Post-Cold War Crucible: The International History of the Gulf War
This talk will introduce the themes and arguments of Dan Chardell's current book project, Post-Cold War Crucible: The International History of the Gulf War. Drawing on archival research in English and Arabic, Post-Cold War Crucible uses the struggle for Kuwait as a lens through which to explore contesting American and Arab visions of order and sovereignty at the dawn of the post-Cold War era. It argues that George H. W. Bush’s pursuit of a “new world order” through sanctions and war on Iraq revealed that the multilateral tools designed in 1945 were ill-suited to the hyperconnected world of 1990. The Security Council’s unprecedented sanctions on Iraq triggered cascading transnational crises—food shortages in Iraq and occupied Kuwait, mass displacement across the Middle East, economic turmoil from Eastern Europe to Southeast Asia—for which the UN Charter offered meager guidance. More ironic still, the war fought to uphold the principle of sovereignty in Kuwait wrought a postwar settlement that undercut that same principle in Iraq, where the United States launched haphazard “no-fly zones,” “safe havens” for Iraqi Kurds, and the first iteration of an “oil-for-food” program. Despite Bush’s intentions, these unplanned interventions bolstered an experimental Western doctrine known as the “duty to interfere,” presaging the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine that would revolutionize international relations in the 21st century. Ultimately, there was a great deal that was new, even radical, pulsing through this new world order, but those perched in Washington foresaw little of it when they set out to enact it on a Middle Eastern stage.
About this Lecture
Lectures of Opportunity offers U.S. Naval War College (NWC) students, faculty, and staff an opportunity to learn more about national and international socio-political subjects that may be of relevance to the NWC community.
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