Human Rights in the US Great Strategy: from Clinton to Trump

Abstract

The theme of human rights has been the stage of political discussions and narrative disputes throughout history. The United States stands out in the construction of  norms for the theme, calling itself the main promoters of rights internationally. In this context, this work has as its central objective to understand in which way human rights has been utilized in the North American great strategy. To this end, the National Security Strategy (NSS) from Clinton to Trump were analyzed, documents that reflect the great strategy of each president annually. Through a documentary and comparative analysis of these, particular aspects of each government were identified, as well as a partisan influence in the way the presidents incorporate the theme in their documents, despite this, there is a general consensus among the presidents concerning the approach given to human rights as a mechanism for promoting American values ​​in the external sphere. A consensus that suffered a rupture in Trump, since this political tradition observed in his predecessors, does not figure as a central element in the grand strategy of the last president.