A Study Of American Culture And Us Foreign Policy

American culture has played an important role in the formulation and implementation of US foreign policy. Practically from the beginning of the American history the idea of liberty became a central concept for the American self-perception and served as a basic principle for the development of the democratic society. This idea is a basis of the national "civil religion" called "American dream". It often uses religious terms but stands above the religion in this multiconfessional country. To become an American means to accept certain idea of liberty that includes "independence", "individualism". Most of Americans sincerely believe American is the nation chosen to bring liberal values to the rest of the world. In the XX century the US foreign policy-makers opposed the national moral ideas to the communism during the Cold War era. The Vietnam war was a huge disappointment for the American society mainly because its values failed to be accepted by the other nation. The end of the Cold War was the occasion for the US authorities to show once again the invincibility of the American traditional ideals. Now the United States are considered by some politicians, politologist, historians and philosophers to be the only power capable of promoting democracy and economic growth, to fight violence and injustice. Such claims prove that the critical comprehension of own exclusivity in the American foreign policy is being changed to the firm belief in the American values priority. They believe that the United States has an opportunity to provide global leadership in the 21st century. That opportunity includes using American military force decisively and even ruthlessly if necessary. The real purpose of the American government is arrogantly attempting to reshape the world in their own image and spreading their values and ideology all over the other nations. Through the study of American history, we can find that one aspect of American history that has shaped the culture is violence. American history is filled with violence culture in its foreign policy. Another aspect of American foreign policy is human rights diplomacy. The human rights issue are one of the fundamental concerns of the U.S. Government, the American press, and the American people as they held human rights one of the primary goals of U.S. foreign policy. The American government regarded themselves as "world human rights judge". American human rights reports reflect American governments political demand, American values and ideology. But they have double standard. It reflects American hegemony culture. My thesis analyzes the influence of American culture on US foreign policy.