DOCSLIB.ORG

TRACING the DISCOURSE of AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM by Aron Tabor

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
TRACING the DISCOURSE of AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM by Aron Tabor DOES EXCEPTION PROVE THE RULE? TRACING THE DISCOURSE OF AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM By Aron Tabor Submitted to Central European University Doctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy and International Relations In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science Supervisor: Alexander Astrov Word Count: 93,194 Budapest, Hungary 2019 CEU eTD Collection CEU eTD Collection ii Declaration I hereby declare that no parts of this thesis have been accepted for any other degrees in any other institutions. This thesis contains no material previously written and/or published by another person, except where appropriate acknowledgement is made in the form of bibliographical reference. Aron Tabor April 26, 2019 CEU eTD Collection iii CEU eTD Collection iv Abstract The first two decades of the twenty-first century saw an unprecedented proliferation of the discourse of American exceptionalism both in scholarly works and in the world of politics; several recent contributions have characterized this notion in the context of a set of beliefs that create, construct, (re-)define and reproduce a particular foreign policy identity. At the same time, some authors also note that the term “American exceptionalism” itself was born in a specific discourse within U.S. Communism, and, for a period, it was primarily understood with reference to the peculiar causes behind the absence of a strong socialist movement in the United States. The connection between this original meaning and the later usage is not fully explored; often it is assumed that “exceptionalism” existed before the label was created as the idea is traced back to the founding of the American nation or even to the Puritan origins rooted in the colonial period. Certainly, there are some important ideational continuities in this tradition. However, it is still puzzling how this specific expression has become so popular at this particular point of history, and how the term has been transformed in various contexts of American politics and foreign policy. This dissertation examines “exceptionalism” as a keyword and asks how the term “American exceptionalism” has been used since its first recorded appearance. As the term originally came from interwar Marxist terminology, I explore how its meaning has evolved from this starting point. While this approach cannot account for a complete intellectual history of the ideas associated with exceptionalism, the aims are more modest here. By pointing out the relevance CEU eTD Collection of this particular line of thought, this work supplements existing analyses of exceptionalism and uncovers the linguistic actions engrained in specific formulations. For this, instead of taking the meaning of the term as fixed or predetermined, its content – as prescribed by the methodologies of the Cambridge School of intellectual history and German conceptual v historians – should be discerned from its usage. Hence, I propose a form of discourse-tracing that highlights the multilayered and historical nature of the discursive development. This does not find a clear linear path from one articulation to another; the emphasis is rather on the interactions between different discursive layers as the idea moves between various contexts and spheres while it serves certain functions in a scholarly, intellectual, or political agenda. Exceptionalism, by definition, needs to reflect an understanding of both exception and rule; the particular and the universal. The analysis notes that the invocation of the term was often connected to a reinterpretation of the relationship between particularism and universalism under a perception of crisis in which previously established meanings were questioned. During these periods, agents used exceptionalism to advance political objectives and to shape collective understandings. This examination contributes to existing interpretations of exceptionalism by noting why certain reinterpretations could succeed while others fail; and by observing the shifts in the trajectory of the discourse. Moreover, it helps to understand the social-political contexts in which contestations happen and long-lasting decisions are made. This mode of analysis also emphasizes the back and forth movement of ideas between the academic and the political spheres; thus, it can also shed light on the development of those discourses that happen in the important boundary locations between politics and intellectual engagements. CEU eTD Collection vi Acknowledgements First and foremost, I am grateful to my supervisor, Alex Astrov for this intellectual journey. His comments have helped me to sharpen my argument and our conversations have shaped how I look at the world in general. I thank Michael Merlingen and Thomas Fetzer for being members of my supervisory panel and for providing me with feedback and suggestions at those