Speaking identity: Security practice and US foreign policy

The United States (US) has reoriented its foreign policy since the American Revolution from a noninterventionist approach to a policy of a global hegemon built on the idea of American exceptionalism. An abundance of literature on identity within international relations provides a range of definitional accounts: personal, corporate, relational, social, role, national, collective, and self-identity. National identity is both a constructed and public national self-image supported through an actor's acceptance into a specific community like a political group and is interconnected with the understanding of security. Scholars have gone about addressing foreign policy and identity by establishing what sort of beliefs and emotions lie behind the decision-making and policies of states rather than establishing the relevant social and political contexts in which those decisions and their subsequent actions occur. The practice of identity construction as a justification for wars by US policy makers may continue to define the US foreign policy formulation and implementation.