Description
Much has been written about American exceptionalism–its roots in frontier mythology, its civilising mission, and its Cold War consolidation as the “shining city upon a hill”. Less attention has been paid to the Soviet Union’s own claims to exceptionalism as a vanguard totalitarian state tasked with saving the world from “warmongering” capitalists. While these Cold War narratives were underpinned by radically different ideologies, both superpowers constructed themselves as unique and world-historical actors. This paper revisits these foundational narratives to better understand how American and Russian exceptionalisms have been reactivated, repurposed, and illiberalised under Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Drawing on major speeches, diplomatic and Cold War history, and US-USSR/Russia foreign relations, we argue that both states construct themselves as righteous, besieged civilisational cores, destined to reclaim a lost greatness. But whereas Cold War-era exceptionalism was largely forward-looking–built on ideologies of progress–today’s exceptionalist discourses are defensive and nostalgic, marked by wounded pride and anti-globalist ressentiment. Trump’s rhetoric of American decline and greatness lost mirrors Putin’s emphasis on spiritual renewal and historical grievance, thus producing new logics of illiberal sovereignty. In both cases, exceptionalism legitimates transgressive politics, while presenting each nation as a singular bulwark against internal decadence and external threat. By tracing Russian and American exceptionalist narratives, this paper offers a perspective on how historical self-understandings animate contemporary illiberalism.
