Research On The U.S.National Security Council During The Cold War(1947-1987)

The U.S.National Security Councilwas first established under the National Security Act of 1947.It is a coordination mechanism that mainly used by the President and his advisors to discuss foreign policy and national security issues.Since then,the NSC has kept improving its status and become progressively crucial in the U.S.national security system.It has finally evolved frorm a simple forum structure to a complex system that includes NSC meetings,national security advisor,NSC Staff and NSC committees.Although one of the major incentives for the establishment of the NSC is the external pressure of the Cold War,it cannot be simply understood as a product of the Cold War.On the surface,the organization and structure of the NSC changes unregularly and dramatically throughout these 40 years.However,such changes reflect the trade-offs between two conflicting management philosophiesof the American policy elites and evolved de facto in a clear vein.This dissertation employed a great number of primary documents declassified by American government under the Freedom of Information Act,and used plenty of books and reports for reference.It was the main purpose of this dissertation to trace the evolutionary orbit of the NSC mechanism as well as explore these motives from the Truman government to the Regan Government,and as a result of interaction,to explain to what extent these changes affected the U.S.national security process during the Cold War period.Since the NSC as coordination mechanism still maintains a significant role within the U.S.national security system nowadays,it is important to trace its changing path.It can help us better understand the essence of the NSC as well as the decision-making process of U.S.national security policies.Furthermore,this would be very helpful to provide the corresponding path and strategy for the development of the China's own NSC.This dissertation borrowed several theories and concepts from other related subjects,such as the international relations theories,the management theories,and the political psychology theories.The dissertation tried to illustrate three viewpoints as follows:first,although the structure and the mechanism of the NSC system are not the same during the Cold War period,its management concept vacillated between two modes:the "Planning-Coordinator mode" and the"Consultant-advisor mode".The National Security Act of 1947's vagueness is the main reason for this dilemma.Second,there are three factors that give rise to the NSC's changing mechanism,they are:the assessment and perception of the international relations situation from the inner circle,the structure-building from the president and the national security advisor,and the influence from the Americangovernment committees,which also known as "the third party".Finally,the relatively stable "Scowcroft Mode" NSC structure in the post-Cold War era is actually a kind of "dynamic balance" between those two modes that mentioned above.Since the dilemma has not been totally solved,this long-lasting structure is still vulnerable.