Reflection of the Role of American Exceptionalism in the Failure of the Reset Policy Between the US and Russia

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

2 Department of Regional Studies, Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

After Barack Obama became president and came into office in 2008, Washington showed a new strong inclination to fix the damaged relations with Russia. In the early years of pursuing this new policy, it seems the relations between them put in the right direction but contrary to this optimism and before finishing the first term of Obama’s presidency, relations began to deteriorate. There are varying reasons for that,, but without falling in the trap of single cause explanation, this study seeks to show how hidden ideas of exceptionalism in American political society and Obama’s national security doctrine as well, affected relations, particularly on the Reset policy. This study by gathering documents that narrate the existence of a political-cultural pressure on the Obama administration shows that American exceptionalism as a force of strategic culture has had a remarkable role in preventing of advancing of reset policy between the US and Russia.

Keywords

Main Subjects


کولایی، ا.، خاشع، ج.، و رضازاده، ح. (0931). روابط روسیه و آمریکا در پرتو سیاست «از سرگیری» اوباما. فصلنامه مطالعات اوراسیای مرکزی، 4(9)، 97-89. https://jcep.ut.ac.ir/article_24223.html
 
References
Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined Communities:Reflections on the origins and spread of nationalism. London, England: Verso.
Abelson, D. E. (2006). Capitol Idea: Think Tanks and U. S. Foreign Policy. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s Press - MQUP
Arin, K. Y. (2013). Think Tanks: The Brain Trusts of US Foreign Policy. Heidelberg: Springer Science & Business Media [DOI:10.1007/978-3-658-02935-7_1]
Baum, M.A., Philip, B. K. P. (2015). War and Democratic Constraint: How the Public Influences Foreign Policy. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. [DOI:10.23943/princeton/9780691164984.001.0001]
Brooks, S. (2013). American Exceptionalism in the Age of Obama. Milton Park, Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire: Routledge. [DOI:10.4324/9780203085165]
Brennan, T. (2011). The Un-American President: Barack Obama. Scotts Valley, California: Createspace Independent Pub.
Bentley, M.,  & Holland, J. (2019). The obama doctrine: A legacy of continuity in US foreign policy? Milton Park: Routledge.
Bacevich, A. J. (2018). Twilight of the American Century. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press.
Bacevich, A. J. (2008). The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism. New York City: Henry Holt and Company.
Bailyn‌, B. (1960). Education in the Forming of American Society: Needs and Opportunities for Study. Carolina: University of North Carolina Press.
Ceaser‌, J. W. (2012). The origins and character of American exceptionalism. American Political Thought, 1(1),  [DOI:10.1086/664595]
DeCanio‌, S. (2015). Democracy and the Origins of the American Regulatory State. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. [DOI:10.12987/yale/9780300198782.001.0001]
Durkheim, E. (1982). Rules of Sociological Method: Contemporary social theory Theoretical traditions in the social sciences, Simon and Schuster. New York: The free Press. https://monoskop.org/images/1/1e/Durkheim_Emile_The_Rules_of_Sociological_Method_1982.pdf
Foot, R. (2008). Exceptionalism Again: The bush administration, the “global war on terror” and human rights. Law and History Review, 26(3), 707-25.  [DOI:10.1017/S0738248000002625]
Greene, J. P. (1993). The intellectual construction of America. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press
Godfrey, H. (2009). The myth of american exceptionalism. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press.
Jones, J. M. (2010). Americans see US as exceptional; 37% doubt Obama does. Retrieved from http://www.jukkarannila.fi/docs/American_Exceptionalism_GALLUP_2_American_Exceptionalism_Dec_22_2010.pdf
Gilmore, J., Sheets, P., & Rowling, C. (2016). Make no exception, save one: American exceptionalism, the American presidency, and the age of Obama. Communication Monographs, 83(4), 505-20. [DOI:10.1080/03637751.2016.1182638]
Huddy, L., & Khatib, N. (2007). American patriotism, national identity, and political involvement. American Journal of Political Science, 51(1), 63-77. [DOI:10.1111/j.1540-5907.2007.00237.x]
Huntington, S. P. (1981). American Politics: The Promise of Disharmony. Harvard: Harvard University Press.
Hrnjaz, M., & Krstić, M. (2015). Obama’s dual discourse on American exceptionalism. Croatian International Relations Review, 21(73), 25-56. [DOI:10.1515/cirr-2015-0010]
Hoffmann, St. (1968). Gulliver’s Troubles; or, The Setting of American Foreign Policy. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Kammen, M. (1993). The problem of American exceptionalism: A reconsideration. American Quarterly, 45(1), 1-43. [DOI:10.2307/2713051]
Keesing, F. M. (1958). Cultural anthropology: The science of custom. New York: Rinehart.
Scharnberg, K., & Barker, K. (2007). The not-so-simple story of Barack Obama’s youth. Chicago Tribune.
Litke, J. B. (2013). Twilight of the republic: empire and exceptionalism in the american political tradition. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. [DOI:10.5810/kentucky/9780813142203.001.0001]
