ABSTRACT

The aim of this book is to provide a systematic analysis of the human rights discourse expressed by the George W. Bush Administrations. There exists a twofold rationale for this investigation. First, officials in the George W. Bush Administrations (hereafter referred to simply as the Bush Administrations) ascribed a prominent position to ‘human rights’ alongside ‘freedom’, ‘democracy’ and ‘liberty’ when explaining US foreign policy. Such prominence commends the systematic analysis of these normative explanations as an issue of significant scholarly and public interest. The second rationale resides in the tendency of the foreign policy and international relations sub-disciplines to neglect the normative explanations provided by administration officials as a focus for examination in favor of interest based or quantifiable analysis.