Anti-Americanism also called anti-American sentiment is prejudice, fear or hatred of the United States government, its foreign policy, or the Americans in general.
Political scientist Brendon O’Connor of the United States Studies Centre in Australia suggests that “anti-Americanism” cannot be isolated as a consistent phenomenon, since the term originated as a rough composite of stereotypes, prejudices, and criticisms which evolved into more politically-based criticisms. French scholar Marie-France Toinet says that use of the term “anti-Americanism” is “only fully justified if it implies systematic opposition – a sort of allergic reaction – to America as a whole.” Scholars such as Noam Chomsky and Nancy Snow have argued that the application of the term “anti-American” to other countries or their populations is nonsensical, as it implies that disliking the American government or its policies is socially undesirable or even comparable to a crime. In this regard, the term has been likened to the propagandistic usage of the term “anti-Sovietism” in the USSR.
Discussions on anti-Americanism have in most cases lacked a precise explanation of what the sentiment entails (other than a general disfavor), which has led the term to be used broadly and in an impressionistic manner, resulting in the inexact impressions of the many expressions described as anti-American. Author and expatriate William Russell Melton described that criticism for the United States largely originates from the perception that the U.S. wants to act as a “world policeman”. According to an analysis by German historian Darius Harwardt of the Ruhr University Bochum, the term is nowadays mostly used to stifle debate by attempting to discredit viewpoints that oppose American policies. Harwardt has also noted that from 1980 onwards, the term has seen an increase in usage in German politics, for example to discredit those that wish to close American military bases in Germany, even though the criticism might be entirely valid and recent polls have shown that the plurality of Germans do in fact wish the withdrawal of US troops.
Negative or critical views of the United States or its influence have been widespread in Russia, China, Serbia, Bosnia, Belarus and the Greater Middle East, but remain low in Vietnam, Israel, the Philippines, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Korea, and certain countries in central and eastern Europe.
Etymology
In the online Oxford Dictionaries the term “anti-Americanism” is defined as “Hostility to the interests of the United States”.
In the first edition of Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language (1828) the term “anti-American” was defined as “opposed to America, or to the true interests or government of the United States; opposed to the revolution in America”.
In France the use of the noun form antiaméricanisme has been cataloged from 1948, entering ordinary political language in the 1950s.
Interpretations
| Country polled | Positive | Negative | Neutral | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 China |
17%
|
74%
|
9%
|
-57 |
 Canada |
40%
|
47%
|
13%
|
-7 |
 Australia |
43%
|
44%
|
13%
|
-1 |
 Russia |
43%
|
41%
|
16%
|
+2 |
 South Korea |
47%
|
39%
|
14%
|
+8 |
 Germany |
46%
|
37%
|
17%
|
+9 |
 United Kingdom |
46%
|
37%
|
17%
|
+9 |
 France |
46%
|
29%
|
25%
|
+17 |
 Spain |
51%
|
31%
|
18%
|
+20 |
 Japan |
55%
|
22%
|
23%
|
+33 |
 Italy |
59%
|
26%
|
15%
|
+33 |
 Mexico |
68%
|
18%
|
14%
|
+50 |
 United States |
78%
|
17%
|
5%
|
+61 |
 Brazil |
74%
|
11%
|
15%
|
+63 |
 India |
79%
|
10%
|
11%
|
+69 |
| Country polled | Favorable | Unfavorable | Neutral | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jordan (2017) |
15%
|
82%
|
3%
|
-67 |
 Turkey (2017) |
18%
|
72%
|
10%
|
-54 |
| Russia |
26%
|
66%
|
8%
|
-40 |
| Germany |
30%
|
66%
|
4%
|
-36 |
 Lebanon (2017) |
34%
|
64%
|
2%
|
-30 |
| Mexico |
32%
|
61%
|
7%
|
-29 |
 Netherlands |
34%
|
62%
|
4%
|
-28 |
 Greece |
36%
|
59%
|
5%
|
-23 |
| France |
38%
|
60%
|
2%
|
-22 |
 Tunisia |
37%
|
56%
|
7%
|
-19 |
| Canada |
39%
|
56%
|
5%
|
-17 |
 Argentina |
32%
|
48%
|
20%
|
-16 |
| Spain |
42%
|
54%
|
4%
|
-12 |
 Chile (2017) |
39%
|
47%
|
14%
|
-8 |
 Sweden |
44%
|
50%
|
6%
|
-6 |
 Indonesia |
42%
|
43%
|
15%
|
-1 |
| United Kingdom |
50%
|
43%
|
7%
|
+7 |
| Australia |
54%
|
42%
|
4%
|
+12 |
 Venezuela (2017) |
47%
|
35%
|
18%
|
+12 |
| Italy |
52%
|
39%
|
9%
|
+13 |
 Colombia (2017) |
51%
|
38%
|
11%
|
+13 |
 Peru (2017) |
51%
|
38%
|
11%
|
+13 |
| Brazil |
55%
|
32%
|
13%
|
+23 |
 Senegal (2017) |
55%
|
29%
|
6%
|
+26 |