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The Historical Study on US Policy towards the Iraqi Kurds (1961-1975): A Perspective of Offshore Balance

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DOI: 10.23977/jsoce.2022.041002 | Downloads: 13 | Views: 488

Author(s)

Guanqun Ha 1

Affiliation(s)

1 School of Politics and Public Administration, Northwest University of Political Science and Law, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710063, China

Corresponding Author

Guanqun Ha

ABSTRACT

From the early 1960s to the mid-1970s, the U.S policy towards Iraqi Kurds experienced two adjustment, which changed from ignoring the political appeal of the Kurds to aiding the armed forces of Kurdish Democratic Party, and finally abandoning the support towards the causes of Kurdish nationalism. From the perspective of policy change, the white house officials changed the action principle of diplomatic strategy again and again, which led to the policy incoherence. From the perspective of the law of decision-making, the U.S policy towards Iraqi Kurds was closely related to the offshore balance strategy of United State, which emphasize the center of the U.S. key benefits in the Middle East, and the limit of the bilateral relationship between the U.S and the sovereign state. This standpoint determines that U.S policy towards Iraqi Kurds always teeter between the political apathy and the surreptitious intervention. It is also the primary cause of U.S. refusing to support the Kurdish independence.

KEYWORDS

Iraqi kurds, US policy towards Middle East, Offshore balance strategy

CITE THIS PAPER

Guanqun Ha, The Historical Study on US Policy towards the Iraqi Kurds (1961-1975): A Perspective of Offshore Balance. Journal of Sociology and Ethnology (2022) Vol. 4: 8-13. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/jsoce.2022.041002.

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