meetings. In addition, I appreciate the comments that I received from Erin Jenne, Lea Sgier, Xymena Kurowska, and Daniel Large about class assignments that were related to this project. I would also like to thank Robin Bellers from the Center for Academic Writing for reading and commenting on several parts of the dissertation and its earlier versions. I am grateful to Hywel Griffiths for proofreading the whole text. This dissertation could not have been concluded without research in the United States; these study trips were made possible by CEU’s own Doctoral Research Support Grant and by the Hungarian Fulbright Commission. I would like to thank Daniel Deudney for hosting me at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. I am extremely grateful to Robert Jervis for supervising my visiting research at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University in New York and for his comments on various parts of the dissertation. I am especially indebted to Ira Katznelson whose works – as one can observe just from the bibliography here – tremendously influenced my view of U.S. history, and whose fascinating class on American political development at Columbia was a great inspiration. Having members of family in the United States made these trips much easier; I hereby want to thank Lenny and Shoshana and Nancy and Lee for their kind hospitality in Cambridge and in New York. In addition, I was lucky to be able to relax in the midst of the writing process while visiting Anna, Gergő, Márton, and Jakab in Vienna. Libraries have been among the most important spaces in my life in the past decade. A large part of this dissertation was written in CEU’s own library in Budapest (in fact, in two different CEU eTD Collection libraries as I could witness CEU’s move to its new building). This has been an inspiring working environment, and I just hope that it will remain in some form in Budapest – whatever happens in the coming years. I also did important research in Johns Hopkins’s Milton S. Eisenhower Library in Baltimore; in the Library of Congress in Washington DC; in Columbia’s Butler and Lehman Libraries in New York (including the Rare Book and Manuscript Library in Butler); in Yale’s Manuscripts and Archives Reading Room in the Sterling Memorial Library vii in New Haven; and in the Harvard University Archives at Pusey Library in Cambridge. In each of these places, the library staff was extremely friendly and helpful, which greatly facilitated my research. Doing a PhD can often feel like a lonely experience; however, I was lucky to take my classes and spend my time (including during those important lunchtime conversations) together with friends like Adina, Alex, Anatoly, András, Andreea, Anna, Bastian, Bruno, Caitlin, Csilla, Emrah, Georgiana, Jelena, Martin, Miles, Silvia, Vija, Viktor, and the list could go on. I am especially thankful to Sashi for his friendship and for his encouragement and advice during my writing process. In addition, I am grateful to my friends in Budapest (and in other parts of the world) – especially to Ádám, Ági, Anna, Attila, Bence, Cus, Dénes, Döme, Ferkó, Ildi, Laci, Miki, Miki, Peti, Titok, Verus, Viktor, Zalán, Zoli, Anett and Zoli, Zsófi and Bálint, and to many others, of course. I thank Mia and Czigi for making my life easier as I did not need to worry about accommodation in New York. All kinds of concerts in Budapest (and in New York and in Baltimore) were extremely helpful in both switching off my brain and in making me think. I thank all my friends (and everyone else) who play in awesome bands in Hungary. Of course, I am especially thankful to my family in Budapest. My parents provided tons of support and my sister Sára helped me a lot, especially in putting together the bibliography. In addition, Zoé might become one of the world’s most experienced cats in dissertation-writing; she is already great at sitting on notes and drafts. April 11, 2019 Cambridge, Massachusetts I would like to express my gratitude to the members of my defense committee, and especially CEU eTD Collection to Hilde Restad for her extensive comments and suggestions that helped me in the revisions of the dissertation. January 29, 2020 viii Table of Contents Declaration.............................................................................................................................. iii Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ vii Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • George Bush and the End of the Cold War. Christopher Alan Maynard Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 2001 From the Shadow of Reagan: George Bush and the End of the Cold War. Christopher Alan Maynard Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Maynard, Christopher Alan, "From the Shadow of Reagan: George Bush and the End of the Cold War." (2001). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 297. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/297 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI fiims the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction.. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps.
