A Modern Day Caesar? Donald Trump and American Caesarism

Bibliographic Data

ID4301367
AuthorsBrett Heino (0000-0002-0012-245X)
Year2020
Volume33
Issue3
Pages297-315
Publication date2020-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Historical Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0952-1909 • E-ISSN: 1467-6443
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/johs.12280
OpenAlexW3037850410
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited16

This article argues that the American political system under Donald Trump is an example of what Antonio Gramsci dubbed "Caesarism," a situation where a taut balance of warring class forces allows for the emergence of a third force to freeze the antagonism and challenge/usurp established political institutions. To concretise Gramsci's rather abstract formulation and to better illuminate the nature of American Caesarism, this article employs a reading of the Roman poet Lucan's magisterialCivil War.Through a close reading of this text, we can explore the origins of Caesarism and study the efficacy of different means of struggle against it. Lucan thus helps us reinvigorate the concept of Caesarism and apply it in the contemporary American context. In particular, it will be demonstrated that whereas Lucan depicts a progressive form of Caesarism with a qualitatively new state form, the Trump administration embodies a regressive form of Caesarism within an old state form

Administration (probate law · Aesthetics · Art · Balance (ability · Context (archaeology · Epistemology · Literature · Political science · Politics · Reading (process · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · State (computer science · Computer Science · Marxism and Critical Theory · Political Theology and Sovereignty · Political theory and Gramsci · Psychology · History · Law · Philosophy

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