american foreign policy

3104007_resouces_for_d2_1 x3104007_discussion_2_promp_3_2 x

1.Make sure to just REPLY the response 1 , 2 ( I provide the one example per rely) 2.DO NOT response the original prompt

Lecture :understand the inter-related nature of Exceptionalism, Expansionism, and Isolationism;

Exceptionalism

one of the basic themes in the American self-conception is that the nation is in some way exceptional. Something new on earth, an example to human kind. As David Campbell suggests in his 1998 book Writing Security suggests, this exceptionism is deeply related to the Protestant Errand In the Wilderness. That is, expansion into the wilderness that was to become the United States was, as Bercovich suggests, a making of a new world or, in their words, a “New Jerusalem.”

Winthrop first articulates this in his famous 1630 “A Model of Christian Charity” in which he suggests that the settlers truly strive towards excellence and right living but the phrase has been transformed from a call to excellence to one of example and exemplar. Both President’s Kennedy and Reagan “retasked” the phrase and gave it the “beacon like” sense of hope.

The notion that the US is “the last best hope of Mankind” continues to resonate with the American people. According to a 2010 poll conducted by the Rasmussen Report 51% of Americans believe that the US is exceptional [click on the poll link]. This is powerful statement on what Americans believe and guides both policy and politics.

Since this aspect is so critical it is worth considering in some detail.

Images: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Winthrop , http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:REAGANWH ,

Isolationism.

The third aspect of American Foreign Policy is that it is characterized by “Isolationism.” That is, the United States wanted to remain above the power politics of the European Empires.

This is best articulated by President Washington in his 1796 Farewell Address from which I have pulled two quotes.

In the first, Washington argues that in Union that the States United will find strength to resist conflict and warns against the corrupting nature of a large standing military force (recall that one of the reasons FOR the War of Independence was the pernicious affects of such institutions).

The second quote is the most famous for our purposes. The US should honor it current relationships but not undertake further “entanglements.”

Isolation is often taken to mean that the United States simply turned its back upon the rest of the world and had little no relations with the European powers. However, your survey of the timelines provide earlier should challenge that notion.

Reading

· Beinart. “The Beautiful Lie Of American Omnipotence.” National Journal (2010): 8. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 26 Sept. 2011.

· Mead. “The American Foreign Policy Legacy.” Foreign Affairs. Vol.81, No. 1,
January/February 2002.

· Optional: BBC News—

Quiz on the War of 1812. 

June 20, 2012. Web. 18 July. 2012. [a bit of fun]

· Optional: 

“Legacy of The War of 1812.”

 The Diane Rehm Show. June 18, 2012. Web. 18 July. 2012.[“A discussion on the War of 1812 . . . Often called “the forgotten war,” it tested a new generation of American leaders, shifted the global balance of power and set the stage for American westward expansion.”]

Media

You may wish to investigate these sites during or after your viewing of Lecture 3:

·

TimeRimes: American Foreign Policy from 1793

·

Wikipedia: Timeline of US Military Interventions

·

History of the Marine Corps Hymn

·

Time: Jefferson & The Pirate War

·

Watch: Reagan. “Evil Empire” Speech (1983)

·

Pew Center Global Attitudes Database

·

Bercovich. “The Typology of America’s Mission.” American Quarterly

Reply the response requirement

1. Respond to a specific prompt in detail and with sustained interest over the discussion

2. Apply concepts and ideas from lecture and/or readings to something currently in the news.

Your participation will be assessed using the following criteria:

· Activity (25%):

· How much do you participate in our online discussions? Are you “lurking” or actively conversing? Do you wait until the last minute or work consistently throughout the discussion period?

· Are you taking the initiative to post and to work with one another?

· Quality (50%):

· How strong are your contributions to the online discussions? Do they deepen your group’s general understanding of the course materials and ideas contained therein?

· Are your contributions based on the ideas contained in the readings and do they strengthen our deliberations OR are they merely expressions of unsupported opinion—“data-free” analysis?

· Interest (25%):

· Are you bringing some new and relevant information into the discussion that deepen the general understanding of your group? For example, are you discussing an interesting journal or newspaper article that pertains to the topic for the week?

· Are you applying concepts and ideas from lecture and/or readings to a current case or a particular class

Original Prompt

Folks,

What are the building blocks of American exceptionalism and how did they (and continue to) influence foreign policy? In thinking about this question let’s try to draw a line between past uses of the term and current expressions.

Response

American exceptionalism is deep rooted in our history, and difficult for me to understand as a contemporary citizen. The Beautiful Lie of American Omnipotence in combination with Mead’s The American Foreign Policy Legacy began to enlighten me a little as to how American foreign policy came to be exceptionalism, and more importantly, how we are still operating under exceptionalism in the light of a new era, where: “our commitments have grown massively… but our resources are not what they once appeared (qtd. In Beinart).”

The foundation of American exceptionalism is, as far as I can tell, a huge amount of military clout, and natural resources. The nation was built by nationalist pride and a strong desire for independence. Once the United States had been established as a nation, exceptionalism was fostered by the geographic location (oceans on either side, posing little threat) and the political climate of Democracy that made America feel as though it were a city on a hill as Winthrop said. With the strength of the US military, we were never forced to give up this national image, even though, today political rhetoric clings to an empty shell of what nationalism once was.

“The American character, wrote Arthur Schlesinger Sr., ‘is bottomed upon the profound conviction that nothing in the world is beyond its power to accomplish’ (Beinart 1).” The passage quoted here goes on to explain how because of this conviction, any politician who tries to confine American sights or rhetoric on more manageable goals is destined for political death. Aka. “the lie is politically essential.” This brings up odd and important dilemmas for me- if we as a nation are convicted of a lie in regard to our foreign policy, and have been for four hundred odd years, how should we proceed forwards? Will there ever be a president willing to try to reign in American exceptionalism and try to fix more internal problems such as our national debt, or our economic deficit? What will it take to turn American exceptionalism inwards, and expel the hubris of dominance that the nation was built on?