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Porque as ideias importam: a crença no excepcionalismo americano como guia de formulação das grandes estratégias dos Estados Unidos no alvorecer da superpotência

2013; Linguagem: Inglês

2639-6459

Fernanda Petená Magnotta,

Brazilian History and Foreign Policy

At the dawn of the 21 century, a lot has been discussed about the longevity of American power and the country’s ability to maintain the stability of the international system. Emerging as an unprecedented global superpower, the United States of America (USA) became a crucial factor in the understanding of International Relations (IR). It is not by chance that so much has been addressed over the past decades on the challenge of unraveling the Pax Americana in general, and on the task of understanding the domestic origins of their international choices specifically. Aiming to shed light on such a scale is what this study proposes. This research of qualitative and explanatory characteristics has the general theme called “American Exceptionalism” and possesses as subject of study, the U.S. foreign policy in the embryonic period of its leadership particularly during the consolidation of the superpower between 1917 and 1947. It is intended to investigate how such an ideational component manifested in the formulation and implementation of the “grand strategies” of the country since its entry into World War I to the establishment of the “Doctrine of Containment”. The study starts from the hypothesis that the actions of the U.S. found themselves subject during the period analyzed, to a subjective process of interpretation of the reality that was linked mainly to the way Americans perceive themselves and how they visualize their role in the world at each moment. Although this belief has materialized in different ways provided by missionary or exemplary character, for example it represents a trace of continuity, a strong idea, of the country's foreign policy during the entire studied period.