United States After The Cold War To Develop A National Missile Defense Motivation

This dissertation is designed to analyze the dynamics of US government to develop National Missile Defense after cold war. Adopting the methodologies covering international systematic analysis and domestic political analysis, the thesis hopes to compare and analyze five factors including threats, strategy, techniques, arms control and cost, which influence in various degree US policy on National Missile Defense after cold war, and reaches the following key conclusions:1. The dynamics of United States to develop National Missile Defense system is the result of interaction of five factors containing threats, strategy, techniques, arms control and cost.2. In different historical periods, the impacts of the five factors acting on the US National Missile Defense policy are different and involve the following four aspects: the influence degree which the five factors hold over US definite policies is different in a certain period; in different era, the influence degree of a certain factor is also different on definite policies; each factor may sometimes boost, but at the other time, constrain US National Missile Defense policy; each factor may influence US process of developing National Missile Defense according to relatively objective existences or subjective judgement.3. At each stage, the five factors are ali influenced by domestic and foreign politics, in which the former holds more importance than the latter. In US domestic politics, the left, the neutral and the right opinions are three major representative attitudes tovvards National Missile Defense policv, and the US government generally stays neutral.4. The factor of strategy is a key factor on US National Missile Defense development.5. The factor of threats provides important pretexts for US government to adjust National Missile Defense policv.6. The objective and definite influence of techniques has been vveakened by US domestic politics.7. Though important, the factors of arms control and cost play quite limited roles on US National Missile Defense policv.