Online Archive of University of Virginia Scholarship
Reagan's Middle East: Lebanon and the Evolution of U.S. Strategy, 1981-1985374 views
Author
Evans, Alexandra, History - Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia0000-0001-9688-8531
Advisors
Hitchcock, William, As-History, University of Virginia
Abstract
This project evaluates how the Reagan administration’s diplomatic and military interventions in Lebanon shaped American perceptions of threat and opportunity in the Middle East. Drawing on recently declassified records, it demonstrates that the experience forced U.S. policymakers to acknowledge new security concerns beyond the dominant Cold War contest and to reconsider their presumption that military power alone could deter adversaries from challenging American interests in the region. Lebanon therefore illustrates a moment of transition in which the Reagan administration’s conception of the United States’ power and responsibility was tested and, in turn, transformed.
Degree
PHD (Doctor of Philosophy)
Keywords
U.S. Foreign Policy; Multinational Force in Lebanon; Reagan, Ronald; U.S.-Middle East; Lebanon; Peacekeeping; Reagan administration; Habib, Philip; Shultz, George; McFarlane, Robert C.; U.S.-Israeli Relations; U.S.-Lebanese Relations
Language
English
Rights
All rights reserved (no additional license for public reuse)
Evans, Alexandra. Reagan's Middle East: Lebanon and the Evolution of U.S. Strategy, 1981-1985. University of Virginia, History - Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, PHD (Doctor of Philosophy), 2018-11-28, https://doi.org/10.18130/V3-M3CD-3940.