The Limits and Utility of American Covert Action in the Post-Cold War World: The Long Game

Abstract

This thesis examines how and why did the four post-Cold War American presidents – George H. W. Bush, William Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama – use covert action. It explores the continuity and change in the use of covert action throughout the four administrations, foreign policy and national security-related circumstances and conditions that necessitated the use of covert action, and factors and concepts that influenced these four presidents’ respective decisions to use covert action. The thesis employs a qualitative historical analysis method to analyze key policymakers’ speeches, statements, interviews, and documentary sources, including declassified documents, archival information, memoirs, congressional records, and other first-hand accounts. The analysis focuses on deconstructing how and why certain key events necessitated the use of covert action, rather than merely describing these key events, and explores the fundamental foundational undercurrents that influenced these four presidents’ decisions whether to use covert action.

Date of Award	1 Jun 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	King's College London
Supervisor	Michael Goodman (Supervisor) & Huw Dylan (Supervisor)