Adekeye Adebajo and Abdul Raudu Mustapha, eds. Gulliver's Troubles: Nigeria's Foreign Policy after the Cold War. Scottsville, South Africa: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2008. Distributed in the U.S. by International Specialized Book Services, Portland, Ore. xxii + 404 pp. Notes. References. Tables. Figures. Index. $48.95. Paper.

Since 2003, Russian foreign behavior has become much more assertive and volatile toward the West, often rejecting U.S. diplomatic initiatives and overreacting to perceived slights. This essay explains Russia’s new assertiveness using social psychological hypotheses on the relationship between power, status, and emotions. Denial of respect to a state is humiliating. When a state loses status, the emotions experienced depend on the perceived cause of this loss. When a state perceives that others are responsible for its loss, it shows anger. The belief that others have unjustly used their power to deny the state its appropriate position arouses vengefulness. If a state believes that its loss of status is due to its own failure to live up to expectations, the elites will express shame. Since the end of the Cold War, Russia has displayed anger at the U.S. unwillingness to grant it the status to which it believes it is entitled, especially during the 2008 Russo-Georgian War, and most recently Russia’s takeover of Crimea and the 2014 Ukrainian Crisis. We can also see elements of vengefulness in Russia’s reaction to recognition of Kosovo, U.S. missile defense plans, the Magnitsky act, and the Snowden affair.

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“Disoriented Superpower”: U.S. Foreign Policy in the Post-Bipolar World

Journal of International Analytics ◽

10.46272/2587-8476-2021-12-3-19-37 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 19-37

Author(s):

O. I. Rebro ◽

M. A. Suchkov

Keyword(s):

Foreign Policy ◽

Cold War ◽

International Relations ◽

International Institutions ◽

Focal Point ◽

Strategic Thinking ◽

Global Events ◽

American Society ◽

The Cold War ◽

The U.S

This article seeks to fi ll the gap between well theorized upon constants of the U.S. strategic thinking and the divergent approaches of various administrations to practical actions on the international arena. Grounded in the concept developed by Christopher Hammer, the analysis presents the U.S. foreign policy as the product of a never-ending internal debate about the most optimal ways of promoting values, dealing with international institutions and prioritizing threats within a security perimeter. Taking stock of the choices made by consecutive presidents in each of the three areas the authors study the roots of foreign policy inertia of the sole superpower that resulted in unforced mistakes undermining its own political cohesion as well as hindering the emergence of lasting international architecture to replace the cold-war order. Thus, the article argues that the key feature of the last thirty years – the absence of an enemy as an organizing principle for the U.S. foreign policy – prompted the American public to pay less attention to global events which became the area of opportunistic decisions. Overall, the authors conclude that the mistakes were made precisely when the domestic debates in the U.S. about international relations were absent and note that the current divisions in the American society as an impetus for self-scrutiny and the emergence of China as a focal point for the American elites may result in a more coherent foreign policy and make the U.S. a more responsible international actor.

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The Roots and Rationalizations of U.S. Torture in Vietnam

10.1093/oso/9780197570326.003.0005 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 89-124

Author(s):

William L. d'Ambruoso

Keyword(s):

Foreign Policy ◽

Cold War ◽

Vietnam War ◽

Behavioral Control ◽

Sensory Deprivation ◽

Control Techniques ◽

The Vietnam War ◽

The Cold War ◽

Policy Elites ◽

The U.S

This chapter traces the twin tales of the CIA’s and the U.S. military’s use of torture during the Vietnam War. The CIA’s interrogation program was rooted in the early days of the Cold War, when the agency was founded. U.S. foreign policy elites like Dwight Eisenhower and Allen Dulles were convinced that the Soviet Union’s freedom from norms and laws gave it an edge. As a result, the CIA began researching and practicing behavioral control techniques, using drugs and sensory deprivation to compete with Soviet programs. The agency’s KUBARK interrogation manual (1963) considered physical torture off-limits and ineffective, but recommended “maxim[izing] mental discomfort.” Likewise, CIA interrogators in Vietnam such as Frank Snepp believed isolation and sensory deprivation were both ethically and efficaciously superior to harsher alternatives. While racism and exasperation explain much of the U.S. military’s use of torture, soldiers also used water and electricity because the techniques were “unpleasant” but not “injurious.”

