L'élection de Donald Trump a été présentée de façon quasi-unanime chez les journalistes, universitaires ou chercheurs comme un désastre ou un tsunami annonciateur de temps chaotique. Le président américain a cependant bénéficié du soutien de presque la majorité des électeurs des États clefs de la « ceinture de rouille ». Il convient donc de s'interroger sur les raisons qui expliquent la survenue d'un tel phénomène. Cet appel à contributions pour la revue en ligne LISA ne vise pas à établir un bilan de la présidence Trump. On cherchera, en revanche, à approfondir les analyses d'un paradoxe politique présenté comme inédit. Des réflexions de type sociologique, politique et historique (liste non exhaustive) s'imposent. Elles mettront en valeur les transformations, évolutions et continuités qui découlent du phénomène Trump.

Trumpland isn’t just hell for Muslims, Hispanics, women, and other vulnerable populations; it is hell for anyone trying to make sense of what is going on.  It is a topsy-turvy world, a world turned upside down, a world where absurdity reigns.  

Andrew Levine

Argument

Among journalists, academics and researchers, the election of Donald Trump was quasi-unanimously presented as a disaster, a tsunami threatening to wreak havoc. The president, however, received the support of almost a majority of voters, especially in key Rustbelt states.

How can such a paradox be accounted for? This phenomenon raises a number of questions, asked as early as the day of the election, that need to be re-opened for debate: who is Trump on a personal and political level? Where does he come from and how does he fit into the long right-wing drift of the GOP—a party that initially was not in favor of his candidacy? In short, what is the world of Trump? One of real estate tycoons, billionaires seeking to conquer power, demagogues who are fully part of an economic system yet pretend to be at its margins? Such interrogations call for political, historical but also sociological reflections (see Arlie Specter Hochschild’s Strangers in Their Own Land, Anger and Mourning on the American Right for example). Are there Trump precedents or equivalents in other countries where demagogues have made it to the top?

The question of the decision-making process in the Trump administration should also be addressed, as there is uncertainty about the chain of command and the formulation of policy. Chaos, which can be analyzed as a deliberate tactic of destruction of institutions, seems to be the essence of Trump-style organization.

On the international level, contradictory statements and a first set of decisions have left observers confused. One may wonder whether this confusion is deliberate or whether it is due to the president's unconventional—or even, according to some analysts, pathological—personality. Or both. Does Trump put into practice the "madman theory" invented by Nixon, another law-defying president? Trump's impact on the world can be questioned, beginning with a reflection on whether Trump's doctrinal corpus—or that of his administration—really exists. Equally worthy of study is the relationship between the United States and the Middle East, or any one of the most important countries in the area (Iran, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, etc.) Relations with Russia and China are also crucial, notably to gauge the gap between unusual, bombastic declarations that were made on the campaign trail and initial decisions, which incidentally do not always emanate from the president himself. Relations with Mexico, Cuba and more generally Latin America offer an equally important field of investigation.

Last but certainly not least, it will be necessary to evaluate the negative impact of Trump and that of his financial and political supporters on environmental policies in the United States and in the world, especially after the withdrawal of the Paris Agreement (which was non-binding anyway).

A few months into Trump's presidency, it is too soon for any form of assessment. But, assuming that there will be no impeachment, now is the time to deepen analyses of the historical evolutions, changes and continuities that began with the unlikely choice that was made at the Republican Convention of August 2016.

Submission guidelines

Proposals of approximately 300-500 words accompanied by a short bio should be submitted no later than 15 September 2017 to Pierre Guerlain pierre.guerlain@gmail.com & Raphaël Ricaud raphael.ricaud@univ-montp3.fr.

Editors 

• Pierre Guerlain (Université Paris-Nanterre)
• Raphaël Ricaud (Université Paul Valéry-Montpellier 3)