We live in an era where the president of the United States could feasibly start a war – not by firing missiles, but in firing off ill-advised tweets. To investigate the link between the internet and politics, our very own Rodney Taveira delved into the twisted psyche of American popular culture and pose the question: does American democracy exist if no-one is there to like it, retweet it or turn it into a meme?

Ask Rodney Taveira anything to do with American popular culture and odds are he has come across it in his research. Rodney’s expertise spans the glossary of Americanisms, covering literature to film to memes, and everything in-between. Having joined the United States Studies Centre in 2011, he’s currently working on a book examining the influence of visual culture on post-war American fiction.