Contemporary United States foreign policy represents an evolving continuum of principles, conceptions, and strategies that derive in part from the particularistic American experience of the Cold War. As such, U.S. foreign policy is neither a static entity, nor are its intentions or direction unquestionable. This essay will examine the underlying issues of identity and how, starting with the Truman Doctrine, a distinct articulation of national interest emerged that defined America's role in the world. In doing so, the focus will be on the development of alliance politics, containment, and its effect on the transformation of the United States' position in the post-Cold War international order. First, it is timely to reconsider the traditional narratives that underpin American identity. Inherent in this is Manifest Destiny, which asserts that Anglo-Saxon Americans are God's chosen people, with a superior culture and preordained to spread civilization among inferior peoples (Hollander 2009, 169). This tradition offers instructive themes for the formulation of American exceptionalism and its manifestation in a missionary foreign policy (Hoffmann 1968, 369). It also foregrounds the Manichean character of American politics, its solipsism, and tendency to justify geopolitical objectives in moralistic terms (Lepgold 1995, 372). Therefore, US foreign policy is a discourse aimed at reproducing American identity, containing threats to its fundamental principles and legitimizing global actions (Campbell 1998, 70). The Cold War era ended America's historic oscillation between isolationism and internationalism. The Truman Doctrine pledges, in part, to “support free peoples who resist attempted subjugation by armed minorities or… middle of paper… In a rapidly evolving international system, the United States is in frontline and yet is most threatened by the emerging multipolar order (Zakaria 2009, 43). Contemporary US foreign policy reflects an evolution of the policies pursued during the Cold War. Using a combination of ideology, alliances, and containment, the United States cultivated a global order that defeated the Soviet Union. Having achieved prominence, hallmarks of these same philosophies remain ingrained in U.S. policy and strategic thinking. Perhaps the best indication of this is the designation of a new ideological enemy in terrorism and the subsequent revalidation of Cold War dogma into a modern reason of state. Most critically, the United States is using this new vocation to consolidate its alliances and contain adversaries in light of the emergence of an increasingly decentralized and multipolar global order..