Külpolitika - A Magyar Külügyi Intézet folyóirata - 1997 (3. évfolyam)
1997 / 3. szám - ESEMÉNYNAPTÁR - Resumé
Resume Gábor Horváth From the Cold War Till The Clinton Presidency: The Policy of Containment in US Foreign Policy (1961-1997) After World War II. George F. Kennan's policy of containment outlined the theoretical foundation and practical implementation of US foreign policy. The Truman and Eisenhover Administrations established a global network of military organizations against the increasingly global challenges of the Soviet Union. The foreign policy of the Kennedy Administration vividly demonstrated an American commitment to contain Soviet advances in the second Berlin crisis and in the Cuban missile crisis by means of nuclear deterrence. During the Johnson and the first Nixon presidencies, the implementation of the policy of contianment was somewhat overshadowed by Paris Peace Treaty ending the Vietnam War in 1974, and by the détente in American-Soviet relations. However, following the idealistic objectives of President Carter's human rights policy, the Reagan Administration initiated a new policy of containment against the Soviet Union and international communism based on unilateral and global US economic and military leadership. During the Bush Presidency, this reinvigorated policy of containment implemented from a position of strength ushered the demise of communist rule in Central Europe. When the Clinton administration entered into office, the Soviet and communist threat gradually disappeared from world affairs, and simultaneously the containment of new global and transnational threats obtained more attention. Kennan applied the general theory of the policy of containment to the specific phenomenon of Soviet and communist dangers. Today, this general nature of the policy of containment still remains valid for American national security in dealing with the new challenges of international affairs, from Iraq to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, from international terrorism to drug trafficking. 158 Külpolitika
