United States Government

At the beginning of the 21st century, Americans’ lives were interwoven with international issues, concerns, and events that had local effects. When the USSR collapsed in 1991 and the Cold War ended, the United States developed new foreign policy principles. Among the most important of these principles was an effort to define national interests more narrowly. The end of the Cold War meant that the United States no longer viewed all international controversies as necessarily requiring some response.

The September 11 terrorist attacks, however, had a profound impact on U.S. foreign policy. In response to the attacks President George W. Bush articulated a new set of principles that radically altered U.S. foreign policy. Known as the Bush Doctrine, the principles were outlined in 2002 in a document titled The National Security Strategy of the United States. In it Bush said the United States would pursue a policy of preventive war if an unfriendly nation attempted to develop weapons of mass destruction or gave aid to terrorist organizations. The new policy also said the United States would act unilaterally if necessary. The doctrine represented a shift away from multilateralism, a strategy of seeking consensus among allies, which had marked U.S. foreign policy since the end of World War II. Although the United States had long asserted the right to wage preemptive war in the face of a possible attack, the new doctrine of preventive war meant that the United States might use military force even if it did not face an immediate or direct threat.

The first application of the doctrine came in 2003 when the United States and Great Britain invaded Iraq because the regime of Saddam Hussein was thought to possess weapons of mass destruction. The United States acted with few other allies because the United Nations Security Council rejected the use of military force in this instance. The two pillars of the Bush doctrine—preemption and unilateralism—were subsequently questioned after the invading forces failed to find any weapons of mass destruction and the onus of the invasion and occupation fell largely on the United States. Defenders of the new policy argued, however, that the invasion had toppled a dangerous dictator and made the region safer and more open to democratic reforms. See also U.S.-Iraq War.

This is one of seven major articles that together provide a comprehensive discussion of the United States of America. For more information on the United States, please see the other six major articles: United States (Overview), United States (Geography), United States (People), United States (Culture), United States (Economy), and United States (History).