عنوان

George W. Bush, September 11th and the rise of the Freedom Agenda in US-Middle East relations :

TLets512422

George W. Bush, September 11th and the rise of the Freedom Agenda in US-Middle East relations :

[Thesis]

Hassan, Osman Ali

a Constructivist Institutionalist approach

University of Birmingham

2009

Thesis (Ph.D.)

2009

This thesis generates a greater understanding of the George W. Bush administration's Freedom Agenda for the Middle East and North Africa. It is motivated by two central research questions: How and why was the Freedom Agenda developed? And, how was the Freedom Agenda constituted? To address these questions, a constructivist institutionalist methodology is developed. The value of this undertaking, is that it theorises the relationship between the events of September 11, 2001, and the rise of the Freedom Agenda. Consequently, this research focuses on the narrative constructed in the aftermath of the "crisis", and how this laid discursive tracks for the evolution of the Freedom Agenda. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the Bush administration appropriated and articulated multiple discourses into a distinctive ideological-discursive formation, which in turn, sedimented particular definitions of concepts such as 'democracy' and 'freedom'. This created a new policy paradigm, which failed to address the 'conflict of interests' problem central to US-Middle East relations. As a result, the Freedom Agenda demonstrated a commitment to regional stability and the gradual reform of ally regimes, whilst seeking to challenge regimes hostile to the US. It was a policy caught between promoting democracy and domination.

JK Political institutions (United States); national relations; JQ Political institutions Asia

Hassan, Osman Ali

University of Birmingham

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y