Selling Americanism, Combatting Anti-Americanism: The Historical Role of American Foundations
Selling Americanism, Combatting Anti-Americanism: The Historical Role of American Foundations

Author(s): Inderjeet Parmar
Subject(s): Civil Society, International relations/trade, Sociology of Politics
Published by: Central European University (CEU) - Center for Policy Studies
Keywords: Anti-Americanism; US Foundations; Americanism; Ford Foundation; Congress for Cultural Freedom;
Summary/Abstract: This research article is structured so as to demonstrate the political-cultural-ideological roles of US foundations at home and abroad during the Cold War, with special reference to promoting their concept of Americanism and combating dissenting forces. First, the article briefly examines the concept of “anti-Americanism”, which is central to the project of which this article is a small part; secondly, it provides an introduction to the origins, aims and world-view of the foundations and their broad ideas and definitions of “Americanism” and “anti-Americanism”, both controversial concepts subject to great debate within the United States particularly in the ideologically-charged atmosphere of the twentieth century; thirdly, it considers the foundations’ social composition; fourthly, the paper considers the numerous and varied activities of the foundations in selling “Americanism” and combating “anti-Americanism”, inside and outside the USA. Finally, the paper closes with a discussion of the purposes of “anti-Americanism” in the life of the foundations and how those purposes and activities may best be theoretically understood.

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