THE NEGLECTED NARRATIVE THE NEED FOR A NEW PARADIGM REGARDING U.S. FOREIGN POLICY AND IRAQ

Abstract

THE NEGLECTED NARRATIVE: THE NEED FOR A NEW PARADIGM

REGARDING U.S. FOREIGN POLICY AND IRAQ

Celeste Inez Holmes, B.A.

MALS Mentor: John O. Voll, Ph.D.

ABSTRACT

Throughout the history of the United States, U.S. Foreign Policy has been guided by the dominant paradigm and narrative of the day. Both the paradigm and the resulting narratives begin as responses to internal and external events confronting the nation. However, over time, paradigms continue to exercise undue influence, even as events pass them by. This pattern of narrative development, promulgation, implementation, and eventual irrelevance has repeated itself many times over the course of U.S. history, as happened with George F. Kennan's policy of Containment, and Hans J. Morgenthau's Realpolitik. Likewise, U.S. foreign policy in Iraq has been driven by an outdated policy paradigm and accompanying narratives that have been in place for many years. This thesis will address the way the paradigm is structured and operates through Thomas J. Kuhn's priority of paradigms analysis, the full manifestation of and proliferation of the body of the paradigm, coupled with discourse analysis. This thesis will show the consequences resulting from the use of the outdated paradigms and the narratives that were the driving force behind U.S. Foreign Policy in Iraq.