The Myth Of Middle East Exceptionalism

Download The Myth Of Middle East Exceptionalism full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online The Myth Of Middle East Exceptionalism ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!

The Myth of Middle East Exceptionalism

Author : Mojtaba Mahdavi
Publisher : Syracuse University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780815637929
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (379 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Myth of Middle East Exceptionalism by : Mojtaba Mahdavi

Download or read book The Myth of Middle East Exceptionalism written by Mojtaba Mahdavi and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 2023-03-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than a decade after the birth of contemporary social movements in the Middle East and North Africa scholars are asking what these movements have achieved and how we should evaluate their lasting legacies. The quiet encroachments of MENA counterrevolutionary forces in the post-Arab Spring era have contributed to the revival of an outdated Orientalist discourse of Middle East exceptionalism, implying that the region’s culture is exceptionally immune to democratic movements, values, and institutions. This volume, inspired by critical post-colonial/decolonial studies, and interdisciplinary perspectives of social movement theories, gender studies, Islamic studies, and critical race theory, challenges and demystifies the myth of “MENA Exceptionalism”. Composted of three sections, the book first places MENA in the larger global context and sheds light on the impact of geopolitics on the current crises, showing how a postcolonial critique better explains the crisis of democratic social movements and the resilience of authoritarianism. The second section focuses on the unfinished projects of contemporary MENA social movements and their quest for freedom, social justice, and human dignity. Contributors examine specific cases of post-Islamist movements, the Arab youth, student, and other popular non-violent movements. In the final section, the book problematizes the exceptionalist idea of gender passivity and women’s exclusion, which reduces the reality of gender injustice to some eternal and essentialized Muslim/MENA mindset. Contributors address this theory by placing gender as an independent category of thought and action, demonstrating the quest for gender justice movements in MENA, and providing contexts to the cases of gender injustice to challenge simplistic, ahistorical and culturalist assumptions.

The Myth of American Exceptionalism

Author : Godfrey Hodgson
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300142684
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (1 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Myth of American Exceptionalism by : Godfrey Hodgson

Download or read book The Myth of American Exceptionalism written by Godfrey Hodgson and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2009-01-27 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The idea that the United States is destined to spread its unique gifts of democracy and capitalism to other countries is dangerous for Americans and for the rest of the world, warns Godfrey Hodgson in this provocative book. Hodgson, a shrewd and highly respected British commentator, argues that America is not as exceptional as it would like to think; its blindness to its own history has bred a complacent nationalism and a disastrous foreign policy that has isolated and alienated it from the global community. Tracing the development of America’s high self regard from the early days of the republic to the present era, Hodgson demonstrates how its exceptionalism has been systematically exaggerated and—in recent decades—corrupted. While there have been distinct and original elements in America’s history and political philosophy, notes Hodgson, these have always been more heavily influenced by European thought and experience than Americans have been willing to acknowledge. A stimulating and timely assessment of how America’s belief in its exceptionalism has led it astray, this book is mandatory reading for its citizens, admirers, and detractors.

The Myth of Middle East Exceptionalism

Author : Mojtaba Mahdavi
Publisher : Syracuse University Press
ISBN 13 : 0815655770
Total Pages : 375 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (156 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Myth of Middle East Exceptionalism by : Mojtaba Mahdavi

Download or read book The Myth of Middle East Exceptionalism written by Mojtaba Mahdavi and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 2023-02-28 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than a decade after the birth of contemporary social movements in the Middle East and North Africa scholars are asking what these movements have achieved and how we should evaluate their lasting legacies. The quiet encroachments of MENA counterrevolutionary forces in the post-Arab Spring era have contributed to the revival of an outdated Orientalist discourse of Middle East exceptionalism, implying that the region’s culture is exceptionally immune to democratic movements, values, and institutions. This volume, inspired by critical post-colonial/decolonial studies, and interdisciplinary perspectives of social movement theories, gender studies, Islamic studies, and critical race theory, challenges and demystifies the myth of "MENA Exceptionalism". Composted of three sections, the book first places MENA in the larger global context and sheds light on the impact of geopolitics on the current crises, showing how a postcolonial critique better explains the crisis of democratic social movements and the resilience of authoritarianism. The second section focuses on the unfinished projects of contemporary MENA social movements and their quest for freedom, social justice, and human dignity. Contributors examine specific cases of post-Islamist movements, the Arab youth, student, and other popular non-violent movements. In the final section, the book problematizes the exceptionalist idea of gender passivity and women’s exclusion, which reduces the reality of gender injustice to some eternal and essentialized Muslim/MENA mindset. Contributors address this theory by placing gender as an independent category of thought and action, demonstrating the quest for gender justice movements in MENA, and providing contexts to the cases of gender injustice to challenge simplistic, ahistorical and culturalist assumptions.

