A Study Of American Coercive Diplomacy Policy Towards Syria (1948-1958)

Coercive diplomacy is a special form between peaceful diplomacy and violent war.It attempts to use coercive pressure and flexible induction to influence the judgment of opponents and guide them to stop or withdraw the actions that have started.This is a strategy that combines the threat of force and interest induction,which can not only make up for the impotence of diplomatic means,but also reduce the possibility of the outbreak of war.This paper attempts to introduce coercive diplomacy into the diplomatic interaction between the United States and Syria(1948-1958),aiming to clarify the goals and actions the United States planned to achieve in Syria,and explain the reaction of Syria and the reasons for the final failure of the United States.In the context of the Cold War,the United States had two objectives in its coercive diplomacy towards Syria.The first objective was to stop the pro-Soviet tendency and contain communism before Syria became a pro-Soviet country,which was the preventive objective.The second is to withdraw or change its pro-Soviet actions after Syria shows pro-Soviet tendencies,revert to the previous pro-Western stance,and reestablish a pro-American government and join the Western camp.In order to achieve the above goals,the United States adopted a combination of coercive pressure and flexible inducement.Coercive pressure means that the United States forced Syria to achieve the goals of the United States through diplomatic isolation,political subversion,covert action and support for the coup,including the coup d’etat of 1949 and Operation Straggle and Operation Wappen of 1956-1957.Flexible inducement means that the United States induces Syria through economic inducements,security inducements and Allies’ support,so as to tie it to the "chariot" of the western anti-Soviet camp and achieve its goals.At the same time,the underlying implication of this approach is to influence Syria’s policy choices in a threatening way by withdrawing inducement,creating a sense of vulnerability and insecurity in order to achieve US objectives from the other side.Considering that coercive diplomacy is a dynamic game,Syria will also carry out anti-coercive diplomacy against the United States,thus forming a "challengeresponse" relationship.Syria’s strategy aims to improve its bargaining power,offset the pressure brought by the threat of force,and increase the profits induced by interests,which is manifested by resisting the inducement of the United States and accepting the aid from the Soviet Union.United with international anti-American forces to condemn the United States and make clear its attitude and position;Holding the banner of Arab nationalism firmly to Egypt,while dividing the US-Saudi relationship.After many rounds of game,America’s coercive diplomacy failed.In 1958,Syria and Egypt established the United Arab Republic and belonged to the Nasser regime,and the diplomatic relations between Syria and the United States were temporarily ended,which meant that Syria jumped out of the framework of coercive diplomacy in a different way,but the United States had not achieved its expected goal.Considering the diplomatic interaction between the United States and Syria,the reasons for the failure of coercive diplomacy can be explored from the two countries themselves.From the perspective of the United States,the failure is due to its ineffective isolation strategy and rigid Cold War mentality.Theoretically,it refers to the United States’ failure to cut off the third-party support of Syria,information asymmetry and insufficient communication between the two sides,the disadvantages of alliance coercion and the lack of attraction of interest commitment.From the perspective of Syria,the reasons include Syria’s irrational decision-making mechanism and the loss of the forced party.The coercive diplomacy of the United States towards Syria not only reflects the internal logic of its foreign policy towards Syria,but also reproduces the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union in Syria under the background of the Cold War,and also affects the political trend of Syria in the 1950 s,and even the USSyria relations in a longer period of time.