The Cold War and U

The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy

The Reagan Doctrine
In the political history of the United States, the Presidential Doctrines hold an important position. Presidential Doctrine can be defined as a set of principles or practices applied by a President to a particular situation, region, or government, and a President may formulate a doctrine alone or with the help of advisers within the entire administration (Jones, 2013). According to the Monroe Doctrine to the Reagan Doctrine, in the realm of the U.S. politics and foreign affairs, presidential doctrines have played a pivotal role, and if studied from the perspective of the Cold War, the importance of the Reagan Doctrine can be ascertained. The presidential doctrine of Reagan which is popularly known as the Reagan Doctrine played a significant role in decreasing the global influence of the Soviet Union. In the course of the Cold War but it also played a crucial role in shaping the long term foreign policies of the United States in a tumultuous manner primarily because of its role in supporting the anti-Sandinista rebels (called “Contras”) and for eventually instigating the U.S. – Iran conflict, and it is due to such a roles that even today the Reagan Doctrine is considered strategically an important political approach. The Soviet regime provided a chance for Reagan to formulate a doctrine which will be able to strengthen the motivation of these rebels and eventually bring an end to the Soviet According to historians and political strategists they have often identified the Reagan Doctrine as a “strategy orchestrated and implemented by the United States under the Reagan Administration to oppose the global influence of the Soviet Union during the final years of the Cold War” (“Reagan Doctrine”, n.d.). And it is due to its importance in respect of U.S. foreign policy that despite of the doctrine’s duration being less than a decade, it remained as “the centerpiece of United States foreign policy from the early 1980s until the end of the Cold War in 1991” (“Reagan Doctrine”, n.d.). President Reagan, through his doctrine, made his intentions clear. Mr. Regan was not willing to sit back and watch the spread of the communist influence rendered by the Soviet Union, globally. In his doctrine Reagan clearly revealed his intention to help the “freedom fighters” around the globe. By “freedom fighters” he meant all those nations, individual, organizations, or groups that were striving to liberate from the shackles of the communist regimes in different parts of the globe. It was in the Reagan Doctrine that the “Reagan administration laid the foundation for its program of military assistance to “freedom fighters.” In action, this policy translated into covertly supporting Contras in their attacks on the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua; the Afghan rebels in their fight against the Soviet occupiers; and anti-Communist Angolan forces embroiled in that nation’s civil war” (“Feb 6, 1985: The “Reagan Doctrine” is announced”, n.d.). President Reagan was aware of the fact that an aggressive foreign policy is needed to uproot the communist influence globally and to suppress the communist regime of the Soviet Union permanently, and that is the reason why he tried, through his doctrine, to fuel the fire that was already burning in the minds of anti-communists in different part of the world. Ronald Reagan’s presidential doctrine served the crucial purpose of crushing the ever-increasing strength of Soviet Union’s communism. The defiance of the rebels in Afghanistan against the Soviet occupants and the struggle between the rebel forces of Nicaragua against the Soviet regime provided a chance for Reagan to formulate a doctrine which will be able to strengthen the motivation of these rebels and eventually bring an end to the Soviet domination over some specific regions of the world (Carpenter, 1986). Reagan’s Doctrine was a bold measure to put an end to the policy of containment and help some specific nations to secure their liberation from the oppressions of Soviet supported communist regimes. In other words it can be said that “The Reagan Doctrine fired the enthusiasm of the conservative movement in the United States as no foreign policy issue has done in decades. At last, said conservatives, there was a strategy that transcended the sterile, defensive containment doctrine and offered the possibility of helping to liberate nations already suffering under communist domination” (Carpenter, 1986). In the pre-Reagan era there was a dilemmatic relation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union which can be observed in the fact that despite of international obligation, Soviet forces attacked Afghanistan on December 26, 1979, and this was a sort of warning for the United States in response to which the U.S. government put some crucial embargoes on the Soviet Union including the deferral of cultural and economic exchanges, “cancellation of export licenses for high technology items, restriction of Soviet fishing rights in U.S. waters, suspension of grain exports, and boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics” (“United States Relation with Russia: The Cold War”, n.d.). The theory of containment that was embraced by the U.S. government in respect of its attitude towards the Soviet Union was proved to be a failure and hence, the emergence of a new kind of foreign policy was needed. And the Reagan Doctrine was the solution to this problem. The Doctrine was undoubtedly the outcome of the frustration of the U.S. administration that was instigated by Soviet Union’s advances in Africa, Central Asia, and Central America, and it’s formation was also initiated by the attitude of leaders like Leonid Brezhnev and Mao who did support armed insurgencies against those states which were either colonial or aligned with the United States (“The Reagan Doctrine”, n.d.). Reagan also thought it was right to wage war against communist regimes by helping those rebels who were thoroughly against the philosophy of communism and the communist governments. To strengthen the U.S. hold on world politics and to ensure the safety of the nation from communist intrusions, the Reagan Doctrine upheld the theory of aggression by negating the previous theory of containment which was embraced by Reagan’s predecessors as a means of tackling the Cold War conditions. President Reagan was much in favour or dismissing the proposition of containment and hence, he formulated his presidential doctrine to boost the American morale and to provide “material support for insurgent movements attempting to oust Soviet-backed regimes in various Third World nations” (Carpenter, 1986). But it must be admitted that everything was not good about the Reagan Doctrine because the implementation of the doctrine brought about some fatalistic long term effects. The support of the Reagan administration to the Contra, when was disclosed publicly, brought about tensions in the global political realm. It is a fact that the “Exposure of the Iran-Contra affair in late 1986 provoked a major congressional investigation. The scandal seriously weakened the influence of the president” (“The Reagan Doctrine”, n.d.). In the post-implementation period of the Reagan Doctrine the media exposed that “The Reagan administration circumvented Congress by soliciting contributions for the contras from private individuals and from foreign governments seeking U.S. favour. The president also permitted the sale of arms to Iran, with profits diverted to the contras” (“The Reagan Doctrine”, n.d.). And it must be noted that due to such strategies infused in the Reagan Doctrine that the U.S. still has to suffer from a dilemmatic relationship with Middle Eastern nations. So, it can be said that the Reagan Doctrine should be considered as one of the most significant presidential doctrines because on one hand it provided a solution to the Cold War problem and on the other hand it instigated the negative relationship between the United States and some specific Middle Eastern countries like Iran.

