Abstract
The position of this study is that the foreign policy response of George W. Bush's administration in the wake of the trauma of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C. signified a complete redefinition of US grand strategy.
In essence the new grand strategic era of the War on Terror had emerged and had replaced the post-Cold War order. The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate this radical change through a foreign policy analysis methodology.
This thesis analyses the foreign policy of the United States under Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. It demonstrates the origins, nature and trajectory of US foreign policy during the time period 1993-2003. This is achieved through an original comparative foreign policy analysis of the two presidencies in the time frame 1993-2003, and also through an analysis of US foreign policy towards the Middle East as a case study. Three key interrelated areas of US foreign relations towards the Middle East were selected as case studies: Persian Gulf security; the Arab-Israeli peace process; and political Islam.
The study shows how US foreign policy towards these case studies altered after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks and became guided by the new grand strategy of the War on Terror. It makes an original contribution to the current scholarship on US foreign policy towards Iraq during the post-Cold War era through showing that the United States sought regime change in Iraq since 1991 as its strategic objective. Finally, prior to the onset of the War on Terror, political Islam is shown to have been a secondary foreign policy concern and subservient to US interests in the Persian Gulf.
This study shows how US foreign policy in this new context resulted in political Islam becoming an issue of primary importance in US strategic calculations towards the Middle East.
In essence the new grand strategic era of the War on Terror had emerged and had replaced the post-Cold War order. The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate this radical change through a foreign policy analysis methodology.
This thesis analyses the foreign policy of the United States under Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. It demonstrates the origins, nature and trajectory of US foreign policy during the time period 1993-2003. This is achieved through an original comparative foreign policy analysis of the two presidencies in the time frame 1993-2003, and also through an analysis of US foreign policy towards the Middle East as a case study. Three key interrelated areas of US foreign relations towards the Middle East were selected as case studies: Persian Gulf security; the Arab-Israeli peace process; and political Islam.
The study shows how US foreign policy towards these case studies altered after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks and became guided by the new grand strategy of the War on Terror. It makes an original contribution to the current scholarship on US foreign policy towards Iraq during the post-Cold War era through showing that the United States sought regime change in Iraq since 1991 as its strategic objective. Finally, prior to the onset of the War on Terror, political Islam is shown to have been a secondary foreign policy concern and subservient to US interests in the Persian Gulf.
This study shows how US foreign policy in this new context resulted in political Islam becoming an issue of primary importance in US strategic calculations towards the Middle East.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 5 Sept 2011 |
| Externally published | Yes |