Introduction

• Published in: The Anti-American Century p. 1
• Main Author: Ivan Krastev
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Central European University Press 20-04-2007
• Edition: NED - New edition, 1
• Subjects: Democracy; Government; National politics; Political elections; Political processes; Political regimes; Political science; Political systems; Politics
• ISBN: 9789637326806; 9637326804

When in 1941 in a Life magazine editorial its publisher Henry Luce coined the phrase “The American Century” nobody knew how the world viewed America and its policies. The age of the opinion polls—this opium for the people—was not born yet. A son of a missionary and a visionary himself, Henry Luce urged the United States to forsake isolationism for a missionary’s role, acting as the world’s Good Samaritan and spreading democracy and freedom. And his call for creating the “first great American Century” was heard. For more than half a century many people thought the US as