The Myth of American Exceptionalism

Author : Godfrey Hodgson
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780300125702
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (257 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Myth of American Exceptionalism by : Godfrey Hodgson

Download or read book The Myth of American Exceptionalism written by Godfrey Hodgson and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The idea that the United States is destined to spread its unique gifts of democracy and capitalism to other countries is dangerous for Americans and for the rest of the world, warns Godfrey Hodgson in this provocative book. Hodgson, a shrewd and highly respected British commentator, argues that America is not as exceptional as it would like to think; its blindness to its own history has bred a complacent nationalism and a disastrous foreign policy that has isolated and alienated it from the global community. Tracing the development of America’s high self regard from the early days of the republic to the present era, Hodgson demonstrates how its exceptionalism has been systematically exaggerated and—in recent decades—corrupted. While there have been distinct and original elements in America’s history and political philosophy, notes Hodgson, these have always been more heavily influenced by European thought and experience than Americans have been willing to acknowledge. A stimulating and timely assessment of how America’s belief in its exceptionalism has led it astray, this book is mandatory reading for its citizens, admirers, and detractors.

National Symbols in Modern Iran

Author : Menahem Merhavy
Publisher : Syracuse University Press
ISBN 13 : 081565491X
Total Pages : 277 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (156 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis National Symbols in Modern Iran by : Menahem Merhavy

Download or read book National Symbols in Modern Iran written by Menahem Merhavy and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 2019-12-03 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now more than ever the role of icons and monuments in shaping a national identity is a subject of vital importance to scholars of both nationalism and memory studies. While the nation-state undoubtedly has a powerful influence on a society’s cultural memory, it cannot necessarily control the ways in which icons are perceived. Once created, national symbols and perceptions of them take on a life of their own. Taking an innovative approach to the study of Iranian nationalism, Merhavy examines the way symbols from Iran’s past have played an important role in the struggles between political, religious, and ideological movements over legitimacy in the last five decades. Using a rich variety of primary sources, he traces the process by which these symbols have been appropriated, rejected, and reinterpreted by the Pahlavi state, the Islamic opposition, and finally, the Islamic Republic. In doing so, this volume contributes to our understanding of cultural symbols that survive political upheavals, dramatic and significant as they may be. It also contributes to the growing body of literature that challenges the state centered perspective of much research on modern Iran by exposing the ever growing importance of civil society in the Iranian public sphere from the second half of the twentieth century onward.

A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East and North Africa

Author : Joel Beinin
Publisher : Stanford University Press
ISBN 13 : 1503614484
Total Pages : 371 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (36 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East and North Africa by : Joel Beinin

Download or read book A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East and North Africa written by Joel Beinin and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2020-12-22 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers the first critical engagement with the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa. Challenging conventional wisdom on the origins and contemporary dynamics of capitalism in the region, these cutting-edge essays demonstrate how critical political economy can illuminate both historical and contemporary dynamics of the region and contribute to wider political economy debates from the vantage point of the Middle East. Leading scholars, representing several disciplines, contribute both thematic and country-specific analyses. Their writings critically examine major issues in political economy—notably, the mutual constitution of states, markets, and classes; the co-constitution of class, race, gender, and other forms of identity; varying modes of capital accumulation and the legal, political, and cultural forms of their regulation; relations among local, national, and global forms of capital, class, and culture; technopolitics; the role of war in the constitution of states and classes; and practices and cultures of domination and resistance. Visit politicaleconomyproject.org for additional media and learning resources.

