[ENG] UTOPIANISM AND JUST WAR: THE INVASION OF IRAQ IN 2003 // UTOPISMO Y GUERRA JUSTA: LA INVASIÓN DE IRAK EN 2003
Resumen
This article examines one of the major foreign policy disasters of recent times: the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. It explores American policy in terms of the utopian attempt to create a perfect society in Iraq based on the American model. It will locate origins for American policy in Thomas More’s text and argue that, 500 years after the original publication, utopianism plays a vital role in global politics. American neoconservatism originates in two waves of reaction against the authoritarian utopianism of the revolutionary left, the first one in the 1930s and the second one –that founded neoconservatism proper – in the 1960s. Turning to standard American imagery, the neoconservatives concluded that moral renewal was the only way to return to the utopian vision of America’s founding fathers. It was thought that moral renewal within the USA could be encouraged by a strong foreign policy. The paper concludes is that utopias cannot be established through external force.
KEYWORDS: Iraq War, Neoconservatism, Utopia, American Foreign Policy, Neoliberalism
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Este artículo examina uno de los principales desastres de política exterior de los últimos tiempos: la invasión estadounidense de Irak en 2003. Explora la política estadounidense en términos del intento utópico de crear una sociedad perfecta en Iraq, basada en el modelo estadounidense. Localiza los orígenes de la política americana en el texto de Tomás Moro y argumenta que, 500 años después de la publicación original, el utopismo juega un papel vital en la política global. El neoconservadurismo estadounidense se origina en dos oleadas de reacción contra el utopismo autoritario de la izquierda revolucionaria: el primero en la década de 1930 y el segundo –que fundó el neoconservadurismo propiamente dicho– en los años sesenta. Pasando a la imaginación colectiva norteamericana, concluyeron que la renovación moral era la única forma de regresar a la visión utópica de los padres fundadores de los Estados Unidos. Se pensó que la renovación moral dentro de los EE. UU. podría ser alentada por una política exterior fuerte. La conclusión es que las utopías no se pueden establecer a través de la fuerza externa.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Guerra de Irak, Neoconservadurismo, Utopía, Política exterior Americana, Neoliberalismo
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