United States
polarization and shifting global role
21st Century · 2000 – present
The United States entered the 21st century as the world's leading economic and military power. Its recent history has been shaped by two linked developments: a sharp rise in domestic political polarization, and a changing role in the world. The attacks of 11 September 2001 led directly to the war in Afghanistan, and the invasion of Iraq in 2003 followed, with its own strategic and political causes. Later events, including the 2008 financial crisis, the rise of China and repeated disputes over elections, tested both American power and public trust in institutions.
At home, Americans have become more divided along party lines, by region, and in the media they use. Close elections, the growth of cable and online media, and arguments over immigration, health care, race and the role of government have all fed this. Abroad, the country has moved between intervention and withdrawal, and between alliances and more transactional policies. This entry covers the main events that led to the polarized politics and shifting global role of the present, and a few popular stories about them.
Things happened, and the rest is history
The attacks of 11 September 2001
EventWhat happened
On 11 September 2001, nineteen hijackers of the group al-Qaeda seize four airliners. Two are flown into the World Trade Center in New York and one into the Pentagon, and the fourth crashes in Pennsylvania after passengers resist. Nearly 3,000 people are killed.
The rest is history
The attacks produced a surge of national unity and a major change in American security policy. Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act in October 2001 and created the Department of Homeland Security in 2002. The United States invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 and declared a global war on terror. These choices shaped American foreign policy for two decades, and later arguments over them deepened political divisions.
Sources
- PrimaryNational Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. The 9/11 Commission Report. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2004.
- BookWright, Lawrence. The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. New York: Knopf, 2006.
The disputed election of 2000
EventWhat happened
The presidential election of November 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore turns on Florida, where the margin is a few hundred votes. A recount fight follows. On 12 December 2000 the Supreme Court, in Bush v. Gore, halts the recount, and Bush takes Florida's electoral votes and the presidency while Gore wins the national popular vote.
The rest is history
Gore conceded and the transfer of power went ahead, but the result and the Supreme Court's role remained contested by many Democrats and by some election-law scholars. The dispute drew attention to voting machines and election rules. Congress passed the Help America Vote Act in 2002 to modernize voting systems. Elections in which the popular vote winner lost the presidency came up again in 2016, and arguments over how elections are run grew sharper.
Sources
- PrimaryBush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000). United States Supreme Court, decided 12 December 2000.
- BookToobin, Jeffrey. Too Close to Call: The Thirty-Six-Day Battle to Decide the 2000 Election. New York: Random House, 2001.
The Iraq War
EventWhat happened
In March 2003 a United States-led coalition invades Iraq, saying that Saddam Hussein's government holds weapons of mass destruction and supports terrorism. Baghdad falls in April and Saddam is captured in December 2003. No stockpiles of such weapons are found.
The rest is history
The war was followed by a long insurgency and sectarian violence, and American combat forces left in 2011. It divided allies and American opinion, damaged trust in government intelligence claims, and is widely seen as having weakened American standing abroad. The Iraq Survey Group found no stockpiles, and a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report documented failures in the prewar intelligence. Some assessments concerned weapons programs and capabilities rather than existing stockpiles.
Sources
- PrimaryDuelfer, Charles. Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq's WMD. Central Intelligence Agency, 2004.
- BookRicks, Thomas E. Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq. New York: Penguin Press, 2006.
The 2008 financial crisis
EventWhat happened
A fall in American house prices after 2006 spreads losses through banks holding mortgage-linked securities. The recession officially begins in December 2007. Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy on 15 September 2008, and the crisis becomes acute. Congress passes a rescue program of up to 700 billion dollars in October, and the downturn deepens into the Great Recession.
The rest is history
Millions lost jobs and homes, and the crisis reduced trust in financial and political elites. It helped bring about the election of Barack Obama in 2008, the Tea Party movement from 2009 and the Occupy protests in 2011. Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010. Historians and economists still debate how much weight to give to the causes, including lending practices, regulation and global capital flows.
Sources
- PrimaryFinancial Crisis Inquiry Commission. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2011.
- BookTooze, Adam. Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World. New York: Viking, 2018.
The Affordable Care Act and partisan conflict
EventWhat happened
President Obama signs the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on 23 March 2010. It passes without a single Republican vote in Congress. It expands Medicaid and creates insurance exchanges and subsidies. The law is challenged in court and upheld in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius in 2012.
The rest is history
The law reduced the number of Americans without insurance, but it remained a central subject of partisan fights, with dozens of repeal votes and further court cases. It also marked a period in which major laws were passed along party lines. Republicans won the House in the 2010 midterm elections, and divided government and budget standoffs became more frequent.
Sources
- PrimaryPatient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Public Law 111-148. United States Congress, 2010.
- BookKlein, Ezra. Why We're Polarized. New York: Avid Reader Press, 2020.Background on the broader partisan polarization in which the health care fight took place.
