Constructing 21st Century U.S. Foreign Policy Identity, Ideology, and America's World Role in a New Era

by Schonberg, Karl K.

• ISBN13: 9780230607767
• ISBN10: 0230607764
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-06-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

In the years since the 9/11 attacks, socially constructed understandings of the identity of the United States and its friends and enemies in the world have played a critical role in determining the course of U.S. foreign policy. Constructing Twenty-First Century U.S. Foreign Policyargues that American foreign relations under the Bush administration were driven by an ideological agenda derived from a particular interpretation of long-standing ideas about national identity. Drawing on constructivist and social-psychological IR theory, it suggests that these ideas led directly to the administration's choice to invade Iraq, its misunderstanding the kind of war the United States would face there, and its failure to quickly establish a stable democratic government following the invasion.

Author Biography

Karl K. Schonberg, PhD, is Associate Professor of Government and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York.  He holds a doctoral degree is in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia.  His recent publications include: Pursuing the National Interest: Moments of Transition in Twentieth-Century American Foreign Policy (Praeger, 2003); and "Global Security and Legal Restraint: Reconsidering War Powers after September 11,"  Political Science Quarterly, (Spring 2004).  He teaches courses in international law and organization, international security, and U.S. foreign policy.