    [Show full text]
  • TRACING the DISCOURSE of AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM by Aron Tabor
    DOES EXCEPTION PROVE THE RULE? TRACING THE DISCOURSE OF AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM By Aron Tabor Submitted to Central European University Doctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy and International Relations In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science Supervisor: Alexander Astrov Word Count: 91,719 Budapest, Hungary 2019 ii Declaration I hereby declare that no parts of this thesis have been accepted for any other degrees in any other institutions. This thesis contains no material previously written and/or published by another person, except where appropriate acknowledgement is made in the form of bibliographical reference. Aron Tabor April 26, 2019 iii iv Abstract The first two decades of the twenty-first century saw an unprecedented proliferation of the discourse of American exceptionalism both in scholarly works and in the world of politics; several recent contributions have characterized this notion in the context of a set of beliefs that create, construct, (re-)define and reproduce a particular foreign policy identity. At the same time, some authors also note that the term “American exceptionalism” itself was born in a specific discourse within U.S. Communism, and, for a period, it was primarily understood with reference to the peculiar causes behind the absence of a strong socialist movement in the United States. The connection between this original meaning and the later usage is not fully explored; often it is assumed that “exceptionalism” existed before the label was created as the idea is traced back to the founding of the American nation or even to the colonial period.
    [Show full text]
  • Spies: the Rise and Fall of the KGB in America by John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr and Alexander Vassiliev: Review
    Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America By John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr and Alexander Vassiliev: review Spies by Haynes, Klehr and Vassiliev proves that the KGB’s infiltration of America started earlier and went deeper than we thought, finds Andrew Lownie By Andrew Lownie Published: 5:50AM BST 28 Jun 2009 A common perception is that, both before and after the Second World War, the British Establishment was penetrated by Soviet spies (most notably by the Cambridge Spy Ring) while America somehow escaped infiltration. This important new book, however, which is based on archival material – a rare luxury for intelligence historians – shows the huge extent of Soviet espionage activity in the United States during the 20th century. The authors estimate that from the Twenties more than 500 Americans from all walks of life, including many Ivy League graduates and Oxford Rhodes Scholars, were recruited to assist Soviet intelligence agencies, particularly in the State Department and America’s first intelligence agency, the OSS. John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr have previously collaborated on books about the Venona spy intercepts and American Communism. Their co-author Alexander Vassiliev, a Russian journalist and former intelligence officer, collaborated on The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America. That book was based on controlled Russian intelligence documents, access to which was negotiated during a moment of Glasnost in the Nineties with a view to supplementing the KGB pension fund, championing Russian intelligence successes and creating a bit of disinformation mischief. What hadn’t been known until recently is that while working on The Haunted Wood, Vassiliev had transcribed and summarised innumerable KGB documents which he had smuggled out with him – more than 1,000 pages of notes – when he began a new life in America.
    [Show full text]
  • Trump and American Exceptionalism: Why a Crippled America Is Something
    Home > Trump and American Exceptionalism Tuesday, January 3, 2017 Trump and American Exceptionalism Why a Crippled America Is Something New Stephen Wertheim STEPHEN WERTHEIM is a historian of U.S. foreign relations and Fellow at King’s College, University of Cambridge. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwertheim [1]. Since Donald Trump’s election as U.S. president on November 8, the liberal commentariat has been sounding the alarm on the fate of the international order: the Pax Americana is over. Four years after dismissing American decline as a myth [2], Robert Kagan now claims we’re nearing [3] the “end of the 70-year-old U.S. world order.” Ian Buruma, writing in the New York Times Magazine, laments [4] that those who voted for Trump and Brexit wish to “pull down the pillars” of liberal internationalism and retreat into isolation. Such eulogies say less about Trump or his voters than about the limits of conventional wisdom. The president-elect denounced nation-building and demanded that U.S. allies pay more for protection, but so have many of his predecessors. And Trump never promised to retract the United States’ global power [5]. To the contrary, he vowed to build up the military, go after Islamist terrorism, and counter Chinese aggression. An isolationist he is not. But Trump has distinguished himself in one dramatic respect: He may be the first president to take office who explicitly rejects American exceptionalism [6]. CITY ON A HILL “We shall be as a city upon a hill—the eyes of all people are upon us,” said John Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony, in 1630.
