Murphy, Peter (2022) America: The Janus Nation. Budhi: A Journal of Culture and Ideas, 26 (2). pp. 131-151.

PDF (Published Version) - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only

Abstract

America is a paradoxical society. That is one of its strengths. One of its weaknesses is its periodic inability to understand its own paradoxical nature. It is a Janus nation, one in which (in principle) incompatible things exist in a simultaneous state. When this paradoxical fusion works, it has great benefits. When it fails to work, American society loses its inner equilibrium. Pugnacious antagonisms arise in its place. The tension within the United States between the drive toward a union of opposites (most famously embodied in its Constitution) and the periodic centrifugal spinning out of American society into a state of mutual loathing is discussed—most recently the case of the 2010s and the rise of ultra-partisan hyperbole.

Item ID:	78033
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	2243-7886
Keywords:	Equilibrium, union of opposites, public personas, personality disorders, rhetoric, hyperbole, political participation, exceptionalism, political pendulum, political polarization
Copyright Information:	© 2023 All Rights Reserved.
Date Deposited:	15 May 2023 05:07
FoR Codes:	44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4408 Political science > 440811 Political theory and political philosophy @ 100%
SEO Codes:	28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280123 Expanding knowledge in human society @ 100%
Downloads:	Total: 1
	More Statistics