It is traditional to theorize about an Administration's foreign policy on human rights in terms of liberalism v. realism, with a dash of constructivism thrown in. This essay charts a different course. It notes three general benchmarks for discussing an Administration and its foreign policy on...

U.S. political leaders have long talked about the country as an exceptional nation, a shining city on a hill, whose divinely blessed destiny was to lead the world to greater freedom and democracy (Lipset, Smith, Ignatieff). This constructed role or self-image of American exceptionalism certainly...