신보수주의: 평가와 전망

Abstract

Immediately after 9/11 terror, President George W. Bush resolved to begin a manhunt, or the War on Terror, for those responsible. Behind the scene, there were neocons who had been designing and developing the master plan of such an aggressive strategy for past decade. By making a debut on the main stage of American foreign policy, neoconservatism seemed to finish its dark days. However, due to the loss of U.S. troops and unstable social condition in both Afghanistan and Iraq followed by withdrawal of troops during the Obama administration, neoconservatism has been criticized as a failed idea which had faded into history. This article intends to rebut such claims and reveal the development of neoconservatism through SDoPI (Sequential Development of Political Ideology) model which was created to analyze the development of political ideology. By proving the legitimate development of neoconservatism as intellectual ideology through SDoPI, the research proves that neoconservatism has not faded away. Unremitting research and feedbacks produced by intellectuals keep neoconservatism alive in the sphere of U.S. foreign policy. This means that a neoconservative policy can revive in the future when conditions are met. It remains to be seen, however, if neoconservatism will reach the state of political ideology by obtaining both spreadability and persistency suggested by SDoPI.