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Kiely

Keith Peter Kiely, PhD Student

(BA in English and History, MA in International Studies: University of Limerick)
kkiely01@qub.ac.uk

Awarded MacQuitty Travel Scholarship Award 2012

Research Areas
US Foreign policy formation, US Interest/ Lobby Groups, Middle-East Politics.

Thesis

Thesis
My research thesis is an analysis of US foreign policy formation through discourse theory and analysis. My focus is on internal political pressures from interest groups/ lobbyists within the US political system and both their effect on foreign policy and their place within the dominant foreign policy discourse. The aim of my research thesis is to offer insight into the seemingly consistent pro-Israel direction of contemporary US foreign policy.  I am investigating the levels of influence enjoyed by, what has been termed  the ‘Israel Lobby’ in contrast to the 'Irish-American lobby' and several other ethnic minority lobby groups during the two terms of the Clinton Presidency.


I am investigating whether foreign policy lobby groups can be as powerful as some claim or whether their seeming power is derived from compatibility with the prevailing discourse.