This essay will examine anti-Americanism: first, its history and various forms throughout the world; at the same time, the causes of anti-American sentiment will be examined, both historically and currently, as the causes have changed during the different periods of international relations. After this explanation of the history and sources of anti-Americanism, we will briefly examine how this affects the United States and its foreign policy

At this point in international relations, the support for many movements signified support only in the sense that it was not support for America; Markovits cites the example of Jose Bove, an anti-globalization leader, traveling to Palestine, where he "did not express solidarity with a repressed people and their religion but rather voiced a collective enmity toward the United States and everything that it purportedly represents" (Markovits 2005, p. 18) Markovits explores this tendency in detail, noting that during these years the term "American" became almost solely a pejorative term when used in Europe; Markovits studied over 1,000 articles concerning United States culture and discovered that over 75% of them were negative, and of the remaining 25%, the vast majority of articles made at least one negative reference to some part of Americanism (Markovits 2005, p. 19). These years of relative global peace also served as a period of a more detailed defining of the things that anti-Americanism reached: the sporting world, where American soccer teams were roundly criticized, the American hosting of the World Cup was decried as a travesty and as badly done by the Americans despite similarities to other nations' first experiences with hosting the Cup, and a general mood of antipathy toward America's entrance into the world soccer arena (Markovits 2005, p. 20).

With the idea in mind that much of the anti-American criticism comes from individuals and groups who see an American empire being built, we must consider that such an empire already exists, shaped by the foreign policy of leaders as well as international obligations to which the United States has made itself a party, such as controlling nuclear proliferation or promoting democracy in the Middle East. The days of isolationism are long gone, and with this involvement in the international realm comes responsibility, accusations of having too much power, empire-building, and finally, anti-American sentiment.

Politico-economic anti-Americanism represents a reaction to current U.S. foreign

These specific and specialized examples of anti-American sentiment during the period after the Cold War may be translated in to a more developed theory of anti-Americanism by other nations during these years. With no other hegemon at whose feet to lay blame, it became de facto practice for nations and peoples to blame America first for any number of ills besetting their nations-the influx of fast food, of pop culture and its lax morality, of poverty and human exploitation for cheap labor. All of these ills could be laid at the feet of America, whose policies affected individuals worldwide, or so the anti-Americans asserted.

This anti-American sentiment has more effects than a negative image; one author has attributed the proliferation of nuclear weapons in developing nations like North Korea and Iran to their own anti-Americanism and desire for a protection mechanism in light of the U.S.'s unilateral attacks on nations it deems threatening (Snyder 2003). Markovits attributes much of the unity in the EU to simply being united against American policies and actions (Markovits 2005, pp. 25-2). These indirect challenges to America can, broadly, be attributed them to a fear of an American empire.

Throughout the Cold War, which persisted from the end of WWII until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, America's international actions were roundly criticized as imperial (the Vietnam War, or involvement in supporting anti-Communist rebels in Latin America, for example). O'Connor notes that the American sentiment of being "with us or against us" is not only a modern one, but was highly utilized during the Cold War-a prime example being the demonization of Cuba when that nation accepted support from the Soviet Union (O'Connor 2004).

First, the initial reluctance of the Europeans to accept America as an equal, or at least as an independent culture and society was the original inspi

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Approximate Word count = 3852
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page double spaced)