Justifying jihad: US politics, propaganda and the Afghan mujahedeen

dc.check.date10000-01-01
dc.check.embargoformatBoth hard copy thesis and e-thesisen
dc.check.entireThesisEntire Thesis Restricted
dc.check.infoIndefiniteen
dc.check.opt-outYesen
dc.check.reasonThis thesis is due for publication or the author is actively seeking to publish this materialen
dc.contributor.advisorRyan, Daviden
dc.contributor.authorFitzgibbon, Jacqueline
dc.contributor.funderIrish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciencesen
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-14T15:38:38Z
dc.date.issued2015
dc.date.submitted2015
dc.description.abstractHard-line anti-communists in the United States recognised the potential for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 to embroil their super-power rival in a ‘Vietnam-like quagmire.’ Their covert operation to arm the mujahedeen is well documented. This dissertation argues that propaganda and public diplomacy were powerful and essential instruments of this campaign. It examines the protagonists of this strategy, their policies, initiatives and programmes offering a comprehensive analysis heretofore absent. It stretches from the dying days of the Carter administration when Zbigniew Brzezinski saw the ‘opportunity’ presented by the invasion to the Soviet’s withdrawal in 1989. The aim of these information strategies was to damage Soviet credibility and enhance that of the US, considered under threat from growing ‘moral equivalence’ amongst international publics. The conflict could help the US regain strategic advantage in South Asia undermined by the ‘loss’ of Iran. The Reagan administration used it to justify the projection of US military might that it believed was eviscerated under Carter and emasculated by the lingering legacy of Vietnam. The research engages with source material from the Reagan Presidential Library, the United States Information Agency archives and the Library of Congress as well as a number of online archives. The material is multi-archival and multi-media including documentaries, booklets, press conferences, summit programmes and news-clips as well as national security policy documents and contemporaneous media commentary. It concludes that propaganda and public diplomacy were integral to the Reagan administration and other mujahedeen supporters’ determination to challenge the USSR. It finds that the conflict was used to justify military rearmament, further strategic aims and reassert US power. These Cold War machinations had a considerable impact on the course of the conflict and undermined efforts at resolution and reconciliation with profound implications for the future stability of Afghanistan and the world.en
dc.description.statusNot peer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Version
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationFitzgibbon, J. 2015. Justifying jihad: US politics, propaganda and the Afghan mujahedeen. PhD Thesis, University College Cork.en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/2141
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherUniversity College Corken
dc.rights© 2015. Jacqueline Fitzgibbonen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/en
dc.subjectUS foreign policyen
dc.subjectAfghanistanen
dc.subjectReaganen
dc.subjectSoviet invasionen
dc.subject1980sen
dc.subjectCarteren
dc.subjectCold Waren
dc.subjectPropagandaen
dc.subjectNeo-conservativeen
dc.subjectPublic diplomacyen
dc.thesis.opt-outtrue
dc.titleJustifying jihad: US politics, propaganda and the Afghan mujahedeenen
dc.typeDoctoral thesisen
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoralen
dc.type.qualificationnamePhD (Arts)en
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