US Policy Towards Israel : The Role of Political Culture in Defining the 'Special Relationship'

ISBN-13: 9781845190972 / Angielski / Twarda / 2006 / 339 str.

E. Stephens

Opis

An explanation of the American commitment to Israel within a framework of political culture, this work discusses how, although political culture is not the sole explanatory factor in the development of U.S. policy toward Israel, it has played a key role in serving to shape and define the American approach to foreign affairs, thus contributing to decisions and operations that cannot easily be explained solely in geopolitical, economic, or military terms. The book notes that the rationale for Washington s enduring commitment to Israel has long been a puzzle as during the Cold War, it was argued that democratic Israel was a natural ally amid a world of semiauthoritarian and often pro-Soviet states. However, with the end of the Cold War, and the American commitment to Israel, a small state that is largely oil free and of little tangible economic benefit, remains. This study notes that despite transitions between Republican and Democratic presidents, bureaucratic support for Israel remains relatively constant indicating that support for Israel is not a product of partisan politics but a given, firmly ingrained in political discourse."