Historically, there were several major empires that infiltrated and conquered land to spread their own language, culture, and geographic territory. Beyond imperial expansion that spread to adjacent territories, there were also colonies that were established. This was all done through hard power and force. There was a time where France spread and thrived and had a strong colonial empire from the 17th century to the 1970’s. Their imperialist tactic forced others to learn the French language and become more French in their knowledge and cultural habits. Certain soft powers were also in place, even so far as in, knowing French means you have a certain status and ability to communicate with greater parts of the world. At the same time there was of course the competing and powerful British Empire spreading English, but it wasn’t really until the United States rose to power in the present information age that English became such a hyper GLOBALIZED language. In fact, English is the basis for a lot of Computer coding languages and a lot of higher education articles. The majority of information used today is originally documented in English and is only later translated, if at all. But this isn’t hard power this is soft power. American’s essentially beat the French in terms of global appeal. Beyond coding and academia, it is clear that American music and film was heavily exported and admired through out the world. This also encouraged people to learn English in order to engage with the original material. According to Meunier, there are 7 reasons why today’s French engage with Anti-Americanism, but in reality they all boil down to just one thing, French elites are nostalgic for the olden days of France as a powerful nation state.
Obviously this makes sense, who wouldn’t want to have the biggest fan base and highest level of influence? While we are no longer globally invading and provoking wars at the level we once were (though Americans are in Iraq), we see more and more young people imitating this desire for soft power through social media followers. Perhaps there is something about human nature that desires to be heard and looked at and held up as more valuable than the others? At least that’s what capitalist ideologies would have you believe. It would seem that both America and France believe that ‘some animals are more equal than others’ as they argue and point fingers about who is actually better than who. As Rogerk points out, the primary issue with being Anti-American (or anti-French for that matter) would be that there is something essentialist about America as a whole (4). Therefore, being anti-American would be illogical in nature and have to rely on ideas and narratives more than complex realties. This appears to be true as Meunier states that a lot of anti-american ideologies do in fact rest in being against a certain narrative that America itself is too powerful and the French language and culture much be preserved.
The seven types of Anti-Americanism as described by Meunier are:
Sovereignist, which believe the United States is too powerful
Legacy based, certain vocabulary and word choice carried over from times of war
Liberal based, the U.S. preaches free trade, but finds loopholes to keep larger companies in positions of power (even against better environmental options).
Elitist based, Americans are just not classy, they have a short history, which isn’t rich and deep like the history of the great nation of France
Nostalgic based, there is a longing for the past power that France possessed
Social based, the U.S. has a lack of healthcare, low access to good public education, etc.
Radical Muslim based, there is Muslims in France who despise the war on terror
Out of these 7, 4 seemed focused on the idea that France itself is a great country and the Americans just aren’t as ‘good’ as the French. Disliking America for it’s social policy and neoliberalism, however, does make sense. Yet, as the economist explains, many French people do like American products. There has also never been any war directly between the United States and France. Plus, people have also liked American products historically as is the case with Jazz music in the 1920s. The economist seems to agree that the primary cause of Anti-Americanism is in fact just deeply rooted insecurity that the French aren’t as powerful as they once were. Both nations want freedom and individual rights, but Americans want liberty and the French want civilization. That means that in general, French people might be more likely to consider themselves a peoples or a nation, where as American individualism and free speech makes them less likely to do so. Ultimately, the French seem against the idea of cosmopolitanism and globalization simply because they aren’t the center of the world and continue to dream of a time where they ‘almost’ could have been.
Works Cited
The Economist. “French Anti-Americanism: Spot the Difference”. The Economist, Special Report, London, 2005.
Meunier, Sophie. “Anti-Americanisms in France” French Politics Culture & Society 23(2), 2005, pp. 126 – 141.
Roger, Phillipe. “Introduction”. The American Enemy: The History of French Anti-Americanism, Chicago, 2005, pp. ix-xviii.
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