    [Show full text]
  • ABSTRACT Title of Document: from the BELLY of the HUAC: the RED PROBES of HOLLYWOOD, 1947-1952 Jack D. Meeks, Doctor of Philos
    ABSTRACT Title of Document: FROM THE BELLY OF THE HUAC: THE RED PROBES OF HOLLYWOOD, 1947-1952 Jack D. Meeks, Doctor of Philosophy, 2009 Directed By: Dr. Maurine Beasley, Journalism The House Un-American Activities Committee, popularly known as the HUAC, conducted two investigations of the movie industry, in 1947 and again in 1951-1952. The goal was to determine the extent of communist infiltration in Hollywood and whether communist propaganda had made it into American movies. The spotlight that the HUAC shone on Tinsel Town led to the blacklisting of approximately 300 Hollywood professionals. This, along with the HUAC’s insistence that witnesses testifying under oath identify others that they knew to be communists, contributed to the Committee’s notoriety. Until now, historians have concentrated on offering accounts of the HUAC’s practice of naming names, its scrutiny of movies for propaganda, and its intervention in Hollywood union disputes. The HUAC’s sealed files were first opened to scholars in 2001. This study is the first to draw extensively on these newly available documents in an effort to reevaluate the HUAC’s Hollywood probes. This study assesses four areas in which the new evidence indicates significant, fresh findings. First, a detailed analysis of the Committee’s investigatory methods reveals that most of the HUAC’s information came from a careful, on-going analysis of the communist press, rather than techniques such as surveillance, wiretaps and other cloak and dagger activities. Second, the evidence shows the crucial role played by two brothers, both German communists living as refugees in America during World War II, in motivating the Committee to launch its first Hollywood probe.
    [Show full text]
  • The Life and Works of Philip J. Jaffe: a Foreigner's Foray
    THE LIFE AND WORKS OF PHILIP J. JAFFE: A FOREIGNER’S FORAY INTO CHINESE COMMUNISM Patrick Nichols “…the capitalist world is divided into two rival sectors, the one in favor of peace and the status quo, and the other the Fascist aggressors and provokers of a new world war.” These words spoken by Mao Tse Tung to Philip J. Jaffe in a confidential interview. Although China has long held international relations within its Asian sphere of influence, the introduction of a significant Western persuasion following their defeats in the Opium Wars was the first instance in which China had been subservient to the desires of foreigners. With the institution of a highly westernized and open trading policy per the wishes of the British, China had lost the luster of its dynastic splendor and had deteriorated into little more than a colony of Western powers. Nevertheless, as China entered the 20th century, an age of new political ideologies and institutions began to flourish. When the Kuomintang finally succeeded in wrestling control of the nation from the hands of the northern warlords following the Northern Expedition1, it signaled a modern approach to democratizing China. However, as the course of Chinese political history will show, the KMT was a morally weak ruling body that appeased the imperial intentions of the Japanese at the cost of Chinese citizens and failed to truly assert its political legitimacy during it‟s almost ten year reign. Under these conditions, a radical and highly determined sect began to form within the KMT along with foreign assistance. The party held firmly on the idea of general welfare, but focused mostly on the rights of the working class and student nationalists.
    [Show full text]
  • Scoping out the International Spy Museum
    Acad. Quest. DOI 10.1007/s12129-010-9171-1 ARTICLE Scoping Out the International Spy Museum Ronald Radosh # The Authors 2010 The International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.—a private museum that opened in July 2002 at the cost of $40 million—is rated as one of the most visited and popular tourist destinations in our nation’s capital, despite stiff competition from the various public museums that are part of the Smithsonian. The popularity of the Spy Museum has a great deal to do with how espionage has been portrayed in the popular culture, especially in the movies. Indeed, the museum pays homage to cinema with its display of the first Aston Martin used by James Bond, when Agent 007 was played by Sean Connery in the films made during the JFK years. The Spy Museum’s board of directors includes Peter Earnest, a former CIA operative and the museum’s first chief executive; David Kahn, the analyst of cryptology; Gen. Oleg Kalugin, a former KGB agent; as well as R. James Woolsey, a former director of the CIA. Clearly, the board intends that in addition to the museum’s considerable entertainment value, its exhibits and texts convey a sense of the reality of the spy’s life and the historical context in which espionage agents operated. The day I toured the museum it was filled with high school students who stood at the various exhibits taking copious notes. It was obvious that before their visit the students had been told to see what the exhibits could teach them about topics discussed in either their history or social studies classes.
