Old Paradigms in History Die Hard in Political Science: US Foreign Policy and American Exceptionalism

Restad, Hilde Eliassen

doi:10.1086/664586

Cited by 31 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Lessons of history need to be remembered -prolonged wars are not good for a nation. 65 Thus, taking the country back to war in a region from where it completed its withdrawal three years earlier would go against the principles of pragmatism. Accordingly, the policy of ‗air-raids' was adopted, against the backdrop of a statesman who came to office on his anti-war stance and the fear of elongation of an already complex issue.…”

Section: Why Act Now?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Exceptionalism in US Foreign Policy: A Case Study of ISIS

Baig¹

2019

iprij

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Exceptionalism has been the principal narrative of the United States' foreign policy decision-making. It is the set of beliefs and principles that envisages the country's uniqueness and superiority over the rest. It has two strands: one being its status as an exemplar state; and the other being God's chosen peoplethe latter being the dominant one. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) threatened life, liberty, pursuit of happiness and freedomfar away from the shores of the US. However, with ‗doing God's work' underpinning its foreign policy dictatesthe US mobilised its military forces and spearheaded the campaign to help its Middle Eastern allies in getting rid of ISIS. The article aims to understand the basic tenets of US exceptionalism and the intervening variables which led the country to fight against the ISIS.

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Section: Why Act Now?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Exceptionalism in US Foreign Policy: A Case Study of ISIS

Baig¹

2019

iprij

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“…The centrality of Manifest Destiny to the development of the trope of American exceptionalism is well established. For example, in the broad discussion of American exceptionalism in American Political Thought's first issue, both Peter S. Onuf (2012) and Hilde Eliassen Restad (2012) ably locate Manifest Destiny in its historical and political context. In the same issue, Patrick J. Deneen and James W. Ceaser single out O'Sullivan for consideration.…”

Section: A D a M G O M E Z Abstractmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deus Vult: John L. O’Sullivan, Manifest Destiny, and American Democratic Messianism

Gomez¹

2012

American Political Thought

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“…informing and constituting its foreign policy (Cha 2015a;Lepgold and McKeown 1995;McCrisken 2003;McEvoy-Levy 2001;Restad 2012;Walt 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…24 Historians criticize the common understanding among political scientists that US foreign policy has been isolationist as inadequate and Euro-centric, as it does not take US policies on its own continent and in the southern hemisphere into account. See Restad (2012) and Hughes (2015, 541 (Hughes 2015, 257). President G. W. Bush frequently articulated the promotion of democracy and spread of "liberty and freedom" by the United States (Monten 2005, 112).…”

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confidence: 99%

Comparative Exceptionalism: Universality and Particularity in Foreign Policy Discourses

Nymalm

Plagemann

2018

International Studies Review

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Existing research on exceptionalism in foreign policy suggests a number of confrontational features making it a threat to peaceful international relations. Largely based on US and European cases, and hardly ever taking a comparative approach, this literature overlooks a variety of exceptionalisms in non-Western countries, including so called "rising powers" such as China and India. A comparison between exceptionalist foreign policy discourses of the United States, China, India, and Turkey shows that exceptionalism is neither exclusive to the United States, nor a "new" phenomenon within rising powers, nor necessarily confrontational, unilateralist, or exemptionalist. As a prerequisite for comparative work, we establish two features common to all exceptionalist foreign policy discourses. In essence, such discourses are informed by supposedly universal values derived from a particular civilization heritage or political history. In order to systematize different versions of exceptionalism, we then propose four ideal types, each of which reflects exceptionalism's common trait of a claim to moral superiority and uniqueness but diverges across other important dimensions, with implications for its potentially offensive character. The article concludes by formulating a research agenda for future comparative work on exceptionalist foreign policy discourses and their repercussions for great power relations and global politics.

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Old Paradigms in History Die Hard in Political Science: US Foreign Policy and American Exceptionalism

Cited by 31 publications

References 34 publications

Exceptionalism in US Foreign Policy: A Case Study of ISIS

Exceptionalism in US Foreign Policy: A Case Study of ISIS

Deus Vult: John L. O’Sullivan, Manifest Destiny, and American Democratic Messianism

Comparative Exceptionalism: Universality and Particularity in Foreign Policy Discourses

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