City Research Online

Abstract

This chapter suggests that the Wikileaks issue raises broad questions about the character and exercise of American power which should informany evaluation of the degree to which its values align with behaviour. It also proves revealing in regard to the central claim of candidate Obama in2008: that his administration wouldmark a significant shift in policyfrom the Bush administrations’,which the Wikileaks cables reveal to be a hollow claim.This chapter offers a basic analytical framework to help assess the documents’ impacts and significance, considers some evidence from the cables themselves, and evaluates the impact of the cables and the Wikileaks phenomenon for American power and image in the world, particularly its ‘soft power’. The chapterbegins, however, byexaminingthe underlying narrativesof US power, the worldviewsrevealed thereinin regard to allies and enemies, as well as the treatment of Julian AssangeandBradley Manning.

Publication Type:	Book Section
Additional Information:	This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in Obama and the World: New Directions in US Foreign Policy, 2014, available online: https://www.routledge.com/Obama-and-the-World-New-Directions-in-US-Foreign-Policy-2nd-Edition/Parmar-Miller-Ledwidge/p/book/9780415715232
Publisher Keywords:	Obama, Wikileaks, US government, Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, US embassy cables
Subjects:	E History America > E151 United States (General) J Political Science > JK Political institutions (United States) J Political Science > JZ International relations
Departments:	School of Policy & Global Affairs > International Politics

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