Explaining the hostility of Third World revolutionary states toward the United States: The cases of Cuba, Iran, and Nicaragua.

Abstract

The greatest number of conflicts for the United States since World War II have occurred with Third World revolutionary states. What explains the hostility of these states toward the United States? Two dominant views have been that coercive American policy has driven these states to an unwanted, defensive position of hostility, or there has been a spiralling process resulting in significant conflict. This research rejects both views and instead finds the hostility has been much more related to domestic politics in the revolutionary states. Using the cases of Cuba, Iran, and Nicaragua, this research shows that it was the revolutionary elites who first initiated the hostilites. They did so to create a crisis which would mobilize the masses to defeat their former moderate allies in the revolutionary coalition. After the revolutionary states fomented conflict, then the United States engaged these states in a downward spiral of hostility. Thus, international conflict was closely tied to the revolutionary process. Nevertheless, there were certain necessary conditions for these states to externalize their domestic power struggle. This research shows that, in spite of their cultural, ideological, and institutional differences, the Cuban, Iranian, and Nicaraguan revolutions represented one distinct type of revolution tied to one distinct historical pattern of interaction with the United States. In short, this research contributes to our understanding of both conflict between the United States and revolutionary states and the revolutionary process itself.