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The End of MAD? The Nuclear Dimension of U.S. Primacy

International Security ◽

10.1162/isec.2006.30.4.7 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 7-44 ◽

Cited By ~ 59

Author(s):

Keir A. Lieber ◽

Daryl G. Press

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Foreign Policy ◽

Cold War ◽

International Relations ◽

Long Range ◽

The United States ◽

Great Powers ◽

Nuclear Exchange ◽

The Cold War ◽

The U.S

For nearly half a century, the world's most powerful nuclear-armed states have been locked in a condition of mutual assured destruction. Since the end of the Cold War, however, the nuclear balance has shifted dramatically. The U.S. nuclear arsenal has steadily improved; the Russian force has sharply eroded; and Chinese nuclear modernization has progressed at a glacial pace. As a result, the United States now stands on the verge of attaining nuclear primacy, meaning that it could conceivably disarm the long-range nuclear arsenals of Russia and China with a nuclear first strike. A simple nuclear exchange model demonstrates that the United States has a potent first-strike capability. The trajectory of nuclear developments suggests that the nuclear balance will continue to shift in favor of the United States in coming years. The rise of U.S. nuclear primacy has significant implications for relations among the world's great powers, for U.S. foreign policy, and for international relations scholarship.

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Ideological Clichés and Myths as an Instrument of the U.S. Foreign Policy

Russian Journal of Legal Studies ◽

10.17816/rjls18344 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 9-19

Author(s):

V I Yakunin

Keyword(s):

Foreign Policy ◽

Cold War ◽

Detailed Analysis ◽

Political Science ◽

Political Elites ◽

The World ◽

History Of ◽

The Cold War ◽

The U.S

The article deals with the analysis of the myths and ideological clichés as the fundamental elements of U.S. foreign policy. The author emphasizes the necessity to study the discourses formed by political elites around the main problems and directions of the state’s foreign policy. At the same time, in the article an attempt is made to integrate the achievements of Western and Russian political science related to ideological clichés and myths. Particular attention is paid to the role of myths and ideological clichés in the legitimization of the government’s foreign policy actions in the eyes of the electorate. The author shows the history of the formation of the basic myths and clichés of the U.S. foreign policy, their implementation during and after the Cold War. The article contains a detailed analysis of the concept of American exclusivity as well as the foreign policy guidelines that follow from it. In conclusion, the author shows how the world has adopted to such an approach for conducting foreign policy by the hegemonic state and what methods it uses to counteract it.

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Democratic peace as global errand

Journal of Language and Politics ◽

10.1075/jlp.16004.dun ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. 176-194 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Patricia L. Dunmire

Keyword(s):

Foreign Policy ◽

Cold War ◽

Economic System ◽

Policy Discourse ◽

Democratic Peace ◽

Post Cold War ◽

Global Mission ◽

The Cold War ◽

Political Economic ◽

The U.S

Abstract Focusing on the foreign policy discourse of George H. W. Bush and William Clinton, I examine the role the American jeremiad played in conceptualizing the geopolitical change initiated by the ending of the Cold War. I identify “extending the democratic peace” as the nation’s post-Cold War “errand” and argue that this global mission represented the contemporary “re-dedication” of American policy to the nation’s “divine cause.” I demonstrate that a key issue facing the nation was whether the U.S. would reap the benefits of its Cold War victory by extending its political-economic system globally or whether it would turn inward and, thereby, give rein of the future to the forces of “anarchy” and chaos.” As with earlier renditions of the jeremiad, the post-Cold War variant turned this liminal moment into a “mode of socialization” (Bercovitch 2012, 25) by deploying the concept of democratic peace to legitimate an interventionist foreign policy.

