Nepal-US relations, 1947-1989: A study of small power/great power interactions

Nepal and the United States, two vastly unequal actors in international politics, have engaged in a relationship for the last 40 years. This dissertation focuses on Nepal's effort to preserve its independence by pursuing its foreign and domestic policies despite changing pressures from the United States.; Containment of the Communist threat was at the core of the American policy toward South Asia and Nepal in the 1950s. Nepal's major concern was the preservation of its independence as a small power, and Nepal-U.S. relations seemed to suffer from stress during this period. The United States (because of its global interest in balance of power) was opposed to China, while Nepal (because of its strategy for survival) insisted on maintaining a close relationship with China. The United States exerted pressure on Nepal to change the course of its friendly relations with China. This pressure was visible in the form of U.S. intentions to conduct relations with Nepal by tacitly supporting India's objectives in Nepal. As India's threat to Nepal's independence seemed to be increasing, Nepal was seen as preferring a direct bilateral relationship with the U.S. rather than an India-centered U.S. policy.; As the Sino-U.S. dialogue opened during the Nixon administration in the 1970s, U.S. policy toward South Asia appeared to have changed. The United States now pursued a policy that showed more support for the independence of each country that sought peace, economic progress, and regional stability in South Asia. Consistent with this new approach to South Asia, U.S. support of the independence of Nepal was no longer contingent upon Indian objectives in Nepal, helping to make Nepal-U.S. relations more balanced and reciprocal.; One major goal in U.S. foreign policy in both the Truman and Nixon periods appeared to be the U.S. concern to maintain regional stability in South Asia. Both the United States and the Soviet Union seemed to consider that South Asia could be stable if India, as the regional power, extended its full support. The United States supported India until the late 1960s for this purpose. However, regional stability did not become a reality, as India appeared unable to resolve disputes with its neighbors (possibly excluding Bhutan).; Similarly, after the signing of the Indo-Soviet Treaty in 1971, the Soviet Union supported India as a regional power, although the smaller countries of South Asia were soon in opposition to a perceived Indo-Soviet threat. Thus the great powers' policy of looking at South Asia through the perspective of regional power was found not to be helpful to the cause of regional stability.