Victims of Commemoration

Author : Eray Çayli
Publisher : Syracuse University Press
ISBN 13 : 0815655460
Total Pages : 247 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (156 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Victims of Commemoration by : Eray Çayli

Download or read book Victims of Commemoration written by Eray Çayli and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 2022-08-03 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Confronting the past" has become a byword for democratization. How societies and governments commemorate their violent pasts is often appraised as a litmus test of their democratization claims. Regardless of how critical such appraisals may be, they tend to share a fundamental assumption: commemoration, as a symbol of democratization, is ontologically distinct from violence. The pitfalls of this assumption have been nowhere more evident than in Turkey whose mainstream image on the world stage has rapidly descended from a regional beacon of democracy to a hotbed of violence within the space of a few recent years. In Victims of Commemoration, Eray Çayli draws upon extensive fieldwork he conducted in the prelude to the mid-2010s when Turkey’s global image fell from grace. This ethnography—the first of its kind—explores both activist and official commemorations at sites of state-endorsed violence in Turkey that have become the subject of campaigns for memorial museums. Reversing the methodological trajectory of existing accounts, Çayli works from the politics of urban and architectural space to grasp ethnic, religious, and ideological marginalization. Victims of Commemoration reveals that, whether campaigns for memorial museums bear fruit or not, architecture helps communities concentrate their political work against systemic problems. Sites significant to Kurdish, Alevi, and revolutionary-leftist struggles for memory and justice prompt activists to file petitions and lawsuits, organize protests, and build new political communities. In doing so, activists not only uphold the legacy of victims but also reject the identity of a passive victimhood being imposed on them. They challenge not only the ways specific violent pasts and their victims are represented, but also the structural violence which underpins deep-seated approaches to nationhood, publicness and truth, and which itself is a source of victimhood. Victims of Commemoration complicates our tendency to presume that violence ends where commemoration begins and that architecture’s role in both is reducible to a question of symbolism.

Israeli Exceptionalism

Author : M. Alam
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 0230101372
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (31 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Israeli Exceptionalism by : M. Alam

Download or read book Israeli Exceptionalism written by M. Alam and published by Springer. This book was released on 2009-11-09 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses the small band of European Zionists, who entered the world stage in late 19th century, determined to create a Jewish state and considers how, at that time in Europe, Jewish-Gentile frictions were local problems, whilst today in Israel they have come to form the pivot of global conflict.

Rethinking Political Islam

Author : Shadi Hamid
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190649224
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (96 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Rethinking Political Islam by : Shadi Hamid

Download or read book Rethinking Political Islam written by Shadi Hamid and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-07-17 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For years, scholars hypothesized about what Islamists might do if they ever came to power. Now, they have answers: confusing ones. In the Levant, ISIS established a government by brute force, implementing an extreme interpretation of Islamic law. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Tunisia's Ennahda Party governed in coalition with two secular parties, ratified a liberal constitution, and voluntarily stepped down from power. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, the world's oldest Islamist movement, won power through free elections only to be ousted by a military coup. The strikingly disparate results of Islamist movements have challenged conventional wisdom on political Islam, forcing experts and Islamists to rethink some of their most basic assumptions. In Rethinking Political Islam, two of the leading scholars on Islamism, Shadi Hamid and William McCants, have gathered a group of leading specialists in the field to explain how an array of Islamist movements across the Middle East and Asia have responded. Unlike ISIS and other jihadist groups that garner the most media attention, these movements have largely opted for gradual change. Their choices, however, have been reshaped by the revolutionary politics of the region. The groups depicted in the volume capture the contradictions, successes, and failures of Islamism, providing a fascinating window into a rapidly changing Middle East. It is the first book to systematically assess the evolution of mainstream Islamist groups since the Arab uprisings and the rise of ISIS, covering 12 country cases. In each instance, contributors address key questions, including: gradual versus revolutionary approaches to change; the use of tactical or situational violence; attitudes toward the nation-state; and how ideology, religion, and political variables interact. For the first time in book form, readers will also hear directly from Islamist activists and leaders themselves, as they offer their own perspectives on the future of their movements. Islamists will have the opportunity to challenge the assumptions and arguments of some of the leading scholars of Islamism, in the spirit of constructive dialogue. Rethinking Political Islam includes three of the most important country cases outside the Middle East-Indonesia, Malaysia, and Pakistan-allowing readers to consider a greater diversity of Islamist experiences. The book's contributors have immersed themselves in the world of political Islam and conducted original research in the field, resulting in rich accounts of what animates Islamist behavior.