References
Carpenter, T.G. (1986). U.S. Aid to Anti-Communist Rebels: The "Reagan Doctrine" and Its Pitfalls. Cato Policy Analysis No. 74. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa074.html Feb 6, 1985: The “Reagan Doctrine” is announced (n.d.). Cold War. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-reagan-doctrine-is-announced Jones, S. (2013). What Is A Doctrine? Retrieved May 11, 2014, from http://usforeignpolicy.about.com/od/introtoforeignpolicy/a/What-Is-A-Doctrine.htm Reagan Doctrine (n.d.). Princeton University. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Reagan_Doctrine.html The Reagan Doctrine (n.d.). Retrieved May 11, 2014, from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3369 United States Relation with Russia: The Cold War (n.d.). U.S. Department of State. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from http://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/pubs/fs/85895.htm

References: Carpenter, T.G. (1986). U.S. Aid to Anti-Communist Rebels: The "Reagan Doctrine" and Its Pitfalls. Cato Policy Analysis No. 74. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa074.html Feb 6, 1985: The “Reagan Doctrine” is announced (n.d.). Cold War. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-reagan-doctrine-is-announced Jones, S. (2013). What Is A Doctrine? Retrieved May 11, 2014, from http://usforeignpolicy.about.com/od/introtoforeignpolicy/a/What-Is-A-Doctrine.htm Reagan Doctrine (n.d.). Princeton University. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Reagan_Doctrine.html The Reagan Doctrine (n.d.). Retrieved May 11, 2014, from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3369 United States Relation with Russia: The Cold War (n.d.). U.S. Department of State. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from http://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/pubs/fs/85895.htm