Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Mead, Walter Russell

Titel

American Foreign Policy: The Strength of the Jacksonian Tradition

Ist Teil von

• Futuribles (Paris), 2002-11 (280), p.39-50

Erscheinungsjahr

2002

Quelle

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Mead emphasizes how far the temptation to act unilaterally derives from values & practices that are deeply rooted in popular attitudes: the code of honor & the belief in America's ability to win in any situation. The image of the cowboy, lone champion of good against Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein, reflects the mythology that inspired the frontier & that some American commentators invoke willingly in criticizing the reservations & hesitations, if not the tendency to Munich-style appeasement of their European allies. This text is all the more revealing because it was originally published more than a year before the attacks of September 11 (2001). As with Pearl Harbor, it is not the number of casualties that explains the Jacksonian reaction in the US, but rather the intense revulsion at the violation of the sanctuary. This clarifies the different vision of the world from the one that prevailed in Washington during the Cold War, a vision where the US can manage without the support of allies, abandons its former alliances, challenges any international solidarity, & intends to deal with terrorist opponents by itself, defending only America's own interest. Mead suggests that oil is a far more important factor than compassion for the victims of Saddam Hussein. Adapted from the source document.