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BVAllison Thesis Final 2.pdf (3.48 MB)

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Through the Cracks of Detente: US Policy, the Steadfastness and Confrontation Front, and the Coming of the Second Cold War, 1977–1984

Allison, Benjamin V
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1587394697039162

Abstract Details

2020, MA, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History.
In response to the beginning of the Egyptian-Israeli peace process, Algeria, Libya, Syria, South Yemen, and the PLO formed the Steadfastness and Confrontation Front at Tripoli in December 1977. This group sought to oppose the peace process—they were essentially a radical rejectionist spoiler movement. Scholars have paid little attention to the group as a whole, and certainly haven’t examined its relations with the United States. On the one hand, this is unsurprising, given that the Front failed to attain its initial objectives. On the other hand, the countries comprising the Front each played a role in the strategic shift away from the Arab-Israeli conflict and toward the Persian Gulf region, making this absence rather confusing. This thesis examines American relations with the Front, a subject that has hitherto received no serious, focused scholarly treatment. I present several arguments throughout this study. First, the United States did not engage with the Front as such, but instead lumped all the “radicals” and “rejectionists” together. This was mostly due to Egyptian President Sadat’s dismissive attitude toward the rejectionists. Second, the United States largely refrained from engaging bilaterally with the Front’s members, and when it did, it was often in ways divorced from the peace process. Relatedly, this general lack of engagement resulted in strained relations between the United States and the rejectionists. This is clearest in the cases of Libya and—especially—Syria, both of which the Reagan administration came into significant conflict. Above all, this study shows that the peace process and the coming of the Second Cold War were intimately connected. Most accounts of Carter’s Middle East policy split it between Carter the Peacemaker from 1977 through the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty in March 1979, and Carter the Cold Warrior from mid-1979 through 1981, and never the twain shall meet. I show how these were intimately connected, and how the rejectionists—especially the Front—played a role in that connection. A subtheme of this thesis is Sadat’s intransigence. Most accounts highlight how Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin caused headaches for Carter in his attempts to bring peace to the region. I show how, while Begin was certainly a real source of frustration for Carter, the sympathetic portrayal of Sadat found in nearly every major English language work on the peace process is misguided, as it ignores the trouble Sadat himself caused by antagonizing his fellow Arabs, despite Carter’s pleas to refrain from doing so.
Mary Ann Heiss, PhD (Advisor)
Shane Strate, PhD (Committee Member)
Timothy Scarnecchia, PhD (Committee Member)
Walter Hixson, PhD (Committee Member)
236 p.
American History; American Studies; Armed Forces; History; International Relations; Middle Eastern History; Middle Eastern Studies; Military History; Military Studies; Modern History; North African Studies; Political Science; Russian History; World History
Steadfastness Front; Steadfastness and Confrontation Front; Jimmy Carter; Middle East; Camp David Accords; Arab-Israeli Conflict; peace process; rejectionists; rejectionism; Arab League; Cold War; detente; Second Cold War

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Allison, B. V. (2020). Through the Cracks of Detente: US Policy, the Steadfastness and Confrontation Front, and the Coming of the Second Cold War, 1977–1984 [Master's thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1587394697039162

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Allison, Benjamin. Through the Cracks of Detente: US Policy, the Steadfastness and Confrontation Front, and the Coming of the Second Cold War, 1977–1984. 2020. Kent State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1587394697039162.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Allison, Benjamin. "Through the Cracks of Detente: US Policy, the Steadfastness and Confrontation Front, and the Coming of the Second Cold War, 1977–1984." Master's thesis, Kent State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1587394697039162

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1587394697039162
103
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This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.