The Foreign Service Journal, September 2007

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 7 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 79 A Wake-up Call What They Think of Us: International Perceptions of the United States Since 9/11 David Farber, editor, Princeton University Press, 2007, $24.95, hardcover, 187 pages. R EVIEWED BY J OHN B ROWN “Why do they hate us?”, the ques- tion asked by President George W. Bush in his address to Congress in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, is rephrased in this book in a more dispassionate way: “What [do] they think of us?” To answer that question, the study’s edi- tor, David Farber, a professor of histo- ry at Temple University, has assem- bled seven essays (by 12 contributors) examining how America is seen in Iraq, Indonesia, Turkey, China, Rus- sia, Mexico and Europe. “At least one author of every essay,” Farber writes in his preface, “is a citizen of the nation about which the authors are writing — even if he or she is not, at this moment, living in that nation.” The contributors note that, in their individual countries, anti-American- ism is not new. From their brief accounts of the complex historical development of this phenomenon, it is clear that the extent of anti- Americanism, and what contributed to it, is not the same everywhere. But while the magnitude of anti-Ameri- canism varies from nation to nation, this study leaves no doubt that it is one of the defining characteristics of our new century. The main reason for this rampant hostility toward the United States at the present time, the volume sug- gests, is not American values or cul- ture, although in a country like Russia there has been a strong reaction against American notions of democra- cy. Nor can anti-Americanism be sim- ply explained by resentment against our power and influence, even if voic- es are raised, such as in Indonesia, that America is “like a giant that needs too much” (according to Muhammad Fuad, an American studies scholar at the University of Indonesia). Rather, the main cause of anti- Americanism today is the policies of the U.S. government. While through- out the globe “people remain remark- ably friendly to individual Americans,” Farber points out, in “many parts of the world … large majorities are appalled by American policy.” True, certain actions have met with ap- proval — American tsunami relief, Melani Budianta writes, “won the hearts of many Indonesians” — but, on the whole, the Bush administra- tion’s unilateral and militaristic under- takings have been viewed with suspi- cion and horror overseas. The ultimate example of what the world considers American foreign policy catastrophes is the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Many Iraqis see the U.S., in the words of contributors Ibrahim Al-Marashi and Abdul Hadi al-Khalili, “as a brutal, even murder- ous neocolonial power.” This volume has much to com- mend it. While not overly detailed, it does not dumb down a complicated issue and presents a truly internation- al perspective. Its treatment of the world’s reactions to 9/11 is particular- ly illuminating, suggesting that sympa- thy for America after that event was not universal, contrary to what is often assumed in the United States. In fact, foreigners saw 9/11 in a different con- text than most Americans did. For some — in Mexico, for example — the U.S. deserved what it got. Some will fault this book, with its limited use of public opinion surveys, for being impressionistic rather than scientific. It could also be said that its contributors, as intellectuals and scholars, are part of a small universe that does not represent the views of those in other professions or social strata in their countries. Still, this vol- ume is a reminder — and to Ameri- cans, it should be a painful one — of just how far the reputation of our nation has declined. n John Brown, who was in the Foreign Service for over 20 years, compiles the Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review for the USC Center on Public Diplomacy (http://uscpublicdiploma cy.com/index.php/newsroom/john brown_main/). B OOKS While anti-Americanism varies from nation to nation, this study leaves no doubt that it is one of the defining characteristics of our new century.