The following paper will examine the sources of US policy towards foreign revolutions. Drawing on both Neoclassical Realism and Classical Elite Theory, the paper will underscore the need to focus on the constant socio-political processes shaping political elites’ power, interests, and ideas. By taking into account the dual nature of political leaders as both domestic and foreign policy actors, the following analysis will address the specific challenge posed by revolutions to elites’ power position at home and abroad. The Wilson and Carter administrations’ policies towards the Russian and Iranian revolutions will be examined to evaluate the relative weight of traditional security concerns and ideological factors in shaping American policies vis-à-vis the political power considerations here proposed. In particular, I will argue that the two administrations’ policies have been shaped by three factors: the general threat posed as well as the opportunities for cooperation offered by the revolutionary regimes to the American political elite; the degree to which the revolution affected the US incumbent elite’s position both at the domestic and international level; US policy-makers’ relations with the target state’s elite and counter-elite. Drawing on the analysis of these two Democratic administrations, some preliminary yet theoretically informed conclusions will be presented regarding the Obama administration’s policy towards the Arab Spring.
