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

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 Policy Argues 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. Theory And History -- Identity And Ideology In The War On Terror -- With Us Or Against Us -- Identity And Ideology In The Policy Process -- Policy Consequences Of Identity And Ideology. Karl K. Schonberg. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This book argues that, in the years since the 9/11 attacks, socially constructed understandings of the identity of the United States and its friends and enemies have played a critical role in determining the course of U.S. foreign policy, in particular the Bush administration's choices with regard to the war on Iraq.