How Can American Foreign Policy Be Explained Through the Developments and Demands of Its Self-Conception?

Extract

[...] According to Millspaugh, The Persian political heritage prevented them from establishing strong education and sanitary standards. Behind the title of his job, he allows himself to qualify the Persian as uncivilized and childish, but never fails at legitimizing​ ​the​ ​American​ ​civilizing​ ​mission. With this more recent case study, one understands the closely established link between American imperialism, the white man's burden to civilize, and the manifest destiny God supposedly commanded them. Because America aligns itself with those narratives, it built an imperialism that continued through the 20th and 21st centuries and characterized their​ ​foreign​ ​policy. [...]

[...] First, the religious mission ordered Americans to establish God's will and kingdom on earth from the early stages of American History; the pilgrims of the Mayflower were destined to split from the old Europe. This religious revivalist sentiment has agitated american society up until evangelist manifestations in the early 20th century with Billy Graham or Pat Robertson. Let us not forget that every president until present time has sweared on the Bible, and​ ​that​ ​the​ ​official​ ​motto​ ​goes​ ​«​ ​In​ ​God​ ​we​ ​trust​ ​». Second, America considers itself, just as France does, the heirs of the 17th Enlightenment, and to that extent, is convinced of the universality of its values. [...]

[...] How​ ​Can​ ​American​ ​Foreign​ ​Policy​ ​Be​ ​Explained​ ​Through​ ​the​ ​Developments​ ​and Demands​ ​of​ ​Its​ ​Self-Conception​ If, as Walter L. Williams writes it in « United States Indian Policy and the Debate over Philippine Annexation: Implications for the Origins of American Imperialism » (Williams, 1980), « colonialism involves the conquest and control of culturally different peoples, who are so dissimilar that they cannot be easily incorporated but must be ruled as subjects outside the political process », therefore American imperialism and expansionism to the West and in the Pacific can be seen as a colonial process. [...]

[...] For instance, ​Arthur Millspaugh wrote about Persia in 1925 in ​The American Task in Persia​; and as the administrator-general of the finances of Persia, he dedicated two chapters to Persian psychology and politics. He firstly established the connection between economical and socio-political spheres for they act on one another, before emphasizing the East-West dichotomy through visual differences, cultural behaviors etc. From the economical point of view, he qualifies Persia as « not mature enough » to embrace a complex and liberal economy. This of course enables him to legitimate the nature of the American mission in order to educate Persians who are too « emotional » and conservative in their customs. [...]