The United States was not intended to become “ The Empire »That we know, entangled in conflicts as bloody as they are inserted in Iraq and Afghanistan ; On the contrary, the declaration of independence of 1776, by which the Fathers of the American nation proclaimed their will to separate from the British crown, launched the process of creating nation states from which the contemporary international system is resulting.
This is the thesis that David Armitage, professor of history of political ideas at Harvard, develops in his book From the new world to Obama America. A unnatural empire (The Atalante, coll. “ Like an accordion », 2009). Through the study of the development, reception and circulation of a text that has become universal, the author offers an original and transnational reading of relations between America and the world.
On this occasion, The life of ideas invited David Armitage to come and debate his book, in the presence of Denis Lacorne (Sciences po-Ceri) and Romain Huret (Lyon 2-Ehess).
The meeting will take place Thursday, November 12 at 2 p.m. at the Collège de France3 rue d’Ulm, 75005 Paris.
People who wish to attend the debate are asked to send an email to Redaction at the house of Laviedesidees.fr.