ABSTRACT
This chapter evaluates the place of the personality of George W. Bush in the overall explanation of US foreign policy between 2001 and 2008. In his core, Bush was a believer in American exceptionalism, an assertive nationalist. His nationalism reflected three tributaries: the Neoconservative belief in "regime change" and "benevolent hegemony", the hard-nosed super hawkishness of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, and the messianic evangelism that he brought with him to the White House. His administration had a split personality from the very beginning, but this condition escalated especially after 9/11. The Bush White House was torn between two forces—the need to fight terrorism and its determination to do so by promoting democracy. In terms of the substance as well as the structure of his belief system, President Bush presented a rather similar outlook to the one presented by many of the better-known Neoconservatives. The belief system that united Bush and the Neocons might be called Evangelical Manichean Radicalism.
