Abstract (300 words maximum)
This research accumulates various historical viewpoints, ranging from 1986 to 2023, and constructs a greater holistic work detailing justifications and complexities surrounding U.S. foreign policy towards Central America during the 1980s. It highlights the initiatives and goals of the Reagan administration which dictated U.S. interaction with the nation of Nicaragua and seeks to clarify ongoing historiographical debate surrounding the justification for these projects. This study utilizes documents, testimonies, and speeches from the United States Congress and former President Ronald Reagan to contextualize official statements relating to the role of the United States within Nicaragua. It then places them in comparison with later interpretations of 1980s U.S. foreign policy from authors such Jeff Bass, Robert Kagen, Roy Gutman, Thomas Carthers, William Schmidli, and several others. In addition to this, notable publications from The Heritage Foundation, The Permanent People's Tribunal, and The Washington Post are used to observe larger media interpretations of U.S. intervention during the time period. Individual publications of political authors such as Andrew Kimmens, William Leogrande, Peter Kornbluh, and Christopher Dickey are also included for the role of observing political opinion of foreign policy initiatives within the time period.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
RCHSS - History & Philosophy
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Lauren Thompson
Indeterminate Politics: U.S. Interventionism within Nicaragua
This research accumulates various historical viewpoints, ranging from 1986 to 2023, and constructs a greater holistic work detailing justifications and complexities surrounding U.S. foreign policy towards Central America during the 1980s. It highlights the initiatives and goals of the Reagan administration which dictated U.S. interaction with the nation of Nicaragua and seeks to clarify ongoing historiographical debate surrounding the justification for these projects. This study utilizes documents, testimonies, and speeches from the United States Congress and former President Ronald Reagan to contextualize official statements relating to the role of the United States within Nicaragua. It then places them in comparison with later interpretations of 1980s U.S. foreign policy from authors such Jeff Bass, Robert Kagen, Roy Gutman, Thomas Carthers, William Schmidli, and several others. In addition to this, notable publications from The Heritage Foundation, The Permanent People's Tribunal, and The Washington Post are used to observe larger media interpretations of U.S. intervention during the time period. Individual publications of political authors such as Andrew Kimmens, William Leogrande, Peter Kornbluh, and Christopher Dickey are also included for the role of observing political opinion of foreign policy initiatives within the time period.