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American Foreign Policy Toward Jordan, 1946-1969

Posted on:2009-11-15Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:W ChengFull Text:PDF
GTID:1116360245973215Subject:World History
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In the early Cold War period, American policy toward Jordan is one of the most important elements of its policy to the Middle East, which is based on the Jordan domestic situation and US' s strategy to the Middle East in transformation. The traditional Jordan-British alliance and Anglo-American cooperation mechanism in the Middle East lay the foundation for US' s special relations with Jordan. Jordan' s stability plays as a counterweight to the subtle equilibrium in that area. The United States is not willing to face Egyptian dominance over Jordan, which would upset such balance and hang over the pro-western countries, like Saudi Arab, finally jeopardizing its oil interest. Even worse, the collapse of a pro-American Jordan can not hold back Arab-Israeli conflict in which the US would fall into a dilemma. The US had to provide Jordan with assistance to support Hussein regime and use force menace if necessary. Hussein made use of the cold war and urged American assistance and made the US as its major sponsor, which marks a special strategic relation between them.This dissertation start with the scholarship on the American policy toward the Middle East and base its argumentation on the Foreign Relations of United States, Declassified Document Reference System, National Security Council Archives and CIA documents, referring to the IR theories to explore American policy toward Jordan during the early Cold War.This volume is divided into three parts. The introduction reviews the present studies on the US-Jordanian relations and puts forward research project on this subject. Correspondingly, the research questions discussed in the book are summarized in the conclusion. The main body explains the research questions with four chapters.The First Chapter examines formation of the Jordan Kingdom and its relations with Palestine, where the American policy to Jordan origins. In the 1920s, the UK separated Transjordan from Palestine and set the foundation of the modern Jordan. After the WWII, Jordan kept as an agent in the British Empire, gaining sponsorship from the UK. The US showed great reluctance when the outer Jordan question arose until Israel split up the Palestine indeed. Since its adjoin with Israel and holding myriad of refugees, Jordan' s involvement in conflicts will damage Anglo-American control the Middle East and containment Soviet. They have to pour into plenty of assistance and mediate its relations with Israel.The Second Chapter highlights the dissertation with an overview on the Eisenhower' s policy to Jordan. The rise of the Arabian nationalism suffocated British attempt to introduce Jordan into Baghdad Treaty and undermined its position in Jordan. After the Suez Cannel Crisis, the UK had to withdraw from Jordan and pushed US' s take-over, avoiding being controlled by the pro-Russian Egypt and Syria. The Eisenhower Doctrine justified American replacing the UK as the main power supporting Hussein regime. In order to counterbalance the pro-Russian Egypt and Syria, the US gave Jordan and Iraq plenty of assistance and urged them to forge a Arabian Federation. The collapse of Iraq regime confused American strategy and forced him to readjust policy toward Arab nationalism. Keeping on bolstering the Hussein regime, the US tried to contain Soviet by reconciling with Egypt.The Third Chapter mirrors US-Jordanian divergence on the regional affairs and its reasons by analyzing the negative effects by the US Middle East policy on the Jordan and Saudi Arab. Kennedy administration inherited and intensified the corporative policy to Egypt. After Syrian broke away from the United Arab Republic, Jordan wanted the US to recognize Syria new position as soon as possible but failed. During this period, the Yemen incidents and Iraq' s coup confronted Hussein with crisis, which also involved US' s refuse to public recognize Jordanian independence and sovereignty. Kennedy' s policy encountered critics from domestic interest group and public opinion.The Last Chapter retraces the LBJ' s policy toward Jordan. The dissertation makes the escalating Arab-Israeli conflicts as the background and American arms sales as the thread to unfold its changes and effects. The uptight competition for the Jordan River triggered another round of Arab-Israeli arms races, which justified those agents' demand of more military assistance from the two super powers. Arms races eventually led to the Arab-Israeli war in 1967. The US showed great reluctance to assistant Jordan because its hastily involvement in the war and loss of West Bank. The booming fedayeen Fatah insurgency endangered the Hussein regime and the US had to recover the assistance, which indicated a new stage for the US-Jordanian relations.
Keywords/Search Tags:American, Jordan, Israeli, Britain, Hussein, Nasser
PDF Full Text Request
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