Contemporary United States foreign policy represents an evolving continuum of principles, conceptions, and strategies that derive in part from the particular experience of the American Cold War. As such, United States foreign policy is neither a static entity, nor are its intentions or directions uncontested. This essay will examine the questions underlying identity and how, beginning with the Truman Doctrine, a distinct articulation of national interest emerged and defined America's role in the world. In doing so, emphasis will be placed on the development of an alliance policy, its containment and its effects on the transformation of the American posture in the post-Cold War international order. First, it is pertinent to reconsider the traditional narratives that underpin American identity. This principle is inherent in Manifest Destiny, which asserts that Anglo-Saxon Americans are God's chosen people, blessed with superior culture and predestined to spread civilization to lesser peoples (Hollander 2009: 169). This tradition offers instructive themes for the formulation of American exceptionalism and its manifestation in a missionary foreign policy (Hoffmann 1968: 369). It also brings to the fore the Manichean character of American politics, its solipsism and its tendency to justify geopolitical objectives in moralistic terms (Lepgold 1995: 372). Thus, American foreign policy is a discourse aimed at reproducing American identity, containing threats to its fundamental principles and legitimizing global actions (Campbell 1998: 70). The Cold War ended America's historic vacillation between isolationism and internationalism. The Truman Doctrine commits, in part, to "support free people who resist attempts to subjugate armed minorities or...... middle of paper ...... In a rapidly changing international system, the United States is at the forefront and is especially threatened by the emerging multipolar order (Zakaria 2009: 43). Contemporary U.S. foreign policy reflects an evolution of policies pursued during the Cold War. By combining ideology, alliances, and containment, the United States cultivated a world order that defeated the Soviet Union. Having achieved pre-eminence, the signatures of these same philosophies remain embedded in United States policy and strategic thinking. Perhaps the best indication of this is the designation of a new ideological enemy in terrorism and the resulting revalidation of Cold War dogma into a modern raison d'état. More importantly, the United States is using this new vocation to consolidate its alliances and contain its adversaries in light of the emergence of an increasingly decentralized and multipolar world order...