Guileless
Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
The aforementioned Mr. Kagan just published an essay in World Affairs Journal where he defines it.
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To examine this premise requires first understanding what people mean by neoconservative, for the term conjures very different images. For some, it is synonymous with hawk, to others, it is an ethnic description, and to still others, it is a term to describe anything evilI once heard a Cornell professor earnestly define neoconservatism as an ideological commitment to torture and political oppression. But when employed fairly neutrally to describe a foreign policy worldview, as (George) Packer does, neoconservatism usually has a recognizable meaning.
It connotes a potent moralism and idealism in world affairs, a belief in Americas exceptional role as a promoter of the principles of liberty and democracy, a belief in the preservation of American primacy and in the exercise of power, including military power, as a tool for defending and advancing moralistic and idealistic causes, as well as a suspicion of international institutions and a tendency toward unilateralism. In the hands of more hostile critics, the neocons are not merely idealistic but absurdly and dangerously hubristic about the unlimited capacity of American power to effect positive change; not merely expansive but imperialistic, seeking not only American pre-eminence but ruthless global dominance; not merely willing to use force, but preferring it to peaceful methods; and not merely tending toward unilateralism but actively spurning alliances in favor of solitary action. Even these deliberately polemical caricatures point to something recognizable, a foreign policy that combines an idealists moralism, and even messianism, with a realists belief in the importance of power.
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To examine this premise requires first understanding what people mean by neoconservative, for the term conjures very different images. For some, it is synonymous with hawk, to others, it is an ethnic description, and to still others, it is a term to describe anything evilI once heard a Cornell professor earnestly define neoconservatism as an ideological commitment to torture and political oppression. But when employed fairly neutrally to describe a foreign policy worldview, as (George) Packer does, neoconservatism usually has a recognizable meaning.
It connotes a potent moralism and idealism in world affairs, a belief in Americas exceptional role as a promoter of the principles of liberty and democracy, a belief in the preservation of American primacy and in the exercise of power, including military power, as a tool for defending and advancing moralistic and idealistic causes, as well as a suspicion of international institutions and a tendency toward unilateralism. In the hands of more hostile critics, the neocons are not merely idealistic but absurdly and dangerously hubristic about the unlimited capacity of American power to effect positive change; not merely expansive but imperialistic, seeking not only American pre-eminence but ruthless global dominance; not merely willing to use force, but preferring it to peaceful methods; and not merely tending toward unilateralism but actively spurning alliances in favor of solitary action. Even these deliberately polemical caricatures point to something recognizable, a foreign policy that combines an idealists moralism, and even messianism, with a realists belief in the importance of power.
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