    [Show full text]
  • Pew Justice Reinvestment Summit and Pew Results First Initiative
    MEMORANDUM DATE: December 3, 2014 TO: Members of the Advisory Commission on the Administration of Justice FROM: Nicolas Anthony, Senior Principal Deputy Legislative Counsel SUBJECT: Update on Pew Justice Reinvestment Summit and Pew Results First Initiative At the Advisory Commission on the Administration of Justice's meeting held on October 21, 2014, several members of the Commission requested an update as to ongoing research and continuing staff communication with the Pew Charitable Trusts (regarding the Justice Reinvestment Initiative process). This memorandum responds to that request and provides an update as to staffs recent involvement with Pew on several fronts. As you may be aware, several Commission members were recently invited to a National Justice Reinvestment Summit held by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Simultaneously, members from the Pew-McArthur Results First Initiative convened a set of Policy Overview and Technical Working Group meetings in Carson City. JUSTICE REINVESTMENT SUMMIT On November 17-19, 2014, the Pew Charitable Trusts along with the Justice Center of the Council of State Governments and the Bureau of Justice Assistance of the U.S. Department of Justice held a joint Justice Reinvestment National Summit in San Diego, California. A copy of the Conference Agenda, along with supporting materials from recent justice reinvestment reforms in other states, is attached for your review. The National Summit provided a platform to learn about new trends in justice reinvestment including: trends in other states (such as California's passage of Assembly Bill 109 (2011) and Proposition 47 (2014)); leading change in the Legislature; what works in drug policy; data driven justice reforms; juvenile justice; and performance measures.
    [Show full text]
  • Opposes Policy of Prohibiting the Placement of American Flags on Individual Veteran's Graves in National Cemeteries
    AMERICANISM 2016-2017 MESSAGE POINTS Issue – CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO PROTECT THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES Message Points: The American Legion has campaigned diligently for the passage of an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to protect the symbol of our Nation, the Flag of the United States, from physical desecration. Part of that campaign has included the founding of The Citizens Flag Alliance, Inc., a coalition of civic, veteran, business and fraternal organizations which have come together to persuade Congress to propose a flag amendment. The legislatures of all 50 states have indicated by memorial resolutions to the U.S. Congress that such an amendment to the U.S. Constitution is needed in view of the 1989 decision of the United States Supreme Court (Texas v. Johnson) that invalidated all flag protection laws. Surveys have consistently shown that over 80% of the American people support the passage of a flag amendment. Flag protection amendments have passed the House of Representatives six times previously, only to fall short of the necessary two-thirds supermajority required in the Senate. Since the time of the American Revolution millions of men and women have proudly defended our country under the “Stars & Stripes” and, as a last gesture of gratitude, this emblem of our country is placed upon the coffin of veterans as a token of respect for service rendered to a grateful nation. The American Legion will continue to urge the Congress of the United States to propose and approve an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would allow the Congress to prohibit the physical desecration of the Flag of the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • Ergen375.Pdf