After the Apocalypse

Author : Andrew Bacevich
Publisher : Metropolitan Books
ISBN 13 : 1250796008
Total Pages : 121 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (57 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis After the Apocalypse by : Andrew Bacevich

Download or read book After the Apocalypse written by Andrew Bacevich and published by Metropolitan Books. This book was released on 2021-06-08 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A bold and urgent perspective on how American foreign policy must change in response to the shifting world order of the twenty-first century, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Limits of Power and The Age of Illusions. The purpose of U.S. foreign policy has, at least theoretically, been to keep Americans safe. Yet as we confront a radically changed world, it has become indisputably clear that the terms of that policy have failed. Washington’s insistence that a market economy is compatible with the common good, its faith in the idea of the “West” and its “special relationships,” its conviction that global military primacy is the key to a stable and sustainable world order—these have brought endless wars and a succession of moral and material disasters. In a bold reconception of America’s place in the world, informed by thinking from across the political spectrum, Andrew J. Bacevich—founder and president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a bipartisan Washington think tank dedicated to foreign policy—lays down a new approach—one that is based on moral pragmatism, mutual coexistence, and war as a last resort. Confronting the threats of the future—accelerating climate change, a shift in the international balance of power, and the ascendance of information technology over brute weapons of war—his vision calls for nothing less than a profound overhaul of our understanding of national security. Crucial and provocative, After the Apocalypse sets out new principles to guide the once-but-no-longer sole superpower as it navigates a transformed world.

American Exceptionalism Reconsidered

Author : David P. Forsythe
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 131735236X
Total Pages : 160 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (173 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis American Exceptionalism Reconsidered by : David P. Forsythe

Download or read book American Exceptionalism Reconsidered written by David P. Forsythe and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-11-25 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is the US really exceptional in terms of its willingness to take universal human rights seriously? According to the rhetoric of American political leaders, the United States has a unique and lasting commitment to human rights principles and to a liberal world order centered on rule of law and human dignity. But when push comes to shove—most recently in Libya and Syria--the United States failed to stop atrocities and dithered as disorder spread in both places. This book takes on the myths surrounding US foreign policy and the future of world order. Weighing impulses toward parochial nationalism against the ideal of cosmopolitan internationalism, the authors posit that what may be emerging is a new brand of American globalism, or a foreign policy that gives primacy to national self-interest but does so with considerable interest in and genuine attention to universal human rights and a willingness to suffer and pay for those outside its borders—at least on occasion. The occasions of exception—such as Libya and Syria—provide case studies for critical analysis and allow the authors to look to emerging dominant powers, especially China, for indicators of new challenges to the commitment to universal human rights and humanitarian affairs in the context of the ongoing clash between liberalism and realism. The book is guided by four central questions: 1) What is the relationship between cosmopolitan international standards and narrow national self-interest in US policy on human rights and humanitarian affairs? 2) What is the role of American public opinion and does it play any significant role in shaping US policy in this dialectical clash? 3) Beyond public opinion, what other factors account for the shifting interplay of liberal and realist inclinations in Washington policy making? 4) In the 21st century and as global power shifts, what are the current views and policies of other countries when it comes to the application of human rights and humanitarian affairs?

State Formation and Identity in the Middle East and North Africa

Author : K. Christie
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 1137369604
Total Pages : 212 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (373 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis State Formation and Identity in the Middle East and North Africa by : K. Christie

Download or read book State Formation and Identity in the Middle East and North Africa written by K. Christie and published by Springer. This book was released on 2013-12-17 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For states in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, the "Arab Spring" has had different implications and consequences, stemming from the politics of identity and the historical and political processes that have shaped development. This book focuses on how these factors interact with globalization and affect state formation.

Extremist Shiites

Author : Matti Moosa
Publisher : Syracuse University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780815624110
Total Pages : 614 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (241 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Extremist Shiites by : Matti Moosa

Download or read book Extremist Shiites written by Matti Moosa and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 1988-02-01 with total page 614 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Little is known in the West about the division of the Islamic world into Shiites and Sunnites and even less about the stratification of these two groups, with most of the attention going to the Sunnites. Moosa's comprehensive study of the origins and cultural aspects of the different extremist, or Ghulat, Shiite sects in the Middle East is a ground-breaking work. These sects whose 'extremism' is essentially religious are generally a peaceful people and, except for the Nusayris of Syria, are not political activists.

