American national identity and wartime security policy: a multiple traditions analysis

Abstract

Using a case study approach, this paper examines American national identity through the impacts that discriminatory wartime domestic security policies have on perceived enemy populations. The central argument holds that although Americans claim a principled commitment to the Creed, they deviate from their principles when national security threats arise, indicating that Americans hold beliefs about themselves that are conceptually prior to the Creed. Otherization of perceived enemies during wartime represents a deviation from the Creed and demonstrates that multiple traditions frame American national identity. Otherization becomes a tool that Americans use to reconcile their principles with their contradictory and inegalitarian practices, but the Creed exists to keep their deviations temporary.