing mechanisms in the US states, Europe and potentially Australia and a clear and consistent message to investors that the US is looking to lead in the development and implementation of new low carbon technologies and infrastructure. It is through these measures that he can build the momentum towards any multilateral agreement.</p>
<p>In Copenhagen in 2009 I was fortunate to observe Obama working on this problem up close. No one there could question his grasp of the issue and his <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-during-press-availability-copenhagen">commitment to achieving progress</a>. His gifts were used to avoid diplomatic catastrophe. </p>
<p>Observing how he uses those same gifts to build an effective US agenda on climate change will be more than fascinating. It may be the clearest measure of whether the world can rise to the challenge of reducing the potentially catastrophic effects of an ever-warming atmosphere. Achieve progress and that will be a legacy for which all under middle age, and those yet to be born, will be truly grateful.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/11740/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Rowley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>President Obama’s inauguration speech this week presented a source of real hope for all those concerned about global climate change. With eight sentences, he devoted more of his address to this “wicked…Nick Rowley, Professor, Sydney Democracy Network, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/117362013-01-22T05:41:16Z2013-01-22T05:41:16ZObama inauguration speech: a historic moment for gay and lesbian equality<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/19468/original/cc5ngk7z-1358823709.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Obama wove the story of gay rights into the language of America's founding fathers during his inauguration speech.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Shawn Thew</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Much has been made of the fact President Obama became the first president to mention the word gay in an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/video/2013/01/21/us/politics/100000002017304/obamas-inauguration-speech.html">inaugural address</a>.</p>
<p>But the significance lies not in what he said but how he said it.</p>
<p>In declaring, “Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law” Obama not only declared himself abstractly for “gay rights”, he placed these rights at the heart of the central ideals of the American story.</p>
<p>Obama’s whole speech sprung from his reiteration of the much sung hymn to equality from the Declaration of Independence which he quoted at the start of his speech:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness</p>
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<p>Presidents and other American orators are fond of quoting this lodestone of the American dream, so it is not surprise that Obama should refer to it.</p>
<p>But his speech was much more telling because he made clear that he took those words as a call to action:</p>
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<p>For history tells us that while these truths maybe self-evident, they have never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth.</p>
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<p>Again, a rousing call to act for freedom and equality is common place in the American presidential tradition. Obama’s distinctive play on this came with his declaration that securing equality and freedom entailed both a steadfast commitment to the founding father’s vision and embracing intelligent changes in the light of contemporary challenges.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action</p>
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<p>Obama’s riff on gay and lesbian rights then begins in a very specific way which very skillfully links it to both adaptation to new challenges and collective action.</p>
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<p>We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.</p>
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<p>In this extraordinary declaration, Obama not only declares that adapting to, and fighting for, gay and lesbian rights is important, but that the fight for these rights, which stems from the <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/stonewall/player/">1969 Stonewall riots,</a> should be placed on the same footing as the fight for women’s rights at <a href="http://www.npg.si.edu/col/seneca/senfalls1.htm">Seneca Falls</a> and the fight for <a href="http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/133semo/133selma.htm">racial equality at Selma</a>. Here the president effectively placed the fight for gay and lesbian rights within the myth of the ongoing American revolution.</p>
<p>This leads to an explicit call for gay and lesbian equality in the next paragraph:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.</p>
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<p>Obama goes further here than any of his predecessors would have dared. This is not just a call for equality under the law, it is a carefully phrased call for same sex marriage: “the love we commit to one another must be equal as well”.</p>
<p>Obama has recently declared his support for same sex marriage, so this is not a new statement. But his inclusion of such a statement in an inaugural address, a key ritual moment of American democracy, and his inclusion of this declaration in the context of the fight for women’s and civil rights marks yet another milestone in the story of gay and lesbian citizenship.</p>
<p>The fight for marriage equality faces several key tests in the US this year, the most significant of which are the <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-supreme-court-wades-into-same-sex-marriage-debate-11261">cases</a> before the Supreme Court about the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8, both of which define marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman.</p>
<p>One of the ongoing pressure points in American public debate has been around so called “<a href="http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1995232,00.html">judicial-activism</a>” on social issues. In opposing such “activism” conservative legal scholars often adhere to a doctrine called “<a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1561933">originalism</a>”, which proclaims that any constitutional judgement must aim to get as close as possible to the original meaning of the words of the founding fathers when interpreting the constitution.</p>