The 2016 election and the Trump presidency
EventWhat happened
On 8 November 2016 Donald Trump, a businessman who had never held office, wins the presidency by taking the Electoral College while Hillary Clinton wins the national popular vote by about 2.9 million votes. His campaign stresses immigration limits, trade protection and a skeptical view of foreign commitments. He is impeached by the House in December 2019 and again in January 2021, and acquitted by the Senate both times.
The rest is history
His administration withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Paris climate agreement, imposed tariffs on China and other states, and questioned the value of alliances. Joe Biden won the 2020 election. Trump and his allies disputed the result, and on 6 January 2021 a crowd attacked the Capitol as Congress counted electoral votes. Trump won the presidency again in 2024.
Sources
- PrimarySelect Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. Final Report. Washington, DC: Government Publishing Office, 2022.
- BookKlein, Ezra. Why We're Polarized. New York: Avid Reader Press, 2020.
The withdrawal from Afghanistan
EventWhat happened
After nearly twenty years of war, the United States signs an agreement with the Taliban in Doha in February 2020 that sets a timetable for withdrawal. President Biden confirms the withdrawal in 2021. The Afghan government collapses and the Taliban enter Kabul on 15 August 2021. An airlift evacuates more than 120,000 people by 30 August.
The rest is history
The end of the longest war in American history was followed by criticism of how the exit was carried out and by debate over whether it was wise. It also marked a shift in strategy toward great-power competition with China and Russia. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction later reported that much of the effort to build Afghan institutions had failed.
Sources
- PrimarySpecial Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. What We Need to Learn: Lessons from Twenty Years of Afghanistan Reconstruction. Arlington, VA: SIGAR, 2021.
- BookWhitlock, Craig. The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2021.
The rise of China and the shift in strategy
EventWhat happened
China joins the World Trade Organization in December 2001, and its economy grows rapidly. The United States announces a strategic turn toward Asia in 2011, and tariffs are placed on Chinese goods from 2018. The 2017 National Security Strategy names great-power competition with China and Russia as a central concern.
The rest is history
Economic ties and rivalry now exist side by side. Both main parties support tougher policies, including export controls on advanced technology and restrictions on some investments, a rare area of agreement in a divided Congress. Alliances such as AUKUS in 2021 and support for Ukraine after Russia's 2022 invasion show the changing global role, even as Americans debate how much to commit abroad.
Sources
- PrimaryNational Security Strategy of the United States of America. Washington, DC: The White House, December 2017.
- BookAllison, Graham. Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap? Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017.
The Iraq war was all about oil
Popular beliefThe legend
Many people say the 2003 invasion of Iraq was really launched to seize Iraqi oil, and that the weapons claims were a cover story. In this telling the aim was to control the oil fields.
The rest is history
Oil was a background factor in American interest in the Gulf, and some officials and critics have said so. But the stated reasons were weapons, terrorism and the spread of democracy, and the Iraq Survey Group found no stockpiles. After the war Iraqi oil contracts went mostly to firms from many countries, including Chinese and Russian ones, not mainly to American companies. Historians generally treat the causes as mixed, including post-9/11 fears, a belief in the threat, and ideas about remaking the Middle East, and the weight of oil is debated.
Sources
- BookGordon, Michael R., and Bernard E. Trainor. Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq. New York: Pantheon, 2006.
- PrimaryDuelfer, Charles. Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq's WMD. Central Intelligence Agency, 2004.
The United States is in decline
Popular beliefThe legend
A common claim holds that American power is collapsing, that the country has lost its leading role and that the 21st century belongs to someone else. Predictions of this kind have been repeated after Iraq, after 2008 and after 2021.
The rest is history
Claims of American decline are much older than the 21st century, and were also made in the 1950s, 1970s and 1980s. The United States share of world output has fallen since 1945 and China has grown sharply, so its relative position has changed. But it still has the world's largest military budget, a very large economy, and a wide network of alliances. Scholars disagree over how to measure power, and many describe a shift to a more competitive world rather than a collapse.
Sources
- BookKennedy, Paul. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. New York: Random House, 1987.
- BookNye, Joseph S. Is the American Century Over? Cambridge: Polity Press, 2015.
Americans have never been so divided
Popular beliefThe legend
It is often said that the United States has never been as politically divided as it is now, and that earlier generations agreed on the basics.
The rest is history
Polarization between the parties has grown since the 1970s, and studies of congressional voting show the parties more distinct than at any time in decades. But the country has been more deeply divided before, most obviously in the 1850s and the Civil War of 1861 to 1865, and again over Vietnam and civil rights in the 1960s. The mid-20th-century period of cooperation was partly because both parties then included liberals and conservatives. Researchers debate how far ordinary voters have moved apart as against party elites and activists.
Sources
- BookFiorina, Morris P. Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America. New York: Pearson Longman, 2005.
- BookMcCarty, Nolan, Keith T. Poole, and Howard Rosenthal. Polarized America: The Dance of Ideology and Unequal Riches. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006.