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The Middle East Policy of America after the Cold War

International Journal of Human Resource Studies ◽

10.5296/ijhrs.v2i2.1888 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 97

Author(s):

Kübra Dilek Azman

Keyword(s):

Foreign Policy ◽

Cold War ◽

Middle East ◽

Soft Power ◽

The United States ◽

Hard Power ◽

The Cold War ◽

Middle East Policy ◽

The U.S ◽

Policy Discourses

The aim of this study is to discuss the Middle East policy of the United States’ (U.S.) after the Cold War. In the period following the Cold War, the Middle East has been a place that the U.S’ has projected upon as if it were its own private land. This is an attractive and important issue for political research area. In briefly, it can be divided the policies of the U.S. in the post-Cold War concerning the Middle East into three just like a tripod and these are security, economy and politics. Firstly, eliminate the danger of radical Islamic groups, especially war against to acts of terrorism, secondly; controlling oil and energy resources and the finally is ensuring the security of Israel state. This paper will examine the September 11 attacks and the U.S. Greater Middle East Project and the U.S. occupation of Iraq. In that period U.S. tend to use the hard power. Than after this period, new President Barack Obama has changed the American Middle East policy discourses. The Obama’s foreign policy discourses show us that he is tend to use soft power instruments. This study argues that the U.S. foreign policy in Middle East after the Cold War has changed periodically. However the aim of Middle East policy of the U.S.’ has not changed, but the policy instruments have been changed from hard power to soft power Then, the question has been raised about the whether the U.S. will be success or not with this new policy. These concerning issues are going to be discussed.

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Conflicted Cultural Memory and U.S. Foreign Policy: The “Lost Ca(u)se” of the U.S. Radar Base in the Czech Republic

Ad Americam ◽

10.12797/adamericam.19.2018.19.09 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 ◽

pp. 123-142

Author(s):

Kryštof Kozák

Keyword(s):

Foreign Policy ◽

Czech Republic ◽

Cold War ◽

Cultural Memory ◽

Historical Narratives ◽

Clear Indication ◽

The Czech Republic ◽

Heated Debate ◽

The Cold War ◽

The U.S

This article analyzes the developments in cultural memory in Czech-U.S. relations since the end of the Cold War with a special emphasis on the heated debate about placing a U.S. radar base on Czech soil in 2008. It first describes the abrupt transformation in cultural memory related to the transition from communist rule from the transatlantic perspective. It claims that the debate about the radar base is a clear indication of the shift within cultural memory, which became much more contested, especially when compared with the previous period culminating with the Czech Republic’s entry into NATO. As cultural memory is closely linked to dominant historical narratives as well as identity, the findings have serious implications for the future of the transatlantic ties in the region.

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Higher education – the factor of soft power in U.S. foreign policy from the post-cold war to 2016

Science & Technology Development Journal - Social Sciences & Humanities ◽

10.32508/stdjssh.v4i3.578 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 605-612

Author(s):

Nguyen Thi Huyen Thao

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Foreign Policy ◽

Cold War ◽

Soviet Union ◽

Soft Power ◽

The United States ◽

Post Cold War ◽

National Power ◽

The Cold War ◽

The U.S

Soft power is a concept that was created by Joseph Nye in the 1990s. After the soft power theory was supplemented many times, up to now, it has been considered a theory interesting to many researchers. In 2005, he pointed out that higher education played an important role and was a factor of soft power in U.S. foreign policy. The United States (U.S) is a country that has flexible, adjustable and appropriated changes in foreign policy. The cultural and educational values in history have created the soft power and own mark of U.S , especially in the period of the Cold War (1947- 1991). At that time, higher education contributed to the training and changing of the mind of many students going to the Soviet Union. After the Cold War ended, the U.S. remained the nation's top-rank comprehensive national power in the World. This national power gave the U.S. favorable conditions to enforce and implement strategies globally. In this way, the soft power was never left behind in the U.S foreign policy, especially in higher education. So, how did the U.S. maintain this policy in the foreign policy and what outcomes did it bring to the U.S.? This article presents the higher education and the factor of soft power in the U.S. foreign policy from the Post-Cold War till 2016.

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