Publication

Mitt Romney campaigned on the extreme right using the neo-conservative strategies of his advisers, before he recreated himself, once again, as a moderate conservative before the November 2012 elections. Clearly, post-election reality would force Romney to nuance some of his more belligerent foreign policy pronouncements and he would be constrained by public opinion, partisan politics, Congress, executive departments and, above all, the exigencies of geopolitics. Nonetheless, there are many reasons why we should take at face value Romney's earlier – rather than his recent – declarations on foreign policy.