President and Their “Doctrines”, Ronald Reagan 1981-1989

1. Situations of Diplomatic Efforts During Presidential Time of Office

 

Almost every president of the U.S has encountered diplomatic situations while at office possibly within the first three years of leadership. For example, in 1985, there was the series of the summits by Mikhail Gorbachev. The reason was to limit the arms race through strategic arms agreement which assisted to complete the dialog with the soviets after the end of détente at the early 1980s. Apart from the disagreements and the conversations with Reagan, he mentioned them as an “evil empire” in 1983 for a positive move, (Fessler, 2009).

The main cause of diplomatic rise at the time of Reagan was the holding of hostages by terrorists in Lebanon. Reagan had to collaborate with Iran by selling weapons to them, which he thought will be fruitful as a way of pleading for the terrorists to withdraw, (Fessler, 2009). The cold war did not mark the end of political instabilities in the world, it was such hard times to start rebuilding the relationships with the neighboring countries that had been affected during the war period. The president at that particular time Ronald Reagan, had horrible moments in making peace after the cold war. It was one type of diplomatic situation during Reagan’s period as a leader of the U.S.

An achievement made by Reagan was that of demanding Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate of Berlin, the wall served as a bookmark of Kennedy’s speech at same point about 30 years ago. Such an event showed strength and marked the end of the cold war. Another situation of diplomacy was that of negotiations concerning the missile “Star Wars” proposals. Reagan thought of protection missiles proposed to close down the opposing ones by both the U.S. and the Soviet Union. It finally led to misunderstandings at the summit in Iceland leaving both parties confused.

 

2 Diplomatic Doctrine the President followed with specific examples

 

The Reagan Doctrine is seen to be innovational as per to some political analysts. For example, Paul Lagon stated “The scope of Reagan Doctrine was both broader and narrower than the predominant Cold War political doctrine of the United States, containment”(Lagon 1994). The Reagan Doctrine was also applied in Central America, (Lagon,1992). Due to the Reagan Doctrine, some presidents were overthrown like, Anastasio Somoza of Nicaragua in 1979.

Other countries that were affected by the Reagan Doctrine were Afghanistan and Angola and Cambodia. The four affected states decided to help the insurgents as proxies for the United States of America. Afghanistan for instance, unestablished the pro-soviet powers in the process of making them powerless over other countries. Under Reagan’s Doctrine, it advocated for equal powers for all citizens. The Soviets were after capitalism against communism this was discovered by the U.S over East Europe and it was seen as the biggest threat.

“The relative balance in this Third World client states favored the Soviets in the later of 1970’s and 80’s, (Lagon, 1996). In both the Trumann Doctrine (1947) and the Reagan Doctrines, the main issue discussed was the Soviet Union against communism. The Reagan Doctrine’s main point got an effect in 1986, the Reagan administration opted to arm the mujahedeen using stinger non-aircraft missiles. The refusal positively motivated the U.S against the soviet super powers.

After losing the advantage of air strike, Russia were forced down to operations by the CIA trained guiders of the insurgents. There were huge loses to the soviets in a valley of death called Panjshir a primitive area with a small route to Afghanistan through Russia. Ahmad Shah, a trained CIA often made destructions in Russian Tanks and sent his armed army to the region to perform the same task.

 

In the same episode, Diggins mentions that Osama Bin Laden as a great legend. He was therefore recognized as freedom fighter for his fellow humans. Laden was supplied by the Saudis got trained in the U.S but afterwards, he turned against the U.S. planned and led attacks against them. No one would have imagined that Osama will eventually turn to be a wanted enemy by the U.S. marshal after such great deeds, not even Reagan himself, (Durkin, 2011). The Reagan Doctrine played an important role in the protesting against the Soviet Union, the stinger anti-aircraft problems and became a success in the U.S.’s history.

Effects of the diplomatic efforts for U.S. and other countries

 

The Reagan Doctrine was applied in four countries from different parts of the world. James Pontuso quotes that, “The Reagan Doctrine was implemented in a number of ways, depending on local conditions. It employed political, economic, military and psychological welfare in support of indigenous anti-communist force”. The Doctrines’ hidden meaning was to protect direct intervention of the U.S. army and use the proxies as fighters for U.S’s needs.

 

Although, Afghanistan played a key role in the Reagan Doctrine. As Diggins mentions, Ronald Reagan considered Afghanistan as “the Theatre of the cold war”. Ronald Reagan as the 40^th president of the U.S. due to his Doctrine, he influenced support from other countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt in Afghanistan in terms of armies and finance. Adkin and Yousef states that, “the mujahedeen were supplied with Chinese weapons, particularly rockets and antiaircraft guns” (Jalali, 2001). Due to tension of the soviet power Iran decided to give support to the U.S. in using the Reagan Doctrine in Afghanistan but it was beyond financial support. Adkin and Yousef says that, “the most important support was provided by Pakistan. Direct control and assistance to the region was provided” (Jalali, 2001). U.S. received support from Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other Persian Gulf States.

 

4 The advantages and disadvantages of the Regan Doctrine

 

In conclusion, the Reagan Doctrine is well-known for dealing with the foreign diplomacy more so the Soviet Union. The key advantage of the Reagan Doctrine was the end up of the Soviet Union which finally turned to be the best. Demise of the Soviets made the U.S. army to have great advantage in the military technology industry. “When soviet power collapsed between 1989 and 1991, we saw that we had overestimated Soviet strength for decades”.

The Reagan Doctrine clearly shows that, Reagan was one of the minority persons living in the U.S. in the early 80s who actually believed that communism would come to an end. Ronald Reagan become most famous among the major leaders in the world due to hard rhetoric skills. He used his Doctrine to hinder the Soviet economy by adding the military expenditure through U.S economy, (Fessler, 2009).

To some extent, successful application of the Doctrine in Afghanistan was a critical factor that hindered the Soviet Union. The factor that was seen from the successful application of the Reagan Doctrine is that, insurgents and their motivational leaders such as Osama Bin Laden would finally turn to be an enemy of the U.S. cause great irony in the U.S.’s history.

As a result of the Reagan Doctrine the first disadvantage noticed is that, policies like our support of the mujahedeen in Afghanistan made grounds for “blowback” as persons got armed in the U.S. did not use the same needs beyond refusing the soviet, (Fessler, 2009). Iran and Iraq war was another example due to U.S. support for both parties especially Iraq.

John Patrick Diggins states “Reagan’s special envoy to Iraq was Donald Rumsfeld, who joined Vice president Bush in embracing Saddam Hussein and secretly supplying the dictator with whatever he asked for in his fight against the Kurds, Iranians and other opponents”. Such like Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein became U.S.s enemy as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Fessler, P. (2009). RONALD REAGAN, ADDRESS TO THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF EVANGELICALS (” EVIL EMPIRE SPEECH”)(8 MARCH 1983).

Lagon, M. P. (1992). The International System and the Reagan Doctrine: Can Realism Explain Aid to ‘Freedom Fighters’?. British Journal of Political Science, 22(01), 39-70.

Lagon, M. P. (1996). Are” influentials” less influential? US foreign policy elites in a Post-Cold War information age. World Affairs, 158(3), 122-135.

Durkin, T. A. (2011). Apocalyptic War Rhetoric: Drugs, Narco-Terrorism, and a Federal Court Nightmare from Here to Guantanamo. Notre Dame J. Int’l & Comp. L., 2, 257.

Jalali, A. A. (2001). Afghanistan: The anatomy of an ongoing conflict.Parameters, 31(1), 85.