Enemies of the American Way: Identity and Presidential Foreign Policymaking

Description

Why do presidents, when facing the same circumstances, focus on different threats to national security? Enemies of the American Way attempts to answer this question by investigating the role of identity in presidential decision making. The book explains why presidents disagree on what constitute a threat to the US security via the study of three US presidencies in the 19th century (Cleveland, Harrison and McKinley). These case studies help draw a theory of threat identification to understand how and why specific actions are taken, including the decision to wage war. Using a constructivist approach, the book develops a rule-based identity theory to posit that American identity defines potential national security threats, i.e., how a policymaker defines Americans also defines the threats to Americans. Enemies of the American Way offers a new means of understanding a key period when America rose to prominence in international relations while proposing a template that can be used to explain American foreign policy today. It will appeal to students of international relations and foreign policy.

David Bell Mislan is Assistant Professor in the U.S. Foreign Policy Program at American University's School of International Service. His teaching and research interests are foreign policy analysis, international security, and qualitative methods. In addition to his teaching and research, Dr. Mislan is active with civic engagement initiatives in Eastern Europe and the United States.

"Friend or enemy? Benign or dangerous? A toothy grin or bared fangs? How we see the world around us determines how we respond to it. But the process of interpreting our environment is a complex one, as David Mislan demonstrates. In the late nineteenth century, America reversed its historic course and moved aggressively onto the world stage. Why? Mislan's careful examination of three presidents - Cleveland, Harrison, and McKinley - offers important insight into the factors that shape how leaders come to distinguish "threats" from the universe of other realities they face. Today, how will America interpret the rapidly changing world it faces, separate "threats" from the chaff of daily events, and chart a forward course? Mislan's insights help us understand where we may be heading, and why." - Edward Rhodes, Dean, School of Public Policy, George Mason University "David Bell Mislan's nuanced account of how U.S. presidents constructed foreign threats during the pivotal moment in which America emerged as a fledgling global power compels us to reconsider conventional explanations of threat identification. Through well-planned comparative case studies Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, and William McKinley come alive as vibrant individuals whose own beliefs about what it meant to be 'American' shaped threat identification in fundamental ways. Insightful and highly readable, Enemies of the American Way does more than document and explain foundations of American foreign policy on the eve of the 20th century-its framework provides tools for understanding changing threat assessments during our own crucial, potentially transformative moment in America's trajectory as a leading global power." -Jonathan M. DiCicco, Ph.D. Director, International Relations Program and Assistant Professor of Political Science, Canisius College [David Bell Mislan] has done a service in reminding us how important individual presidents' own preconceptions and mindsets were then and still are now in shaping global foreign policy. -- Paul Brighton * LSE Review of Books *