Richmond’s Dr Kandida Purnell, Associate Professor of International Relations, reflects on the outcome of the 2024 US Presidential Election from our Chiswick Campus in London.
This time last week I was Chairing Richmond’s US Election: The Morning After event. The election outcome had only just become clear in the hours leading up to our discussion and the US was literally only just waking up to the news that there will be a second Trump Presidency. As Director of Richmond’s Research Centre for the study of the ‘State, Power, and Globalisation’ I was quite overwhelmed to be joined by so many of our students, faculty, and executive team at the event. I was also very grateful to be sharing the stage with a panel of Richmond experts Professor Mike Keating and Dr Noga Glucksam as well as De Montfort University’s Dr Andrew Sanders and the US Army War College’s Dr Ron Granieri who made up our panel.
Through the event we began to process the incoming results and talked through implications for democracy, soft power, and American citizens. We also considered how a new US administration headed up by Trump will impact ongoing wars raging in Ukraine and Gaza for example. As the discussion moved through these topics it became clear that the Liberal Democratic word order has evolved but that what will replace it remains unknown. We spoke of hollowed out international institutions and a potential void at the core of the international system if the US is to isolate under Trump. Certainly the change in global politics presents an opportunity but also threatens.
As the American University in London it is clear that America’s election results reflect deep polarisations in US politics and amongst the electorate – many of whom (over 80 million of those eligible) did not even cast a vote. Our students reflect this political diversity and this is something we celebrate as a liberal arts university. This diversity was also recognised by national news crews from ITV, BBC London, BBC Radio and Riverside Radio who were keen to speak to our experts and students during election week.
We look forward to continuing to debate and discuss US politics as Trump’s inauguration draws ever closer.
