American Exceptionalism and US Foreign Policy

A compelling examination of American exceptionalism at a crossroads

The idea of American exceptionalism claims that the United States has a superior character, special mission, and unique destiny. Often treated as a factual claim subject to empirical verification, this idea is better understood as a set of narrative themes that saturate thought and discourse about the United States’ role in the world. Policymakers and other narrators routinely tap into these themes amid contested interpretations of national identity and international visions, powerfully shaping how US foreign policy is constructed, implemented, and understood.

American Exceptionalism and US Foreign Policy shows how American exceptionalism is also a crossroads concept, sitting at the intersection of other factors including nationalism, liberalism, race, religion, and status. It serves as a vector channeling related biases and moral assertions into institutional practices, elite discourses, and public opinion. It inspires activism in US foreign policy and also exposes it to crucial vulnerabilities.

Amid profound narrative contestation over the country’s role in the world today, there is no better time for renewed scholarly attention to the multifaceted relationship between American exceptionalism and foreign policy. This book’s agenda-setting, interdisciplinary scholarship lays a strong foundation for this engagement.