Clash with Distant Cultures

Richard J. Payne is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Political Science at Illinois State University. He is the author of Opportunities and Dangers of Soviet-Cuban Expansion: Toward a Pragmatic U.S. Policy, also published by SUNY Press; The Nonsuperpowers and South Africa; The West European Allies, the Third World, and U.S. Foreign Policy; and The Third World and South Africa: Post-Apartheid Challenges.

• Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Foreign Policy Begins at Home: Cultural Influences on U.S. Bad Behavior Abroad Culture and Foreign PolicyPublic Opinion and Foreign PolicyIdeology, Myth, and American Foregin PolicyAmerican Exceptionalism and Foreign PolicyA Religious Nation: Church and State InseparableRace, Culture, and American Foreign Policy 2. Cultural Roots of Force in American Foreign Policy The Link Between Internal and External ViolenceAmerica's Historical Experiences and Its Use of ForceAmerica's Historical Experiences and the Rule of LawA Culture of ViolenceTelevision and the Culture of ViolenceSports, Violence, and Foreign PolicyThe Government: Reinforcing the Culture of ViolenceFlight from ResponsibilityAmericans' Quest for Absolute SecurityForeign Policymaking by Analogy 3. Cultural Barriers to International Negotiations The Negotiation ProcessAmerican Perceptions of Diplomacy and American ExceptionalismIsolationism, Interdependence, and NegotiationsImpatience as a Barrier to Negotiation 4. Operation Desert Storm: No Negotiations, No Compromise American Perceptions of ArabsPerception of the ThreatDemonizing the Enemy: Hussein as HitlerForeign Policy by Analogy: World War II and VietnamBarriers to a Negotiated SettlementAmerica's Impatience and SanctionsBush's March to WarWar and ReligionThe Enemy Must Be DestroyedAvoiding ResponsibilityA New World Order: America as a Redeemer Nation 5. The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: Negotiating Peace Patiently American Perceptions of and Cultural Links with IsraelAmerican Perceptions of PalestiniansIgnoring UN Resolutions and the Rule of LawIsrael's Violations of Human Rights in the Occupied TerritoriesIsraeli Settlements in the Occupied TerritoriesNegotiating with FriendsWar Brings Peace 6. Bosnia: Cultural Distance and U.S. Military Inaction The Collision of Distant CulturesPerception of the ThreatEthnic Cleansing: Downplaying the World War II AnalogyIgnoring the Rule of LawReluctance to Use Force: Stressing the Vietnam AnalogyArming the Bosnian MuslimsIneffective Negotiations: Rewarding Agression? 7. Resolving Conflicts Peacefully Notes Bibliography Index

"Payne's exposition of the profound influence of cultural factors on state behavior offers a needed corrective to the 'realist' school that still dominates academic writing on international relations (in which military and economic factors are emphasized to the virtual exclusion of ideational considerations); it can also help policymakers become more self-aware of the cultural biases implicit in their actions and statements. The book's hard-hitting exposition of American cultural myths and prejudices and their reflection on U.S. foreign policy, plus its accessible style, should make it useful in a variety of courses—from American Civilization to International Relations to Peace Studies—and to laypersons attentive to public affairs." — Seyom Brown, Brandeis University"The author addresses a foreign policy problem of major significance, that of the complex relationship between a nation's culture and its international behavior. Payne establishes a sound basis for his assertion that (1) American foreign policy has been heavily dependent on the use of culturally reinforced violence, and (2) the future cost of resolving conflicts through violence will probably become vastly more burdensome. The time is right for a book that suggests constructive new directions for American foreign policy. This is a much-needed book." — Henry T. Nash, Wheaton College