American Foreign Policy and Postwar Reconstruction
On the eve of the invasion of Iraq, President G.W. Bush argued that if setting up democracy in Japan and Germany after the Second World War was successful, then it should also be successful in Iraq. This book provides a detailed comparison of the reconstruction of Japan from 1945 to 1952 with the current reconstruction of Iraq, evaluating the key factors affecting the success or failure of such projects.
The book seeks to understand why American officials believed that extensive social reengineering aiming at seeding democracy and economic development is replicable, through identifying factors explaining the outcome of US-led post-conflict reconstruction projects. The analysis reveals that in addition to the effective use of material resources of power, the outcome of reconstruction projects depends on a variety of other intertwined factors, and Bridoux provides a new analytical framework relying on a Gramscian concept of power to develop a greater understanding of these factors, and the ultimate success or failure of these reconstruction projects.
Appraising the effectiveness of American power in the contemporary international structure, this work is a significant contribution to the field and will be of great interest to all scholars of foreign policy, international relations and conflict studies.
Jeff Bridoux holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Kent and is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University. His research interests encompass the use of the concept of power in International Relations, especially regarding American Foreign Policy, international politics of the Middle East and East Asia, and post-conflict reconstruction.
Routledge Studies in US Foreign Policy
Edited by: Inderjeet Parmar
University of Manchester, and John Dumbrell, University of Durham
This new series sets out to publish high quality works by leading and emerging scholars critically engaging with United States Foreign Policy. The series welcomes a variety of approaches to the subject and draws on scholarship from international relations, security studies, international political economy, foreign policy analysis and contemporary international history.
Subjects covered include the role of administrations and institutions, the media, think tanks, ideologues and intellectuals, elites, transnational corporations, public opinion, and pressure groups in shaping foreign policy, US relations with individual nations, with global regions and global institutions and Americas evolving strategic and military policies.
The series aims to provide a range of books from individual research monographs and edited collections to textbooks and supplemental reading for scholars, researchers, policy analysts, and students.
United States Foreign Policy and National Identity in the 21st Century
Edited by Kenneth Christie
New Directions in US Foreign Policy
Edited by Inderjeet Parmar, Linda B. Miller and Mark Ledwidge
Americas Special Relationships
Foreign and Domestic Aspects of the Politics of Alliance
Edited by John Dumbrell and Axel R Schfer
US Foreign Policy in Context
National Ideology from the Founders to the Bush Doctrine
Adam Quinn
The United States and NATO since 9/11
The Transatlantic Alliance Renewed
Ellen Hallams
Soft Power and US Foreign Policy
Theoretical, Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
Edited by Inderjeet Parmar and Michael Cox
The US Public and American Foreign Policy
Edited by Andrew Johnstone and Helen Laville
American Foreign Policy and Postwar Reconstruction
Comparing Japan and Iraq
Jeff Bridoux
First published 2011
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2011 Jeff Bridoux
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Bridoux, Jeff.
American foreign policy and postwar reconstruction: comparing Japan and Iraq/Jeff Bridoux.
p. cm. (Routledge studies in US foreign policy)
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Postwar reconstruction Case studies. 2. Postwar reconstruction
Japan. 3. Postwar reconstruction Iraq. 4. United States Foreign
relations Japan. 5. Japan Foreign relations United States.
6. United States Foreign relations Iraq. 7. Iraq Foreign relations
United States. I. Title.
JZ6374.B74 2010
| 355.0280973 dc22 | 2010010217 |
ISBN13: 9780415563970 (hbk)
ISBN13: 9780203843413 (ebk)
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank in particular the following individuals who contributed to the production of this book through comments on early drafts and through their support: Inderjeet Parmar, editor of the Routledge Series on US Foreign Policy, for his insightful comments and for pushing me to turn my PhD thesis into a book; Jonathan Joseph, Andrew Williams and Doug Stokes for their excellent supervision of the PhD and continuous support; Ruth Blakeley for her detailed and critical review of the first draft, Hugh Miall, Owen Worth, David Chandler, Douglas Atkinson and Denis OSullivan. I also wish to thank the Department of International Relations at the University of Kent for providing research students with a seminar of high quality where constructive exchanges surely contributed to this study too. I would like to thank the staff of the SCAP/GHQ archives at the Tokyo National Diet Library for their kindness and for helping me to find my way through thousands of references. I also wish to thank Nicola Parkin at Routledge for her support and patience in answering my numerous questions.
I also would like to thank John Dower, whom, even though I never met him, was inspirational in the making of this book. My decision to do a PhD partly originates in his outstanding work on the reconstruction of postwar Japan. Without doubt, Dowers work led me to question the G.W. Bush administrations belief that what had been achieved in Japan was replicable in Iraq; belief which is at the source of this book.
Last but not least, my biggest debt is to my family. This book is dedicated to my wife Ena, who made it all happen, and our two daughters, Saya and Mila, who made it all worthwhile.
