The role of U.S. covert action in a changing world order

Abstract

This thesis assesses the changing dynamics of covert action as an instrument of U.S. foreign policy. Four primary variables are researched in the context of the Cold War period and the emerging new world order. These variables include: (1) the broad characteristics of the international environment that guide relations between international actors; (2) the primary U.S. foreign policy objectives as examined through presidential doctrines; (3) the acceptance of interventionism in both domestic and international domains, and; (4) moral considerations in the policymaking process of a democratic society. The study concluded that while the primary forces creating the impetus for the institutionalization of covert operations in U.S. foreign policy have disappeared with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the fundamental role of convert action itself has been little effected. The structural system supporting such action has, however, undergone significant changes which are outlined in the study. The U.S. administration has created new justifications for the existence of covert action in an effort to be compatible with its own definition of the new world order.