<p>In this carefully crafted speech, Obama not only laid a claim for gay and lesbian equality and same sex marriage; he was laying a claim that any constitutional value of equality does not have an original or fundamentalist meaning, rather one that constantly evolves.</p>
<p>This is fundamentally at odds with our own Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who appeals to the importance of tradition and “<a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/pm-julia-gillard-gay-marriage-against-my-upbringing/story-e6freuy9-1226025009815">heritage</a>” in her own refusal to acknowledge the marriage rights of gay and lesbian Australians.</p>
<p>Traditions only continue to have meaning when they are reinterpreted and made relevant by each generation. Obama’s inauguration speech was an inspiring attempt to do this. Let’s hope his actions over the next four years are equally inspiring.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/11736/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marcus O'Donnell is the former editor of Sydney gay and lesbian newspaper The Sydney Star Observer</span></em></p>Much has been made of the fact President Obama became the first president to mention the word gay in an inaugural address. But the significance lies not in what he said but how he said it. In declaring…Marcus O'Donnell, Lecturer, Program Convenor, Journalism, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/117282013-01-22T02:27:44Z2013-01-22T02:27:44ZObama defends progressive vision in inauguration address<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/19463/original/g6m6rfy6-1358820523.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Obama delivered an ambitious inaugural address, but will struggle to get many of his progressive measures through a hostile Congress.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Chip Somodevilla</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>US President Barack Obama’s first inaugural address was largely forgettable. </p>
<p>Recognising the large divide between the soaring optimism of his campaign rhetoric and the realities of an economy in the midst of collapse, the president spent most of his speech tamping down expectations. </p>
<p>It was an address heavy in platitudes and light in substance, and his declaration that the country was ready to move beyond its bickering sounds positively quaint in retrospect.</p>
<p>One could be forgiven for expecting a similar tepid performance today. Inaugural addresses are rarely memorable. Instead, in a speech that will inspire Democrats and frustrate conservatives and perhaps some moderates, Obama delivered what some have called the most <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/01/obamas-startling-second-inaugural/267365/">progressive</a> and <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/01/21/an-expansive-case-for-progressive-governance-grounded-in-language-of-founding-fathers/">ambitious</a> statement of his political career.</p>
<p>Obama opened his speech by referencing the Declaration of Independence and the nation’s founding. By creating a government for the many and not for the few, the president explained, the Framers were giving Americans the opportunity to shape their own destiny and more fully realise the promises of the founding generation.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“For we have always understood that when times change, so must we, that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges, that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action.”</p>
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<p>Obama repeatedly emphasised the link between individual freedom and economic opportunity. And he did so in terms that were more unabashedly progressive than we’ve seen in the recent past.</p>
<p>Gone were the repeated references to deficits and debt reduction. There was a mention of the need to make hard choices to reduce health care costs and spending. But the overwhelming focus was on promoting economic growth and opportunity and defending the social safety net and the “basic measure of security and dignity” it provides.</p>
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<p>“The commitments we make to each other – through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security – these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great.”</p>
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<p>Of course, these statements are not concrete policy promises. But they provide insight into the president’s mindset and priorities as the nation prepares for another heated and high-stakes round of budget negotiations. </p>
<p>Those on the left who worried that Obama was ready to accept large-scale cuts to entitlement programs as part of a broad debt reduction deal will no doubt find solace in his statements today.</p>
<p>There was also a sizeable chunk of space devoted to climate change with Obama clearly outlining the country’s obligations to future generations. The argument was framed in economic terms as well as moral; the world is inevitably moving towards a clean energy economy and the US should be leaders not followers in this transition.</p>
<p>Right now, there’s no chance of any sort of carbon pricing bill getting through Congress. Such a proposal would meet fierce opposition in the Republican controlled House of Representatives and wouldn’t have the votes to override the Senate filibuster.</p>
<p>But there are smaller steps that the executive branch can take unilaterally. And in any case, positions evolve and Obama advocating for action will certainly influence the politics of a topic that had disappeared almost entirely from the national debate.</p>
<p>This wasn’t intended as a divisive speech. But it certainly wasn’t a tribute to compromise or post-partisanship either. The president put forth a specific vision of America; a vision that he believes the country shares along with him.</p>
<p>Four years down the road Obama’s first inaugural address feels stale and dated. I think posterity will judge this one in a more favourable light. </p>
<p>But it remains to be seen how much success he will have in translating this vision into policy during his second term.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/11728/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke Freedman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>US President Barack Obama’s first inaugural address was largely forgettable. Recognising the large divide between the soaring optimism of his campaign rhetoric and the realities of an economy in the midst…Luke Freedman, US Election Analyst, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.