A Study On The Characteristics Of Reagan Administration 's Foreign Policy

The Reagan administration of the United States is considered to be the firstreason to drag down the Soviet Union. At the beginning of the Reaganadministration,the United States economy is in trouble and its military power remainsat the bottom while the Soviet Union is in the state of strongly expanding withexposed crisis. However at the end of the Reagan administration, with its fullyrecovery in economy the United States returned to the top in military force,however,the Soviet Union had to reduce its investment in military force on the verge ofdissolution. So both of the public and the researchers paid great interests to Reagan’stwo sessions of the government. And also Reagan himself was named as one of themost popular presidents in the world. In addition to the Reagan economics, foreignpolicies were also concerned most. The foreign policies of the Reagan administrationwere famous for extremely tough and fighting against the Soviet Union. The numberof sending military force abroad is the most among other governments after thesecond world war such as the bombing of Libya,the inversion of Grenada andinterference in Lebanon and so on.These actions are contending with the SovietUnion for the third world,which is the Reagan’s diplomatic thought-the Reagandoctrine’s practice.Compared with former containment policy, the Reaganadministration paid its method.Under the guidance of the Reagan’s doctrine, theReagan administration took a series of hidden secret diplomatic action besides armsrace,military strike,economic pressing and media and publicity work. The uniquemethod of Reagan’s administration in cold war is of significance. This paper willfocus on the background and significance of the Iran-Contra affair to study how theReagan administration treat the relationship flexible among nations and confront theSoviet Union with concealed actions.First,this abstract discusses the reason to choose this topic,the writers’ ideas athome and abroad now and this paper’s writing ideas.There are five chapters in this paper. The Reagan doctrine is described in thefirst chapter, which tells us the background, contents and application of the Reagan doctrine. The first chapter pays the way for the following statements. In chapter two,it describes the international background of the Iran-Contra affair, in which it tells usthe delicate relationship between the Khomeini regime in Iran and the Reaganadministration,the relationships between Israel and the Iran-Iraq war and the reasonIsrael wanted to unite with the anti-Semitism Iran, the quarrel between the UnitedStates government and the Congress, the Soviet Union’s expansion action in theMiddle East and the third world and the relationship among the involved parties andwhy the Reagan administration dare to make the Iran-Contra affair. In chapter three, itDescribes the course of events from the Lebanon hostage.That the Reaganadministration sold weapons to the Iran secretly,the Reagan administration gave themoney by selling weapons to the anti-government arm body in Nicaragua and theimportant description from the exchange beginning,the contact,negotiation to theabrupt cease between the United States and Iraq are all mentioned in chapter three.Inchapter four, the writer summaries the significance of the Iran-Contra affair to theUnited States. The writer states his personal idea on the success and failure of theIran-Contra affair. It also tells us the actual effect of covert action on the Middle East,Nicaragua, the Soviet Union and the process of the cold war. The writer returns tolook on the complete process of the event by the Reagan doctrine and makessummary and evaluation of the diplomatic characteristic of the Reaganadministration.