I. The Bush Doctrine

In his address to a joint session of the United States Congress on September 20, 2001, President Bush set forth the vision for America’s response to the deadly attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. This vision has come to be known as the Bush Doctrine. The United States, so goes the argument, will no longer make distinctions between terrorist groups and the nations that harbor them. Consider the excerpts below from President Bush’s address:

“Americans have many questions tonight. Americans are asking: Who attacked our country?

The evidence we have gathered all points to a collection of loosely affiliated terrorist organizations known as al-Qaeda. They are the same murderers indicted for bombing American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole. Al-Qaeda is to terror what the mafia is to crime. But its goal is not making money; its goal is remaking the world and imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere.

The terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has been rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clerics -- a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam. The terrorists’ directive commands them to kill Christians and Jews, to kill all Americans, and make no distinctions among military and civilians, including women and children.

…The leadership of al-Qaeda has great influence in Afghanistan, and supports the Taliban regime in controlling most of that country. In Afghanistan, we see al-Qaeda’s vision for the world.

Afghanistan’s people have been brutalized, many are starving and many have fled. Women are not allowed to attend school. You can be jailed for owning a television. Religion can be practiced only as their leaders dictate. A man can be jailed in Afghanistan if his beard is not long enough…

…And tonight, the United States of America makes the following demands on the Taliban. Deliver to United States authorities all the leaders of al Qaeda who hide in your land. (Applause.) Release all foreign nationals, including American citizens, you have unjustly imprisoned. Protect foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers in your country.

Close immediately and permanently every terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, and hand over every terrorist, and every person in their support structure, to appropriate authorities. (Applause.)

Give the United States full access to terrorist training camps, so we can make sure they are no longer operating.

These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion. (Applause.) The Taliban must act, and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in their fate…”

The full address can be found at:

II. Levels of Analysis

From page 25 of your text we know the following definitions:

Systems-Level Analysis: a worldview that takes a top-down approach to analyzing global politics. This level theorizes that the world’s social-economic-political structure and pattern of interaction (the international system) strongly influence the policies of states and other international actors. Therefore, understanding the structure and pattern of the international system will lead to understanding how international politics operates.

State-Level Analysis: a view in which the concern is with the characteristics of an individual country and the impact of those traits on the country’s behavior. This level theorizes that states (countries) are the key international actors. Therefore, understanding how states as complex organizations decide policy will lead to understanding how international politics operates.

Individual-Level Analysis: a view in which the focus is on people. This level argues that in the end people make policy. Therefore, understanding how people (individually, in groups, or as species) decide policy will lead to understanding how international politics operates.

In the boxes below, please provide your response to the questions.

1		In the box below, please offer an explanation for Bush’s response to the September 11 attacks from a Systems-Level approach.
2		In the box below, offer an explanation for Bush’s response to the September 11 attacks from a State-Level approach.
3		In the box below, offer an explanation for Bush’s response to the September 11 attacks from an Individual-Level approach.
4		In the box below, please offer the strengths and weaknesses of each approach when applied to this situation. Which offers the most accurate description of events in this particular case?