ABSTRACT

The United States has a long tradition of placing American values at the center of its foreign policy. A belief in the uniqueness and the virtue of the American political system, when translated into foreign policy terms, offers the United States as a model for the world.

The major shift in the US policy towards the world came when the US emerged as a sole superpower with the disintegration of USSR. America is working to universalize it's political and economic and the social culture of its country. America believes that its global role and mission, a responsibility to spread American values around the world, was divinely sanctified and historically preordained.

 The present research work will be highlighting the US policies towards the world guided by the belief in American Exceptionalism. America has tended to believe that its institutions and values represent the universal aspirations that will ultimately be shared by people all over the world.

 In the post-cold war era, particularly in the aftermath of the event of 11 September 2001, the US policies towards the Muslim world radically changed. The United States and Islam represent two major forces in contemporary world politics. The article will critically analyze the US intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq after the event of 9/11, in the shadow of the US belief in American Exceptionalism.