Myths, Models, and U.S. Foreign Policy PDF Download

Author: Stephen W. Twing
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
ISBN: 9781555877668
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
In what ways does national culture influence the direction of US foreign policy? This study analyzes how certain cultural elements influenced the policy preferences and policymaking behaviours of three Cold War-era statesmen - John Foster Dulles, Averell Harriman and Robert McNamara.

Author: Stephen W. Twing
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781685851767
Category : POLITICAL SCIENCE
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In what ways does national culture influence the direction of U.S. foreign policy? What are the mechanisms through which culture shapes policy outcomes? Stephen Twing's thoughtful analysis illustrates precisely how certain cultural elements influenced the policy preferences and policymaking behaviors of three Cold War-era statesmen, John Foster Dulles, Averell Harriman, and Robert McNamara. Drawing on a wealth of primary source materials, Twing traces the evolution of each statesman's thoughts about world politics. His study lucidly demonstrates that each was powerfully shaped by at least one central U.S. myth or "representative character"--and that all three men behaved in the policymaking arena in ways highly consistent with their culturally influenced worldviews.

Author: Walter L. Hixson
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 030015013X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 389

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Book Description
In this major reconceptualization of the history of U.S. foreign policy, Walter Hixson engages with the entire sweep of that history, from its Puritan beginnings to the twenty-first century’s war on terror. He contends that a mythical national identity, which includes the notion of American moral superiority and the duty to protect all of humanity, has had remarkable continuity through the centuries, repeatedly propelling America into war against an endless series of external enemies. As this myth has supported violence, violence in turn has supported the myth. The Myth of American Diplomacy shows the deep connections between American foreign policy and the domestic culture from which it springs. Hixson investigates the national narratives that help to explain ethnic cleansing of Indians, nineteenth-century imperial thrusts in Mexico and the Philippines, the two World Wars, the Cold War, the Iraq War, and today’s war on terror. He examines the discourses within America that have continuously inspired what he calls our “pathologically violent foreign policy.” The presumption that, as an exceptionally virtuous nation, the United States possesses a special right to exert power only encourages violence, Hixson concludes, and he suggests some fruitful ways to redirect foreign policy toward a more just and peaceful world.

Author: Godfrey Hodgson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780300125702
Category : Exceptionalism
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The idea that the United States is destined to spread its unique gifts of democracy and capitalism to other countries is dangerous for Americans and for the rest of the world, warns Godfrey Hodgson in this provocative book. Hodgson, a shrewd and highly respected British commentator, argues that America is not as exceptional as it would like to think; its blindness to its own history has bred a complacent nationalism and a disastrous foreign policy that has isolated and alienated it from the global community. Tracing the development of America’s high self regard from the early days of the republic to the present era, Hodgson demonstrates how its exceptionalism has been systematically exaggerated and—in recent decades—corrupted. While there have been distinct and original elements in America’s history and political philosophy, notes Hodgson, these have always been more heavily influenced by European thought and experience than Americans have been willing to acknowledge. A stimulating and timely assessment of how America’s belief in its exceptionalism has led it astray, this book is mandatory reading for its citizens, admirers, and detractors.

Author: Pitman B 1892- Potter
Publisher: Legare Street Press
ISBN: 9781019918623
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In this provocative book, Potter argues that the idea of American isolationism is a myth. He shows how, from the earliest days of the republic, Americans have been actively engaged in world affairs, and how their actions have shaped the course of history. A must-read for anyone interested in American foreign policy. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Author: Paul R. Pillar
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231527802
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
A career of nearly three decades with the CIA and the National Intelligence Council showed Paul R. Pillar that intelligence reforms, especially measures enacted since 9/11, can be deeply misguided. They often miss the sources that underwrite failed policy and misperceive our ability to read outside influences. They also misconceive the intelligence-policy relationship and promote changes that weaken intelligence-gathering operations. In this book, Pillar confronts the intelligence myths Americans have come to rely on to explain national tragedies, including the belief that intelligence drives major national security decisions and can be fixed to avoid future failures. Pillar believes these assumptions waste critical resources and create harmful policies, diverting attention away from smarter reform, and they keep Americans from recognizing the limits of obtainable knowledge. Pillar revisits U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War and highlights the small role intelligence played in those decisions, and he demonstrates the negligible effect that America's most notorious intelligence failures had on U.S. policy and interests. He then reviews in detail the events of 9/11 and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, condemning the 9/11 commission and the George W. Bush administration for their portrayals of the role of intelligence. Pillar offers an original approach to better informing U.S. policy, which involves insulating intelligence management from politicization and reducing the politically appointed layer in the executive branch to combat slanted perceptions of foreign threats. Pillar concludes with principles for adapting foreign policy to inevitable uncertainties.

Author: S. McEvoy-Levy
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0333977831
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
The book examines a critical time and place in recent world history (the end of the Cold War) and the strategies and values employed in the public diplomacy of the Bush and Clinton Administrations to build domestic and international consensus. It provides insight into the uses of Presidential power and provides a model and an illustration of how the role of rhetoric may be used to study the foreign policy of the United States.

Author: John Callaghan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429671563
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
A comprehensive account of ideology and its role in the foreign policy of the United States of America, this book investigates the way United States foreign policy has been understood, debated and explained in the period since the US emerged as a global force, on its way to becoming the world power. Starting from the premise that ideologies facilitate understanding by providing explanatory patterns or frameworks from which meaning can be derived, the authors study the relationship between ideology and foreign policy, demonstrating the important role ideas have played in US foreign policy. Drawing on a range of US administrations, they consider key speeches and doctrines, as well as private conversations, and compare rhetoric to actions in order to demonstrate how particular sets of ideas – that is, ideologies – from anti-colonialism and anti-communism to neo-conservatism mattered during specific presidencies and how US foreign policy was projected, explained and sustained from one administration to another. Bringing a neglected dimension into the study of US foreign policy, this book will be of great interest to students and researchers of US foreign policy, ideology and politics.

Author: Sergio Aguayo
Publisher: Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies University of Cali
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description
Weaving together the influences of the media, academia, government, and society at large, Aguayo traces the evolution of U.S. perceptions toward Mexico and outlines how changing U.S. views have affected events in Mexico and the bilateral relationship itself.

Author: Derek Leebaert
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439125716
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
As the nation commits itself to a renewed military effort in Afghanistan, Georgetown foreign relations professor Leebaert explains why we have so often stumbled in our foreign policy. He analyzes the follies and failures of "emergency men, " the political appointees, intellectuals, and policy entrepreneurs of the national security establishment, from the Best and Brightest architects of the Vietnam debacle to the neo-con masterminds of the Iraq War.