It is morning again in America

As the sun rises over the Peach State, jet-lagged Europeans gather over their conference programmes and flat whites. Since Wednesday, the International Studies Association Annual Convention has been in full motion, with hundreds of panels covering every topic remotely related to the study of International Relations. This is my first visit to Atlanta proper, and the view (above) from Anna’s and my room at Aloft Atlanta Downtown definitely inspires some Stadtbummel.

There is something peculiar about America. Every time I land here, I am struck by the same simultaneous feelings of extreme familiarity and alienness. For better or worse, the United States remains a world unto itself, full of paradoxes that somehow always evade my political intuitions.