Neoconservatism and American Foreign Policy

Abstract

Neoconservatism has been clearly visible in domestic American politics since the late 1960s, though it has only come to the fore internationally in recent years due to the heavily neoconservative influenced direction of the Bush administration in its formative years after 9/11, principally through its prosecution of its War on Terror and via the rhetoric of the President himself. As a much misunderstood term, subject to media jingoism and heated partisan rhetoric in every corner of the globe, this article establishes exactly what neoconservatism is in relation to foreign policy via a reading of key neoconservative literature and corresponding critiques. Subsequently, using the Bush administration as an example, the article evaluates how neoconservative foreign policy postulates are transferred into reality during the War on Terror. Finally the analysis reaches beyond the Bush administration establishing whether a neoconservative legacy remains active in the present day under the Obama administration.