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Routledge
256 pages
This book explains the institutionalization of nearly unconditional American support of Israel during the Reagan administration, and its persistence in the first Bush administration in terms of the competition of belief systems in American society and politics.
Michael Thomas explains policy changes over time and provides insights into what circumstances might lead to lasting changes in policy. The volume identifies the important domestic, social, religious and political elements that have vied for primacy on policy towards Israel, and using case studies, such as the 1981 AWACS sale and the 1991 loan guarantees, argues that policy debates have been struggles to embed and enforce beliefs about Israel and about Arabs. It also establishes a framework for better understanding the influences and constraints on American policy towards Israel. An epilogue applies the lessons learned to the current Bush administration.
American Policy toward Israel will be of interest to students of US foreign policy, Middle Eastern politics and international relations.
1. Explaining the Extra-Special Relationship 2. The Pro-Israel Community Prior to 1981 3. Pro-Israel Policy Networks and the Congressional Playing Field 4. Ronald Reagan: Beliefs and Policies 5. The AWACS Sale: Testing Beliefs and Political Capabilities 6. The Metamorphosis of the Lobby, 1981-1988: Strength and Division 7. Reagan after AWACS: Policy as the Product of Unexamined Beliefs and Political Constraint 8. George H.W. Bush, James Baker and Israel 9. The Loan Guarantees: New Equilibrium, Old Result 10. Conclusions. Epilogue: George W. Bush: The War Leader and the True Believers
The International Studies series is based on the LSE’s oldest research centre and like the LSE itself was established to promote inter-disciplinary studies. The CIS facilitates research into many different aspects of the international community and produces interdisciplinary research into the international system as it experiences the forces of globalisation. As the capacity of domestic change to produce global consequences increases, so does the need to explore areas which cannot be confined within a single discipline or area of study. The series hopes to focus on the impact of cultural changes on foreign relations, the role of strategy and foreign policy and the impact of international law and human rights on global politics. It is intended to cover all aspects of foreign policy including, the historical and contemporary forces of empire and imperialism, the importance of domestic links to the international roles of states and non-state actors, particularly in Europe, and the relationship between development studies, international political economy and regional actors on a comparative basis, but is happy to include any aspect of the international with an inter-disciplinary aspect.
