Sammendrag
This thesis aims to explore how Neo-Conservative think tanks in the United States, represented by The Project for the New American Century (PNAC), have been able to influence the Bush administration’s foreign policy. The thesis gives a brief introduction to the history of the Neo-Conservative movement and what ideologies that have inspired them.
The three main ideologies that are highlighted in this thesis are American exceptionalism, Wilsonianism and Straussianism. These three ideas are used as a background to find out whether or not there are Neo-Conservative thoughts behind American foreign policy after 9/11. The thesis does also present media theory that supports the idea of how think tanks work, especially when many of the members of such think tanks hold important offices in the American government.
The main comparison between the foreign policy ideas of the Neo-Conservatives and the Bush administration is done by comparing PNAC’s foreign policy manifesto Rebuilding America’s Defenses and the Bush administration’s plan for foreign policy after 9/11, the National Security Strategy.