Research Proposal on "Neo-Conservatism Project Title: To What Extent"

Research Proposal 5 pages (1844 words) Sources: 8 Style: Harvard

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Neo-Conservatism

Project Title: To what extent did the neo-conservative influence both within and outside of the Bush administration precipitate the Iraq war?

Today, many different parties are widespread in the political region. These include the Liberals and the Conservatives as two of the leading parties. However, a new term "Neo-conservatism" has emerged long since the 1950s. Now many debaters are raising the question of to what extent the neo-conservative influence both within and outside of the Bush administration particularly relating to the Iraq war?

First the term "neo-conservatism" should be defined to gain a better understanding of its influence. Adam (2004) describes neo-conservatives as the modern conservatives. In other words, he explains that neoconservatives have a persuasive attitude such that they recognize principles in modernism but also worry about the tendency at which it is applied (Adams 2004). Kurth (2006) stresses the point that neo-conservatives have become the most ideological and intellectual anti-communists and their primary focus has always been upon the great power of the Soviet Union against the U.S. And allies. Their main concern is to lead the U.S. internationally, in other words, to defeat the Soviet Union and become the most powerful force against any country.

The History of Neoconservative

The end of Cold War brought with it a new international environment; the world was no longer in the grips of the bipolar conflict between the U.S. And the Soviet Union, which had defined international relations over the past 40 years. Defining this new system was matter of contention between foreign policy practitioners; some argued the world was now multi-polar with many power centers, others argued that there was now a Uni-polar system with the U.S. As the preeminent global power. The creation of the Bush doctrine was the outcome of these foreign policy debates. The neoconservative foreign policy establishment began during the Clinton Administration to formulate a foreign policy to be implemented when they achieved power. The election of George W. Bush saw the placement of many key individuals who had formulated this policy highly placed in the Bush Administration.

The end of the Cold War resulted in what was perceived to be a systemic change to the international system and the belief was that this required a new approach to the way the U.S. related to the rest of the world. The election of Bill Clinton brought into power a generation which saw realism as being responsible for many of the foreign policy decisions that Clinton and his generation had opposed (Derek, 2008) The Vietnam War and the Arm Race where believed to have resulted from a realist perception to U.S. foreign policy. As a result, there was a desired to find a new approach to foreign policy to address new priorities in international relations. This led to a debate concerning what the U.S. could or should do with its power in the world.

The dominant response from the political right came from the neoconservatives, many of whom had played important roles in the Ford, Reagan and George H.W.Bush Administrations.

In support of the neoconservative policymakers was a group of academics, political commentators and journalist who contributed to the on going dialogue. The group published neoconservative publications such as William Kristen's The Weekly Standard and the Washington Times; as well as mainstream publications, including The New York Times and Foreign Affairs. In 1997, the politicians and the commentators came together with the organization PNAC; a political action committee to the expansion of U.S. defense capabilities and an activist foreign policy. These commentators threw around the concept of an American Empire, what they called a liberal empire built upon the idea that the U.S. should actively and in some case militarily support the development of democracy around the world (Robert, 2003)

1997 saw the creation of PNAC and the question of future U.S. actions pertaining to Iraq and the regime of Saddam Hussein became a central focus for the organization. Another focus of the organization was the Reaganesque call for increased defense spending that has become a staple of the neoconservative movement. The launch of PNAC was accompanied by a letter to the president Clinton. In the letter the signatories called for an end to the policy of "containment" which they believed had failed to stop the possibility of Iraq acquiring weapons of mass destruction and that the & #8230;. Only acceptable strategy is on that eliminates the possibility that Iraq will be able to use or threaten to use weapons of mass destruction. In the near-term, this means a willingness to undertake military action as diplomacy is clearly failing. In the long-term, it means removing Saddam Hussein and his regime from power. In brief Neoconservative came with the idea that America is the supreme power of the world and that it should continue implementing and improving its position.

Iraq War and Neoconservative

The Iraq question or more accurately the 'Saddam Hussein question' has been the source of many debates within U.S. administrations, beginning with George H. Bush and leading into the administration of George W. Bush. Throughout this period, different approaches towards Saddam were adopted, and many others discarded. The approach that was eventually realized with the invasion has its sources in a particular stand of American neoconservative discourse (Kenneth, 1996) More specifically if concerns the 'internationalists' of the political Right. They consist of a group of intellectuals whose main task is to tackle two important questions in the sphere of foreign affairs. What does the international sphere look like? And what should America's role in it be? It was within this discourse that the idea of using war to deal with the 'Saddam question' was developed (Clausewitz, 1943) The chief architects of this discourse include important political and international figures such as Robert Kagan, William Kriston, (Zagacki, 1996), Richard Perle, and Paul Wolfowitz. They began formulating their ideas during the latter part of the 1980s, but the materialization of those ideas into a coherent plan did not seem to occur until the late 1990s (Mann 2003 & Klare, 2003). Since the first inauguration of George W.Bush as President of the United States and the events of 9/11, these intellectual architects have moved their ideas beyond the realm of a coherent plan and into the realm of a dominant one. During the last five years, their ideas and visions came to form a basis for American Defense strategy and Foreign Policy.

Academics have analyzed the neoconservative discourse in different ways. Some have completely opposed this doctrine. Michael Mann (2003) has perhaps produced the best opposition to this discourse. In Incoherent Empire, he argues that the empirical and ideological arguments advanced by these neoconservatives are either flawed or completely misguided. Others have had a different kind of objection to this discourse. Thomas Barnett (2004), Robert (2003) and Niall Ferguson (2004) argue that what is missing from the current U.S. approach is a coherent grand strategy. They support the war in Iraq, but are concerned that the architects of this discourse have failed to accompany it with a grand strategy that will sustain and enhance the achievements of the war (Art, 2003).

2. Justification for the topic

The massive wave of global objection to the war has led many in the social, economic, political and legal academic spheres to raise important questions about the morality, the economic and diplomatic feasibility, and the legality of the war. In all of these efforts, however, no attempt to understand the extent to which neoconservative has been undertaken. This will be the concern of project. Before describing the research design, I will briefly provide a historical overview of the neo-conservative and its association to Iraq War.

The neoconservative has been debated much in the context of Iraq war and its consequence but I want to explore whether it really was the only reason behind Iraq war and to what extent did it led war in Iraq. The current project will explore this phenomenon critically.

Another strong reason as why this phenomenon needs to explore is that the Iraq war was not fully successful but its success was short-lived and within months of the invasion the limitations of U.S. Strategy became evident. Too few soldiers and lack of a comprehensive post, invasion reconstruction plan led to the collapse of Iraq into a sectarian civil war with the U.S. trapped in the middle. The adherence of senior neoconservative members of the Administration to the failed strategy for three years resulted in the loss of thousands of lives, billions of dollars and the displacement of millions of refugees. The eventual recognition of this failure resulted in the removal of many of the neoconservatives with the realists and the de facto end of the Bush doctrine.

3. Research Design

The author will use a qualitative case study method. According to Creswell (2003) "Case studies are applicable when a researcher "explores processes, activities, and events" (Creswell, 2003, p. 183). The author will conduct in depth interviews with the prominent journalist in the United States as well… READ MORE

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