Rhetoric, World-view, and Strategy in United States National Security Strategy Documents

Abstract

Beginning in 1987, American Presidents have published a National Security Strategy (NSS), a public statement of their administration's grand strategy for the conduct of foreign policy. Despite breaking with a centuries-old tradition of secrecy, NSS documents have been routinely dismissed by scholars and experts as little more than an exercise in public relations or "mere rhetoric." In this dissertation, I argue that such a dismissive attitude is unproductive because it overlooks important linkages between the public expression of foreign policy, the influence that symbolism and rhetoric have on threat perception and policy choice, and the diverse (and continually shifting) array of audiences that such documents reach and influence. I engage in a close rhetorical analysis of the NSS documents of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama in order to make this argument. Additionally, I demonstrate that NSS documents are an important resource for comparatively evaluating various administrations' foreign policies, thus facilitating better deliberation over grand strategy. While NSS documents may not function as "blueprints" for foreign policy, they are an important site for grounding public argument over the future of American foreign policy in an increasingly uncertain world.