Self-Identity's Role in Determining Unipole Behavior: Focus on the First and Second Persian Gulf Wars

Abstract

The upheavals in the international order that occurred with the end of the Cold War and the 9/11 attacks in New York City were followed by rapid and radical changes in U.S. foreign policy and the way in which the United States placed itself in the international community. The United States became the sole superpower in a new unipolar structure, without any major countervailing powers that constrained its behavioral choices, which were significantly different during the First and Second Persian Gulf Wars. What made this difference? Arguing that structural explanations for state behavior are insufficient to explain this disparity, this paper considers the variable of constructed self-identity as being the determining factor in changing the United States approaches to the two wars against Saddam Husseins Iraq. The self-identities are demonstrated through a fantasy theme analysis of the two Bush presidents rhetoric, then used to explain why the two presidents acted differently in the two wars.