The Other Iraq

Author : Orit Bashkin
Publisher : Stanford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0804774153
Total Pages : 377 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (47 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Other Iraq by : Orit Bashkin

Download or read book The Other Iraq written by Orit Bashkin and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2008-11-20 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Other Iraq challenges the notion that Iraq has always been a totalitarian, artificial state, torn by sectarian violence. Chronicling the rise of the Iraqi public sphere from 1921 to 1958, this enlightening work reveals that the Iraqi intellectual field was always more democratic and pluralistic than historians have tended to believe. Orit Bashkin demonstrates how Sunni, Shi'i, and Kurdish intellectuals effectively created hyphenated Iraqi identities, connoting pride in their individual heritages while simultaneously appropriating and integrating ideas and narratives of Arab and Iraqi nationalism. Illustrating three developmental stages of Iraqi intellectual history, she follows Iraqi intellectuals' changing roles, from agents of democracy, to specialists who analyze the population, to deeply entrenched members of society committed to change. Based on previously unexplored material, this eye-opening work has significant contemporary implications.

The Limits of Power

Author : Andrew Bacevich
Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 9780805088151
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (881 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Limits of Power by : Andrew Bacevich

Download or read book The Limits of Power written by Andrew Bacevich and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2008-08-05 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues that America has an unjustified sense of entitlement and examines the economic, political, and military crises the author believes are a product of it.

Islam and Democracy in the Middle East

Author : Larry Diamond
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 360 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Islam and Democracy in the Middle East by : Larry Diamond

Download or read book Islam and Democracy in the Middle East written by Larry Diamond and published by . This book was released on 2003-08-07 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive assessment of the origins and staying power of Middle East autocracies, as well as a sober account of the struggles of state reformers and opposition forces to promote civil liberties, competitive elections and a pluralistic vision of Islam. Drawing on the insights of some 25 leading Western and Middle Eastern scholars, the book highlights the dualistic and often contradictory nature of political liberalization. Yemen suggest, political liberalization - as managed by the state - not only opens new spaces for debate and criticism, but is also used as a deliberate tactic to avoid genuine democratization. In several chapters on Iran, the authors analyze the benefits and costs of limited reform. There, the electoral successes of President Mohammad Khatami and his reformist allies inspired a new generation but have not as yet undermined the clerical establishment's power. By contrast, in Turkey a party with Islamist roots is moving a discredited system beyond decades of conflict and paralysis, following a stunning election victory in 2002. force for change. While acknowledging the enduring attraction of radical Islam throughout the Arab world, the concluding chapters carefully assess the recent efforts of Muslim civil society activists and intellectuals to promote a liberal Islamic alternative. Their struggles to affirm the compatibility of Islam and pluralistic democracy face daunting challenges, not least of which is the persistent efforts of many Arab rulers to limit the influence of all advocates of democracy, secular or religious.

The End of the Myth

Author : Greg Grandin
Publisher : Metropolitan Books
ISBN 13 : 1250179815
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (51 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The End of the Myth by : Greg Grandin

Download or read book The End of the Myth written by Greg Grandin and published by Metropolitan Books. This book was released on 2019-03-05 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE A new and eye-opening interpretation of the meaning of the frontier, from early westward expansion to Trump’s border wall. Ever since this nation’s inception, the idea of an open and ever-expanding frontier has been central to American identity. Symbolizing a future of endless promise, it was the foundation of the United States’ belief in itself as an exceptional nation – democratic, individualistic, forward-looking. Today, though, America hasa new symbol: the border wall. In The End of the Myth, acclaimed historian Greg Grandin explores the meaning of the frontier throughout the full sweep of U.S. history – from the American Revolution to the War of 1898, the New Deal to the election of 2016. For centuries, he shows, America’s constant expansion – fighting wars and opening markets – served as a “gate of escape,” helping to deflect domestic political and economic conflicts outward. But this deflection meant that the country’s problems, from racism to inequality, were never confronted directly. And now, the combined catastrophe of the 2008 financial meltdown and our unwinnable wars in the Middle East have slammed this gate shut, bringing political passions that had long been directed elsewhere back home. It is this new reality, Grandin says, that explains the rise of reactionary populism and racist nationalism, the extreme anger and polarization that catapulted Trump to the presidency. The border wall may or may not be built, but it will survive as a rallying point, an allegorical tombstone marking the end of American exceptionalism.