In The United States For Argentina's " Dirty War " Policy ( 1976-1983 )

Argentina is a big country in South America. Through the coup of March 1976, the military junta seized power and began their military dictatorship of more than seven years. During the reign, the military government adopted high-handed policy to purge all negative factors. The military government supported the terrorist activities of the right-wing and initiated the "Dirty War" which suppressed dissidents with violence and thus triggered a series of serious breaches of internationally-recognized human rights. At that time, the "human rights foreign policy" was on the agenda of the United States, Argentine "Dirty War" ran through the end of the Ford Administration, the Carter administration and the Reagan administration in its early stage. The three U.S. governments carried out a series of policies toward the Argentine breaches of human rights. Currently, the domestic study on this topic is still slightly weak. Therefore, based on the United States National Security Archive documents and previous research, this thesis tries to analyze the whole sequence of American policy toward Argentina, aiming at revealing the characteristics of U.S. policy and its impact on Argentina, America-Latin American relationship and the Cold War situation.The thesis consists of an introduction and five chapters.The introduction introduces the current research both at home and abroad and summarizes the significance and value of the thesis subject.The first part is dedicated to an interpretation of how Argentine "Dirty War" took place. Firstly, it discusses the political and economic situation in Argentina on the eve of the military coup. Political chaos, the raging violence as well as the deepening economic crisis made the coup inevitable. Then this part gives a brief introduction to the "Dirty War"(1976-1983), including how it began, when it ended, how it was embodied as well as its consequences.The second part mainly discusses the response and policy of the Ford administration toward Argentine "Dirty War". The "Dirty War" took place when the Ford Administration was soon to end. The two governments began secret contacts before the coup, thus the Argentine military junta's coup obtained American acquiescence. The United States also gave the green light to the following brutal suppression. Therefore, Argentine "Dirty War" became unscrupulous.The third part mainly discusses the policy of the Carter administration toward Argentine "Dirty War". Carter took office in 1977. In view of the different international situation, the Government strongly flaunted Human Rights Diplomacy. Argentina became the mainly concerned country of the Carter administration because it's bad Human Rights situation attention, the various measures taken by the Carter administration put pressure on Argentina to force it to improve human rights practice. It is noteworthy that the term of office, the Government had instead begun to emphasize the practical interestes, human rights subject to security considerations.The fourth part mainly discusses the policy of the Reagan administration toward Argentine "Dirty War". Reagan administration stressed anti-communism and sought peace with strength, and he took "Quiet Diplomacy" to the Argentine breaches of human rights. Thus, human rights became a less important factor.The fifth part, namely, the conclusion of the thesis, briefly summarizes the characteristics of U.S. policy and its impact, based on previous interpretation. It is not difficult to see that during this period, American policy directed against Argentina always had its global Cold War strategy in mind and both its implementation and its changes were under the background of the Cold War. And "Human Rights" policy was the main line throughout the American policy to Argentina, but when Human Rights policy and security interests of the U.S. contradicted, human rights were subject to security interests, showing that security was more important than human rights. At the same time, the U.S. took the strategy which combined public policies with private ones from the consideration of its national interests.To a certain extent, the Human Rights policies adopted by the US forced the Argentine military government to improve its human rights practice, thus promoting the democratization of Argentine society. At the same time, these policies made the US-Argentine relationship less harmonious than before:and American-Latin America alliance increasingly loose, detrimental to American competition with the Soviet Union in Latin America in the Cold War era.