American expats in Belgium on the US election: Dr Christina Bache
With election day in the US looming, American citizens both at home and abroad are concerned with the potential outcome. Belga spoke with five American expats living in Belgium to understand how their views of the US have changed during their time abroad.
With a career dedicated to fragile and conflict-affected regions, Dr Christina Bache, 44, says her views on US politics and foreign policy have been profoundly shaped by her background and global experience.
Originally from Copperas Cove, Texas, Bache has lived in Brussels since 2018 and works as an associate researcher at the Centre for Migration, Diversity and Justice, at the Brussels School of Governance at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
Military influence
Growing up in a military family, Bache was heavily influenced by her father’s sense of civic duty, often witnessed in his efforts to organise building homes for low-income families along the Texas-Mexico border. Her mother, equally passionate about human rights, instilled in her a belief in early education on democratic values.
Reflecting on her early experiences, Bache recalls grappling with the common view that supporting the military uncritically was patriotic. “As a young person, I struggled with the widespread mantra that the military should be supported at all costs,” she says.
“Questioning how the military could be used as a tool in a state’s reckless foreign policy or why the military, my family members and neighbours serving in the army were put in harm’s way, especially during a time of war, were questions that seemed better positioned to support the military than blind patriotism that fails to think critically.”
Bache’s global travels and work in regions from Central America and Europe to the Balkans and North Africa have further informed her perspective on US policies. She moved to Belgium for a fellowship with the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, but her decision to stay has been reinforced by her growing disillusionment with American politics.
“Since moving abroad in late 2005, two years after the US-led invasion of Iraq - the war that cast a dark shadow on my generation’s claims of American exceptionalism - my disappointment with American politics has only deepened.”
"Overcoming structural inequality will remain a challenge in the US"
She believes the deep-seated issues within American democracy are partly tied to historical injustices. "Attacks on democracy are directly related to the country's original sins of state-sponsored slavery, forced displacement of Indigenous peoples, racial segregation of African Americans and other minorities, and exclusion of groups, including women, from formal decision-making processes. So long as we fail to address the long-lasting impacts of these policies, overcoming structural inequality will remain a challenge in the US."
In adapting to life in Belgium, Bache has come to appreciate the diverse political landscape.
“While I am still learning, I appreciate the many avenues through which citizens can have their voices heard,” she says, contrasting it with the two-party system in the US, which she believes stifles discussion and limits policymaking diversity.
Flawed system
Bache is firm in her decision to withhold support from Donald Trump, but also finds the Democratic party lacking in its ability to fully represent her values, specifically pertaining to domestic and foreign policy.
“While domestic policies supporting the move toward greater equality and justice are important to me, I am also deeply concerned about a party’s foreign policy platform, such as the decades-long decision by both the Democratic and Republican parties to send arms to the Israeli government, which is currently dropping US-made bombs on Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” she says, expressing her wish for a more equitable approach in US foreign policy. Ideally, she would see the Green Party have more of an influence in elections, which is nearly impossible in the two-party dominated system.
Ultimately, Bache’s views are rooted in her belief that America’s democratic experiment continues to fall short for many of its citizens, especially when compared with the more inclusive political engagement she has witnessed in Belgium.
As the US election draws near, her reflections are a reminder of the growing voices among Americans abroad who seek a more just and representative political system both at home and on the international stage.
(MOH)
Dr Christina Bache © PHOTO BRAM TACK
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