Table Of ContentNeoliberalism and
U.S. Foreign Policy
From Carter to Trump
Catherine V. Scott
Neoliberalism and U.S. Foreign Policy
Catherine V. Scott
Neoliberalism and
U.S. Foreign Policy
From Carter to Trump
Catherine V. Scott
Agnes Scott College
Decatur, GA, USA
ISBN 978-3-319-71382-3 ISBN 978-3-319-71383-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71383-0
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To Gus Cochran
P
reface
On August 20, 2016, The New York Times published two adjacent front
page stories, one about Donald Trump’s opaque financial holdings and
the other detailing the Clinton Foundation’s receipt of millions of dollars
from foreign donors while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State (Chozik
and Elder 2016; Craig 2016). In Trump’s case, debt to foreign lenders
could be compromising, and in Clinton’s case, dubious donations might
have already compromised her ability to act in the public interest. While
the two stories highlight more immediate problems posed by a real estate
mogul becoming president and the tightly knit relationship between the
Clinton Foundation and wealthy donors from Ukraine and Saudi Arabia,
at a deeper level they crystallize patterns in foreign policy that have been
under way since the Carter era. This book traces these deeper develop-
ments, particularly how changes in political economy—from the World
War II Keynesian compromise to neoliberalism and austerity—have both
reconfigured longstanding categories of analysis such as “tough guy” mas-
culinity and superpatriotism, and make it difficult to compare our current
moment with earlier eras of US foreign policy such as the Cold War.
While giving his lectures on emergent neoliberalism in 1978–1979,
Foucault identified a bundle of policies, rationalities, and techniques of
governance that legitimized the institution of market-friendly policies in
domestic politics, such as deregulation and an emphasis on individual free-
dom defined through the market. Neoliberal policies also found their
footing in US foreign policy, a topic that some scholars mention in pass-
ing, usually singling out one or two developments, such as the growing
significance of private security companies. If we view the operations of
vii
viii PREFACE
capitalism and foreign policy through a larger lens, however, we see neo-
liberal policy and ideology at work in the professional army, the redefini-
tion of threats as nimble and globalized, selective humanitarian
interventions that emphasize the “caring” aspect of benevolent power,
and a drastically altered media environment that personalizes, fragments,
and often sensationalizes foreign policy for an increasingly distracted
public.
In undertaking this project I hope to complicate, challenge, and offer
revisions to those in the scholarly community and the media who reach for
earlier eras of foreign policy or undertake institutional analyses to draw
connections between the national security state of the Cold War era and
today’s national security apparatus in order to explain current US foreign
policy. While “manly imperialism,” captivity and rescue, and other familiar
categories remain resonant in many instances, alterations in the operations
of contemporary capitalism and its correlative forms of governance have
given a different stamp to the workings of both domestic and foreign
policy. The framework offered here encourages us to think beyond par-
ticular presidencies, wars, and bureaucratic politics, and trains our sights
on how long-term and sustained shifts in political economy have emerged
to produce new myths of exceptionalism that are more fully coherent with
the neoliberal foundations of the US state.
The transformation of the older, more conventional aspects of US for-
eign policy ideology and expression traced here make Donald Trump’s
presidential victory in 2016 more comprehensible. Because of his back-
ground in reality television, World Wide Entertainment wrestling, and
authorship of numerous books on topics such as Think Big and Kick Ass in
Business and Life (2007), Trump seemed to be a momentary spectacle
among a host of already existing short-lived media obsessions. Viewed
more broadly, however, Trump’s rise is indicative of transformations in US
policy at home and abroad. Trump began his real estate career at about the
same time that the old Keynesian order showed its first foundational
cracks. He is the apotheosis of what replaced that crumbling structure, and
thus far, his foreign policy has made even more visible the features that
surfaced with increasing frequency in the long arc stretching from the
Carter years to the present. Trump truly is a new figure on the world stage,
but as this analysis will clarify, the stage had long been shifting as well.
Decatur, GA Catherine V. Scott
PREFAC E ix
references
Chozick, Amy, and Steve Eder. 2016. Foundation Ties Bedevil Hillary
Clinton’s Presidential Campaign. The New York Times, August 20.
Craig, Susanne. 2016. Trump’s Empire: A Maze of Debts and Opaque
Ties. The New York Times, August 20.
Trump, Donald. 2007. Think Big and Kick Ass in Business and Life.
New York: Harperluxe.
a
cknowledgments
I have a number of people I would like to thank for their various expres-
sions of support for a project that has taken years and undergone innumer-
able revisions. Individuals who deserve special mention for their kind
encouragement and for reading and commenting on parts of the book
include Jeffrey Isaacs, Annica Kronsell, Krista Hunt, Kim Rygiel, Melanie
Richter-Montpetit, Anne Runyon, Feng Xu, and Julia Welland. The lead-
ers and participants in the NEH 2005 Summer Seminar, “Rethinking
America in Global Perspective” were a source of significant inspiration as
I struggled to make sense of exactly which aspects of the “War on Terror”
had precedent and which did not.
I am grateful to Agnes Scott College for granting a leave to work on the
project and extend special thanks to a number of students who, over the
years, helped me with research and bibliographies. Meg Beyer, in particu-
lar, took my course on this topic, provided exceptional research skills, and
read numerous drafts of the manuscript as the arguments took a decisive
turn in the spring of 2010. Sydney Delaney deserves special recognition
for coming to the rescue on the final bibliography. An additional thanks
goes to students who over the years took my course on this topic and pro-
vided incisive criticism, especially Melanie Minzes, Meredith Fields, Jenna
Pollock, Kim Reeves, Ari Strudler, and Amy Pipher.
I also extend deep thanks to two groups of people who provided the
best kind of support when I needed pushing without too much pressing:
Anne McClearn, Dana Nichols, Leslie White, Betsy Williamson, Beverly
Harrison, Jessica Frizzell, Kathy Muir, Kathy Peters, Mary St. Claire, and
the inestimable Karen Ward. The second circle includes Vicky Siefker,
xi
xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Patty Dixon, Mary Fierle, Kelly Newberry, Donna Brown, and the one-of-
a-kind Laura Bryant.
Finally, Gus Cochran never once asked me to stop talking about this
topic, always encouraged me to ask more and better questions, read any-
thing and everything I put before him, and remained my staunchest sup-
porter throughout this journey. It is to Gus that I dedicate this book, with
my deepest and heartfelt gratitude and love.
Description:While there has been a flood of scholarly efforts to extend, adapt, and revise Foucault’s exploration of the emergence and operations of neoliberalism, the study of foreign policy has remained steeped in the analysis of partisanship, institutions, policies, and personality and their influence on v
