A/Prof. John A. Rees1
1University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Biography:
John A. Rees, PhD (UNSW) is Director of Research and Training at the Graduate Research School, University of Technology Sydney (UTS). He was formerly the Milward L. Simpson Visiting Fulbright Professor at the University of Wyoming and Professor of International Relations at The University of Notre Dame Australia.
Abstract:
How do we think about the possible impacts of the second Trump Presidency on international politics? Moving beyond normative singular critique, the present paper employs the tools of ideological analysis to offer a comparative study of ‘three competing visions’ (Ramaswamy) at work within the America First movement. The limitations of current IR approaches to the Trump/MAGA phenomenon are first suggested, followed by an introduction to the ideological method associated with Michael Freeden as offering greater capacity to examine the dynamic complexities of the Trump coalition. Based on this approach, the conceptual differences driving neoliberal, nativist, and religious factions within America First are a) explained as different ideologies of the nation with b) divergent impacts on US foreign policy. The paper grounds this comparative framing in an analysis of the first months of the Trump administration to determine which ideological impulses are guiding the international interests of the US, whether a reordering / realignment of the conceptual drivers within American First is part of this commencement period, and what impacts the ongoing ideological formation of America First may have upon US foreign policy in the Asia Pacific.