    APR1 3 194$ In H , Y , T WiiN TY - 11VB ASTOJl IL A CS • NBY YOAIC GEORGE SELDES, &IU"" 11re. lll.e&JWI" ltOoa ...u ftlt lbUe lloo.aaO lulliJir'Oa, D.c. Deal" lll"'l. ...... u. U wW be fl.,. ,_... oa ..., 10 "•' I fUIIUoiiM taa fiN\ t.a- of D rt.ar, allll be fU\b &llld."ft&l'7 tuu lt wl\b MI'O \baA U01 000 ,aid MlbeorlpU- aJI4 _.. \II!UI 7001 000 .......... "" ,....,,.. a 00,7 le ao... AUoaal, but •Ill' ,.,..•• , AO$&~ • .,.,... ot ooUlON u tAa flebU.C froata, toU M \bot weav, \bil"\7 or fltt, peN- rood •oil iaoi&O u\11 be ,aper 1a WOI'II Oil\. '1'lloro u ao otllor ,ublt.Uoa lA tile tJDlW a•\00 d.noted to •••lAc lUll! ti&IIU.C a\1.,. &aorlou faooU. - U.. -1, oorrup\ oo-roial pi'ON 1a oa1T ,art of lt. ,..,.,..1 18041111 AMrloo• Ia.,. alroo47 ••at a - .... to oownerato Ill rAar•o •-• aJI4 flt\b blr\*'• I woal.t 110 crat•ful for a - .... r.- 70ilo 1 0 & ra a K JL£ 1 0 111 • 110 .Aif1" A I & && P&at t .· -+U Y.,.. Me.. Ia Melt 1 1zd Ia aec1 s.. r ... s ...._.. • __. ca.. ...... Mu<tt n . N v . .....'"''· ..., .. IQ ,.. fll ..-......-c. • , ,...,. ••, ..v-.. (No. 236) Vol. XI, No. 2 ~ "' Aprlll6, 1945 (E~U:l,..l11f) WAR DEPARTMENT WARNS 1.0,000,000 SOLDIERS .. AGAINST -u; S.· FASCISM, AS VICTORY .NEARS N OCI'OBER t ltH thJo weeltb' publllbed one of lbo eoc..r-, DOio<bta u · ~ au~ ID 0 """'' I'J'poc1aJiiJ>Owt ~ 11> ~~~e )llato..,.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of the United States in World Society Jason F
    University of Connecticut OpenCommons@UConn Doctoral Dissertations University of Connecticut Graduate School 8-26-2016 A Difference That Makes a Difference: The Role of the United States in World Society Jason F. Charrette University of Connecticut - Storrs, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations Recommended Citation Charrette, Jason F., "A Difference That Makes a Difference: The Role of the United States in World Society" (2016). Doctoral Dissertations. 1253. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations/1253 A Difference That Makes a Difference: The Role of the United States in World Society Jason Francis Charrette, PhD University of Connecticut, 2016 Abstract: This dissertation examines the global role of the United States and other organizations within world society. What sets this project apart from previous scholarship is that it relies on the insights of Niklas Luhmann‘s modern systems theory to contextualize those roles. Luhmann argues that the closest human civilization has to a world order is a ―world society‖ made up of many functional communication systems. These systems each provide a distinct model through which humans understand and construct their social world. Because these models are not always compatible, the potential for conflict is woven into the fabric of world society. Extending Luhmann‘s theory further, I argue that the differences between these systems structure this conflict and manifest themselves through organizational behavior, which I demonstrate through the development of a model of organizational behavior. I apply this model in four case-studies that reveal Luhmannian dynamics at play. From the political system, I focused on the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding America's Contested Primacy
    C E n t E r for Strat E g i C a n D B u D g E t a r y a S S E S S m E n t S Understanding America’s Contested Primacy Dr. Eric S. Edelman Understanding america’s contested Primacy Dr. Eric S. Edelman 2010 © 2010 Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. All rights reserved. About the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) is an independent, nonpartisan policy research institute established to promote innovative thinking and debate about national security strategy and investment options. CSBA’s goal is to enable policymakers to make informed decisions on matters of strategy, security policy and resource allocation. CSBA provides timely, impartial and insightful analyses to senior decision mak- ers in the executive and legislative branches, as well as to the media and the broader national security community. CSBA encourages thoughtful participation in the de- velopment of national security strategy and policy, and in the allocation of scarce human and capital resources. CSBA’s analysis and outreach focus on key questions related to existing and emerging threats to US national security. Meeting these challenges will require transforming the national security establishment, and we are devoted to helping achieve this end. About the Author Ambassador Eric S. Edelman retired as a Career Minister from the US Foreign Service on May 1, 2009. He has served in senior positions at the Departments of State and Defense as well as the White House where he led organizations providing analysis, strategy, policy development, secu- rity services, trade advocacy, public outreach, citizen services and con- gressional relations.
    [Show full text]