ABSTRACT

The idea of American exceptionalism in guiding US national security concerns has often come under scrutiny in the past from security analysts and policy makers alike. The US is not alone in projecting its exceptional values in its foreign policy articulations. Indian foreign policy assertions also stress India’s unique civilizational qualities that make it capable of pursuing a “peaceful” modernity as opposed to the “violent” modernity of the West. The aim of this paper is to analyze how the idea of exceptionalism impacts the national security cultures of the two biggest democracies of the world. What are US and Indian exceptionalism in the context of international relations? How do they translate into the national security cultures of a superpower and a rising power? Is their national security culture driven by fear or hope, trust or mistrust, flexible or rigid strategies? These are some of the issues that this paper seeks to address.

摘要

美国例外论指导美国国家安全问题的想法过去经常受到安全分析师和政策制定者的审查。美国并不是唯一一个在其外交政策表述中体现其特殊价值的国家。印度外交政策的主张还强调印度独特的文明品质，使其能够追求“和平”的现代性，而不是西方的“暴力”现代性。本文的目的是分析例外论的思想如何影响世界上两个最大民主国家的国家安全文化。在国际关系的背景下，美国和印度的例外论是什么？它们如何转化为超级大国和新兴大国的国家安全文化？他们的国家安全文化是由恐惧还是希望、信任还是不信任驱动的，灵活的策略还是僵硬的策略？这些是本文试图解决的一些问题。