- Praise for the previous edition, <i>Foreign Policy 2e</i>
- Foreword
- How to use this book
- Guided tour of the Online Resource Centre
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on contributors
- Introduction
- Section 1 Foreign policy analysis
- 1. The history and evolution of foreign policy analysis
- 2. Realism and foreign policy
- 3. Liberalism and foreign policy
- 4. Constructivism and foreign policy
- 5. Discourse analysis, post-structuralism, and foreign policy
- Section 2 Analysing foreign policy
- 6. Actors, structures, and foreign policy analysis
- 7. Foreign policy decision making
- 8. Implementation and behaviour
- 9. Public diplomacy
- 10. The role of media and public opinion
- 11. The primacy of national security
- 12. Economic statecraft
- 13. Duties beyond borders
- Section 3 Foreign policy case studies
- 14. The Cuban Missile Crisis
- 15. Canada and antipersonnel landmines
- 16. Neoconservatism and the domestic sources of American foreign policy
- 17. China and the Tian’anmen Crisis of June 1989
- 18. India and the World Trade Organization
- 19. Rising Brazil and South America
- 20. Australia and global climate change
- 21. Israeli–Egyptian (in)security
- 22. What kind of power? European Union enlargement and beyond
- 23. Energy and foreign policy
- 24. The failure of diplomacy and protection in Syria
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Subject Index
(p. 315) 16. Neoconservatism and the domestic sources of American foreign policy: The role of ideas in Operation Iraqi Freedom
- Chapter:
- (p. 315) 16. Neoconservatism and the domestic sources of American foreign policy: The role of ideas in Operation Iraqi Freedom
- Author(s):
Yuen Foong Khong
- DOI:
- 10.1093/hepl/9780198708902.003.0016
This chapter examines the role played by neoconservative ideas about foreign policy in persuading the George W. Bush administration to launch a preventive war against Iraq in March 2003. It considers the four key tenets of neoconservative foreign policy thought and how some of its leading proponents won key positions in the Bush administration. It argues that, by itself, neoconservatism provides only a partial explanation of Operation Iraqi Freedom. A more satisfactory explanation, it contends, would need to take into account the following: the 9/11 attacks, the strategic placement of neoconservative ideas by its advocates in calmer times, the assumption that the United States would have no trouble waging a successful war, and the ‘one per cent’ doctrine. It is the combination of these events, ideas, and probability estimates that tipped the balance in favour of war.
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- Praise for the previous edition, <i>Foreign Policy 2e</i>
- Foreword
- How to use this book
- Guided tour of the Online Resource Centre
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on contributors
- Introduction
- Section 1 Foreign policy analysis
- 1. The history and evolution of foreign policy analysis
- 2. Realism and foreign policy
- 3. Liberalism and foreign policy
- 4. Constructivism and foreign policy
- 5. Discourse analysis, post-structuralism, and foreign policy
- Section 2 Analysing foreign policy
- 6. Actors, structures, and foreign policy analysis
- 7. Foreign policy decision making
- 8. Implementation and behaviour
- 9. Public diplomacy
- 10. The role of media and public opinion
- 11. The primacy of national security
- 12. Economic statecraft
- 13. Duties beyond borders
- Section 3 Foreign policy case studies
- 14. The Cuban Missile Crisis
- 15. Canada and antipersonnel landmines
- 16. Neoconservatism and the domestic sources of American foreign policy
- 17. China and the Tian’anmen Crisis of June 1989
- 18. India and the World Trade Organization
- 19. Rising Brazil and South America
- 20. Australia and global climate change
- 21. Israeli–Egyptian (in)security
- 22. What kind of power? European Union enlargement and beyond
- 23. Energy and foreign policy
- 24. The failure of diplomacy and protection in Syria
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Subject Index