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LUECKE 2013 FINAL DISSERTATION COPY.pdf (1.3 MB)

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GENERATIONS IN WORLD POLITICS : CYCLES IN U.S. FOREIGN POLICY, THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE “WEST,” AND INTERNATIONAL SYSTEMS CHANGE 1900-2008

Luecke, Tim
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1367505113

Abstract Details

2013, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Political Science.
In this dissertation, I examine the explanatory value of the concept of “generations” and the role of political generations in foreign policy and international politics. In the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001, the economic recession of 2008, the “Arab Spring,” and the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, debates over the emergence and possible effects of new generations have increased dramatically. Yet, despite the fact that several scholars in the field of International Relations have either pointed towards the potential importance of generational processes or even used the notion of generations in their own research the concept has not been conceptualized in a systematic manner. The dissertation fills this gap in the literature in two steps. First, I resolve the definitional problems surrounding the concept of generations by arguing that a generation in its most abstract form constitutes a temporal unit of analysis that locates individuals or groups in the process of time. This temporal location is constituted by the nexus of individual life stage (i.e. age) and collective history and it fundamentally shapes the political worldviews of those who occupy it. Based on the concept of generations, I develop a theory of political generations, which I define as cohorts in the age of youth that develop a generational consciousness and distinct political worldview in response to a set of formative experiences. Political generations become either “radical” or “traditional,” depending on whether they perceive their formative experiences as evidence of the failure or success of the prevalent political culture. Whereas radical political generations will strive for political change, traditional political generations will reproduce the culture of their predecessors. I argue that radical and traditional political generations alternate across time and thereby explain cycles of change and stability in foreign policy and/or international politics. In the empirical chapters, I apply this theoretical framework to explain cycles of change and stability in foreign policy and at the level of the international system. The first empirical chapter shows that cycles between radical and traditional political generations explain (1) periods of foreign policy change and stability and (2) the timing of shifts between extrovert and introvert foreign policy moods in the United States from roughly 1900 until 2008. In the second empirical chapter, I argue that political generations have become increasingly transnational phenomena due to the spread of mass media and changes in communications technology. Focusing on Western civilization, the chapter shows that increasingly transnational political generations have constituted a main causal mechanism for the diffusion and political evolution of liberalism over the course of the last century and have played an important role in the construction of the “West.”
Alexander Wendt (Committee Chair)
Randall Schweller (Committee Member)
Richard Herrmann (Committee Member)
266 p.
American History; International Relations; Political Science; Sociology; World History
political generations; foreign policy; international relations; global civil society; change; cycles; world war I; world war II; sixties generation;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Luecke, T. (2013). GENERATIONS IN WORLD POLITICS : CYCLES IN U.S. FOREIGN POLICY, THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE “WEST,” AND INTERNATIONAL SYSTEMS CHANGE 1900-2008 [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1367505113

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Luecke, Tim. GENERATIONS IN WORLD POLITICS : CYCLES IN U.S. FOREIGN POLICY, THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE “WEST,” AND INTERNATIONAL SYSTEMS CHANGE 1900-2008 . 2013. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1367505113.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Luecke, Tim. "GENERATIONS IN WORLD POLITICS : CYCLES IN U.S. FOREIGN POLICY, THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE “WEST,” AND INTERNATIONAL SYSTEMS CHANGE 1900-2008 ." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1367505113

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1367505113
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.