Introduction—The Bush Doctrine and Latin America

Abstract

The Bush Doctrine refers to the revision of U.S. foreign policy by President George W. Bush in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. The beginning of the policy change came in a speech to the U.S. Congress immediately after the attacks when the president said that the United States “would make no distinction between the terrorists and those who harbor them,” a statement that was followed by the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Subsequently, the Bush Doctrine has come to be identified with a policy that permits preemptive war against potential aggressors before they are capable of mounting attacks against the United States, a view that was used largely to justify the war against Iraq that began in 2003. The Bush Doctrine is a significant departure from the policies of deterrence that generally characterized U.S. foreign policy during the cold war and the period between the collapse of the Soviet Union and September 11, 2001 attacks. It can also be contrasted with the Kirkpatrick Doctrine of supporting stable dictatorships that was influential during the Reagan administration.