Wilsonian explanations for American conflicts : a revaluation of the use of the Wilsonian framework to evaluate conflicts in the history of the United States

This thesis adds to our understanding of American foreign policy and conflicts in the history of the United States through the use of the Wilsonian framework. This is an important topic because the United States is the single most important actor in international relations and its decisions have far reaching consequences. This thesis makes a unique contribution to the literature on the understanding of the decisions by the United States to go to war. It does this by emphasising that the Wilsonian framework has been overlooked in our understanding of these conflicts and can be used to give a more complete picture of the conflicts discussed. By using wars across the history of the United States this thesis shows that this framework is applicable independent of the power the United States possesses.