The United Nations as a New World Government
Conspiracy Theories, American Isolationism, and Exceptionalism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13081451 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Helen L Murphey (0000-0002-1504-3818, The Ohio State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 76-76 |
| Publication date | 2025-07-29 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Genealogy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2313-5778 • E-ISSN: 2313-5778 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/genealogy9030076 |
| OpenAlex | W4412899772 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 34 |
This paper analyzes the historical genealogy of conspiracy theories about a global supergovernment by focusing on one period of American history in which it attained particular visibility. The formation of the United Nations in 1945 and the onset of the Cold War galvanized speculation on the political margins that a shadowy, malevolent international government was seeking world domination by targeting the United States and its political culture. At the same time, mainstream United States foreign policy was marked by a desire to both reshape international institutions to resist Soviet influence while also avoiding any domestic changes that might result from international engagement. This paper suggests that conspiracy theory functioned as a mechanism resolving the vicious circle occasioned by these competing foreign policy priorities. Through a narrative analysis of conspiratorial sentiments in North Dakota Representative Usher L. Burdick’s warnings about the United Nations as a threat to American liberty and sovereignty, this article highlights the continuities between mainstream American exceptionalism and conspiratorial ideas
American exceptionalism · Development economics · Economics · Exceptionalism · Foreign policy · Government (linguistics · Isolationism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Intelligence, Security, War Strategy · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Philosophy
Conspiracy Theories
Conspiracy theories in digital environments
Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them
Plots, Designs, and Schemes
Old Paradigms in History Die Hard in Political Science
The Origins and Character of American Exceptionalism
American Exceptionalism and National Identity
Mapping discursive regimes of transnational dynamics of conspiracy theories as an emergent process
Conspiracy theories and social movements studies
The Myth of American Isolationism
The cultural roots of isolationism and internationalism in American foreign policy
Unipolar Dispensations
Veiled conspiracism
Priorities and human rights
The United States is a messianic state
Unmaking an exception
American Isolationisms and the Riddle of Trump Redux
The United States and fragmented multilateralism
The United States and the United Nations
Varieties of Post‐Cold War American Isolationism
Back to the Womb? Isolationism's Renewed Threat
Globalism's 'Siren Song
Brainwashed! Conspiracy Theory and Ideology in the Postwar United States
The Greatest Subversive Plot in History? The American Radical Right and Anti-Unesco Campaigning
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |