Daniel Bessner, IMPERIALIST REALISM

Historian, writer, and UW professor Daniel Bessner launches his new book Imperialist Realism: Politics and Culture at the End of the American Century, exploring how Americans have come to accept their global empire not because they believe in its righteousness but because they believe no alternative to U.S. hegemony is possible.

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Imperialist Realism is a collection of essays elucidating the titular concept, which centers on a single question: What does it feel like to live in a moment in which it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of the U.S. Empire? By analyzing the theory and practice of U.S. foreign policy, Imperialist Realism provides theoretical and empirical accounts of modern empire, liberalism, and global affairs. It combines pieces that explore everything from the ideas of individuals such as Barack Obama, George Soros, and Samantha Power to topics such as first-person shooters to issues such as left-wing foreign policy. In this way, Imperialist Realism examines the past, present, and future of U.S. foreign relations while drawing broader conclusions about the nature of empire in both its domestic and its international contexts.

Daniel Bessner is an historian and journalist. He is currently the Anne H.H. and Kenneth B. Pyle Associate Professor in American Foreign Policy in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. In 2019-2020, he served as a foreign policy advisor to Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign; in 2024, for unclear reasons, the Russian government sanctioned him. Daniel is the author of Democracy in Exile: Hans Speier and the Rise of the Defense Intellectual (Cornell, 2018) and Imperialist Realism: Politics and Culture at the End of the American Century (Zero, 2026). He is also the cohost of the podcast American Prestige and author of the Substack Imperialist Realism.