U.s. Angola Policy Research :1961-1976

The history of Angola is the miniature of African history. It had been the colony of Portugal for nearly 500 years. The civil war occurred when the country was about to achieve its independence. But the most unfortunate thing was that it became a pawn of U.S.-Soviet Cold War. There was no vital interests to the U.S. in Angola, but with the intervention of the Soviet Union and Cuba ,U.S. immediately interfered into it. what the U.S. concerned was the expansion of communism and the American global interests. Whether concerning about the scramble for the dominance of decolonization movement or the Cold War, the U.S. policy toward Angola(1961-1976) didn't come true. Currently, the domestic study of this topic is still slightly week, especially in the strategy of covert action -Angola Action. With the released documents by the American government in recently years, through drawing lessons from the past result, this thesis is trying to analyze the whole sequence of the events completely and objectively.The thesis is divided into four parts.The first part mainly describes the arising of the national liberation movements of Angola, and introduces the evolution of Angola council after the Portugal coup. Due to the elements of ethnic, culture, and class,it formed three national liberation movements: the MLA, the FNLA, and the UNITA. There were numerous contradictions between these three organizations since their establiment,and their controdictions became more and more worse with the political situation and the development of the increasingly intensifying in Angola. Before the Portugal coup, they were scrambled for the leadership of the national liberation movement, particularly between the MLA and the FNLA. After the coup, the Alvor Agreement did not resolve their differences and contradictions, but a fierce arms race was started for the state power. All that provided opportunity for the intervention and interference of the external forces. The end of Portuguese colonial rule did not bring peace to Angola, but the war.The second part mainly discussed the corporation and struggle between American and Portugal. Kennedy administration was trying to play a leading role in the process of decolonization in Angola. U.S.would make Angola achieve the independence in national self-determination.However,Portugal conducted a counterattack towards U.S. at military bases on the Azores. Based on NATO's unity and the special status and role of the Portugal in the U.S. global strategy, the U.S. made a comprise and finally acquiesced of Portugal's colonial rule in Angola . Nixon administration intended to take ignore policy toward southern African, which maintained and inherited the policy of Kennedy government, it took two-track system to cooperate with Portugal. The third part focuses on U.S. policy towards Angola in the civil war. The power struggle of Angola's factions and the involvement of external political forces triggerd a full-scale civil war in Angola eventually. The involvement of US and the Soviet Union changed the nature of this war: the civil war in Angola evolved into a regional and international conflict, which became part of the Cold War. The United States made and implemented the Angola action in order to contain the Soviet Union's deeply involvement and expansion in Angola. The disgreements and contradictions between Congress and the executive branch in Angola, as well as their struggle for the dominance of diplomatic affairs, both greatly restricted the implementation and influence of U.S. policy towards Angola.The fourth part is the conclusion of the article. It grasp the text from the macro and made the main ideas further deepen through three aspects respectively: the characteristics of U.S. policy towards Angola, the reasons for the failure,and of the impact. It had a distinct ideological orientation about U.S. policy towards Angola, it fully contained Soviet and Cuban's intervention and military operations in Angola. The failure in Angola has many reasons: first, because the objectives it pursued in Angola decided the limitations of covert action and the limitation of the effect; Second, Congress restrictions was also one of the key factors; In the external Factors, Mobutu regime and the FNLA had an array of political dictatorships, corruptions and military incompetence, and their power and organizations were lack of public support,which were external factors for U.S.;At the same time, the racist regime of South Africa's taking part in the war also caused a political failure. It had been produced much impact on U.S. policy towards Angola:it aggravated the conflict between Congress and the executive branch, limited the United States' overseas covert operations from then on; As U.S. withdrawed from Angola, it led to the collapse of the anti- MLA alliance, the forces and the impact of the Soviet Union and Cuba had been greatly strengthened in the region. It forced U.S.to abandon the two-track strategy; Although the strugglle and contest between the United States and the Soviet Union in Angola had not damaged the "detente" in this country, two super powers began their 10 years of confrontation in Angola.