ISSN: 2581-8651

Journal of Humanities and

Vol-6, Issue-5, Sep-Oct 2024
Education Development
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/jhed.6.5.5
(JHED)
Peer-Reviewed Journal

The Trump Doctrine: Redefining U.S. Foreign Policy

through Immigration, Security, and Diplomacy
A Review Article of the Book “Waking Up from An American Dream”

Ellias Aghili Dehnavi

Ph.D. candidate, Doctoral School of Social Sciences, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland
[email protected]
https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9238-056X

Received: 05 Aug 2024; Received in revised form: 02 Sep 2024; Accepted: 10 Sep 2024
©2024 The Author(s). Published by TheShillonga. This is an open-access article under the CC BY license
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Abstract
‘Waking up from an American Dream’ discusses the US foreign affairs during Trump’s presidency with an emphasis on the
particular pillars of terrorism, immigration, and international relations regarding the adversary countries. Written by
professors Hossein Daheshiar, Ellias Aghili Dehnavi, and Marzieh Iranpour, the work analyzes both the application of the so-
called “Jacksonian” politics by the Trump administration besides the variants of the containment politics, regarding the
foreign policy of the U.S, the book addresses the multidimensional aspects of security, immigration and diplomacy, addressing
those particular interactions that are especially relevant in the aftermath of 9/11. This piece, published by tredition gmbh in
2020, is also a part of wider scholarly debate concerning changes in American politics within the presidency of Trump with,
however, deeper implications for international relationsi.
Keywords— Trumpism, foreign policy, security studies, intercontinental peace, immigration.

U.S Foreign Policy and Terrorismii Vietnam Syndrome Blame is commonly expressed during
The very first chapter of the book focuses on terrorism in the lash of America. The authors themselves provide a fair
American policies. The authors present the idea that account, even as they grapple with the trauma that
terrorism attacks on the U.S formed a new turning point in accompanies such defeats with the US, global order in
the development of U.S. politics carving out new policies, tangentially been affected too.
effective after the September 11th tragedy. This discussion Immigration Policy: A Political Weaponiv?
is evidenced by some past events, as well as the deeper A prominent theme has been Trump’s immigration policy,
understanding of such events in terms of the processes that which the authors see as an integral part of his foreign
took place among ordinary American citizens as well as the policy. They contend that ‘America First’ rhetoric, as well
leader after seven/ eleven. As it was stated in the book, the as the President’s executive orders regarding immigration,
U.S. has defined terrorists, MDW, and ‘evil regimes’ as including the ban on travel for citizens from predominantly
three primary threats. The authors assert that this particular Muslim countries, served more of uniting the populace and
typology has been influential in the formation of an little of providing any defense to the nation’s bordersv.
American foreign strategy, especially in the Trump eraiii.
When mentioning Trump’s travel bans, the book goes into
Especially, it is the change in military policy from detail on how even when these policies were contested in
deterrence to pre-emptive that the authors highlight courts, they were also criticized extensively both in the USA
regarding the National Security Strategy for the 21st and outside. Examining various opinions on domestic legal
Century, and how it was adjusted over the course of a few matters and their public response, the authors conclude that
years following 9/11. As detailed criticism of American policies instituted by Trump regarding immigrants were
military offensives in Afghanistan and Iraq Nudged the implementers of the large-scale campaign of changing the
quite rise of American terrorism in these countries - perception and the values of America. They state that the

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Dehnavi Journal of Humanities and Education Development (JHED)
J. Humanities Educ. Dev.- 6(5)-2024