Lepgold, J., & McKeown, T. (1995). Is American foreign policy exceptional? An empirical analysis. Political Science Quarterly, 110(3), 369-384. [DOI:10.2307/2152569]
Macmillan, A., Booth, K., & Trood, R. (1999). Strategic culture (p. 8). London: MacMillan Press, Ltd. [DOI:10.1007/978-1-349-27342-3_1]
Gorshenin V. (2013). Senator John McCain: Russians deserve better than Putin. Retrieved from https://english.pravda.ru/opinion/125705-McCain_for_pravda_ru/
McDougall, W. A. (1997). Promised land, crusader state: the American encounter with the world since 1776. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Gr6atcdK37EC&oi=fnd&pg=
McCormick, J. M. (2012). The Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy: Insights and Evidence. Washington, DC: Rowman & Littlefield
McFaul, M. (2018). From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia. Boston, Massachusetts: HMH Books.
National Security Strategy Archive.  2015. Retrieved fromhttp://nssarchive.us/national-security-strategy-2015/
Onuf, P. S. (2012). American exceptionalism and national identity. American Political Thought, 1(1), 77-100.[DOI:10.1086/664594]
Obama, B. (2013). Remarks by President Obama in Address to the United Nations General Assembly. Retrieved from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/09/24/remarks-president-obama-address-united-nations-general-assembly
Patman, R. G. (2006). Globalisation, the new US exceptionalism and the war on terror. Third World Quarterly, 27(6), 963-86. [DOI:10.1080/01436590600869046]
Vierucci, L. (2011). The no-fly zone over Libya: enforcement issues. The Italian Yearbook of International Law Online, 21(1), 21-44. https://brill.com/view/journals/iyio/21/1/article-p21_3.xml
Putin, V. (2013). A plea for caution from Russia. New York Times, 11(9), 13. http://bresserpereira.org.br/terceiros/2013/setembro/13.09.Putin-Syria.pdf
Poppe, A. E. (2019). US Democracy Promotion after the Cold War. Stability, basic premises, and policy toward Egypt. Milton Park: Routledge. [DOI:10.4324/9780429055546]
Ponnuru, R., & Lowry, R. (2010). An Exceptional Debate, National Review. Retrieved from https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2010/03/08/exceptional-debate/
Rose, R. (1989). How exceptional is the American political economy? Political Science Quarterly, 104(1), 91-115.[DOI:10.2307/2150989]
Restad, H. E. (2014). American Exceptionalism: An idea that made a nation and remade the world. London: Routledge.[DOI:10.4324/9780203485439]
Romney, M. (2010). No apology: The case for American greatness. New York City: St. Martin’s Press. https://www.amazon.com/No-Apology-Case-American-Greatness/dp/0312609809
Robinson, E. (2013). Yes Vladimir, America is Exceptional. Washington Post, September 12, Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/yes-vladimir-america-is-exceptional/2013/09/12/4b234320-1be2-11e3-a628-7e6dde8f889d_story.html
Scharf, M. P., & Williams, P. R. (2010). Shaping foreign policy in times of crisis: The role of international law and the state department legal adviser. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. [DOI:10.1017/CBO9780511815294]
Shane, S. (2012). The opiate of exceptionalism. New York: New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/sunday-review/candidates-and-the-truth-about-america.html
Schlesinger Jr, A. M. (1986). The Cycles of American History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. [DOI:10.2307/1908958]
Schuck, P. H., & Wilson, J. Q. (Eds.). (2009). Understanding America: The anatomy of an exceptional nation. New York City: PublicAffairs; Reprint Edition. https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-America-Anatomy-Exceptional-Nation/dp/1586486950
Sarat, A. D., & Simon, J. (Eds.). (2003). Cultural analysis, cultural studies, and the law: Moving beyond legal realism. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. [DOI:10.1215/9780822384755]
Shafer, B. E. (1991). Is America different?: A new look at American exceptionalism. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. https://www.amazon.com/America-Different-Look-American-Exceptionalism/dp/0198277342
Spragg, D. M. (2019). America Ascendant: The Rise of American Exceptionalism. Lincoln, Nebraska: U of Nebraska Press. https://books.google.com/books?hl
Saito, N. T. (2010). Meeting the enemy: American exceptionalism and international law (Vol. 65). New York: NYU Press. [DOI:10.18574/nyu/9780814798362.001.0001]
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In S. Worchel and WG Austing (Eds.). Chicago: Psychology of Intergroup Relations.
Tajfel, H. (1981). Human groups and social categories: Studies in social psychology. Cambridge, England: CUP Archive.
Trenin‌, D. (2016). Should We Fear Russia? Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley.
Tyrrell, I. (1991). American exceptionalism in an age of international history. The American Historical Review, 1031-55. [DOI:10.2307/2164993]
Walt, S. M. (2018). The hell of good intentions: America’s foreign policy elite and the decline of US primacy. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Wheeler, N. J. (2003). The Bush doctrine: the dangers of American exceptionalism in a revolutionary age. Asian Perspective, 183-216. [DOI:10.1353/apr.2003.0007]
Weinberg, A. K. (1935). Manifest destiny: a study of nationalist expansionism in American history. New York: AMS Press.