ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses how knowledge on power is generated, that is which ideologies and philosophy of science traditions coupled with historical and psychological insights into perceptions of power contribute to knowledge formation in US foreign policy circles. It focuses on how is knowledge on power produced and how does it affect its perceptions and misperceptions in foreign policy-making. The chapter expresses that an analysis of 'perceptions of power' can potentially mediate between understandings of power and their foreign policy outcome as expressions of power. It explores a short analysis of discourse on the state of US power in the world made by US foreign policy-makers. Conceptualisations of power and potential foreign policy decisions deriving from such conceptualisations are grounded in perceptions of power that are informed by a reading of the state of the world, of the role and status of the Self in the world, and perceptions of others' power.