United States’ portrayal of itself as a nation built on emanating from within rather than being rationally
opportunity was endangered by the discriminatory policies synthesised around action directed towards diplomacy.
that these proponents proposedvi. Coercive Diplomacy and Military Intervention
U.S Defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan The concept of coercive diplomacy terminative strategies
The two interventions of Iraq and Afghanistan are comes across as prominent in discussions throughout the
intriguing since they show an analysis of the American book. The authors illustrate how military or economic
military in the broadest terms, how these wars transformed coercion became a commonplace practice of Trump’s
the conduct of the American military, as those too were administration while pushing for the attainment of specific
surprising in developing military outcomes (i.e. having an goals. While this plan was meant to avoid an all-out war, it
advanced military capacity, no one would expect such nevertheless raised tensions against hostile nations.
outcomes) the U.S aggressive foreign policy manifested Regarding the strategy itself, the book presents a clear
itself in the format of a military paralysis in the upcoming criticism, namely that while the time and resources needed
years due to a variety of regional ( field) reasons that are for the linear approach are more desperate than those
beyond our current discussions. needed in coercive diplomacy, odious aggression is likely
This section seeks to evaluate in detail the challenges that to occur further in most cases.
were recorded in Afghanistan by showing the U.S. fail to Moreover, the authors point out that Trump embraced the
achieve a balance between the strategic objectives and the politics of “coercive diplomacy” as a way of thinking that
environment. As noted by the authors, the technological is undergirded by more militaristic tendencies, for example,
superiority as well as airpower cannot be used in isolation in his promotion of military generals to various positions in
against the offensive asymmetric warfare strategies used by his administration. They contend that this marked a decisive
the Taliban and other insurgents. The writers of the book departure from the norms of diplomacy which return to
describe the failures of the United States in the war in militarism in foreign policy with immense effects on the
Afghanistan as chronic, in that they proliferated and climate of the worldix.
expanded self-illusions over protracted periods of timevii.
Trump’s Foreign Policy Strategy CONCLUSION
In the book, Trump’s foreign policy is shown as leavened “Waking up from an American Dream” is a very detailed
by a mixture of variations of unilateralism and militarism. and evaluative speculation of the U.S. foreign policy under
The authors explore the “America First” policy of Trump President Donald Trump. The authors are exceptionally
and state how it was a radical change from the existing good at balancing the issues of terrorism, immigrants, and
foreign policy of the United States. Despite being politically international relations, putting in new developments and
unreliable and placing America’s needs ahead of the past events. The most prominent aspect of the book is its
multilateral cooperative arrangements Trump successfully capacity to put Trump’s policies in the context of the
alienated the country from its past foreign policy as a world evolution of American foreign relations whereby the reader
power. The risks associated with such a unilateral strategy is able to appreciate the consequences of such rational
are further illustrated by how Trump pulled the US out of policies in the long runx.
the JCPOAviii (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) and
All the same, though the book is excellent in its coverage
how belligerent he was towards North Korea.
especially with the U.S. policy, it is at risk of being overly
This chapter further highlights the case of America’s critical of Trump at some points and in the process failing
withdrawal from NATO which was borne out of trump’s to provide other recommendations or even other contrarian
fondness for challenges by bounds of international security strategies. There is no doubt that the authors are able to
as per this chapter. Domestically, one could appreciate demonstrate the erroneous steps of the Trump
Trump's public remarks against NATO and such structures; administration, however, the other upcoming versions of the
however, his administration blinked and continued the book would benefit from a more constructive assessment of
defense political structures and used the forces whenever the U.S. foreign policy in the coming years. But, for those
appropriate. The authors contend that the style of foreign who want to know why these last changes have occurred
policy exhibited by Trump was mainly responsive to issues and what has happened with American strategies, political
and military ones, this book is worth readingxi.

iDehnavi, E. A., & Jamal, M. A. (2020). From containment to https://www.researchgate.net/publication/381002365_From_C

Americanism. ResearchGate. ontainment_to_Americanism

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Dehnavi Journal of Humanities and Education Development (JHED)
J. Humanities Educ. Dev.- 6(5)-2024

commentary. Journal of Humanities and Education

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American Politics Volume II, Conservative Think tanks and their
Foreign Policy: A Booklet. ResearchGate. (2023). Modeling the Factors Affecting the Nuclear Negotiations
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es_in_the_American_Politics_Volume_II_Conservative_Think_T ResearchGate.
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