Running head: THE REAGAN DOCTRINE’S EFFECTS ON MANY COUNTRIES 1
The Reagan Doctrine’s Effects on Many Countries
Anthony Baker
Strayer University
Contemp Intl Problems
POL300
Professor John Cronin
September 1, 2013
THE REAGAN DOCTRINE’S EFFECTS ON MANY COUNTRIES 2
The Reagan Doctrine’s Effects on Many Countries
The Reagan Doctrine, enacted by President Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) during his
presidency, was the foreign policy in the United States of America used to eliminate communist
governments in such areas as Asia, Africa, and Latin America. (Roskin & Berry, 2010, p. 58)
This doctrine provided support, both open and private, to guerrilla and resistance movements in
countries with Soviet support. The Reagan Doctrine shifted the focus from simply containing
communism to eliminating existing communist governments and encouraging capitalism and
democracy. The Reagan Doctrine was seen as an expansion of President Jimmy Carter’s
philosophy in 1979 when he gave aide to Afghanistan in an effort to defeat Soviet forces.
The United States government organized a terror war and economic blockade against
Nicaragua beginning in 1981. The Reagan Doctrine gave the United States legal rights to
opening fund the Contra Terrorist War. To the Reagan administration, Nicaragua was a
Communist state which threatened the security of its neighbors in Central America. It was
looking to the administration much like Cuba with Soviet influences. Ronald Reagan, backed by
his doctrine, launched a large scale terrorist war against Nicaragua, combined with an even more
lethal economic warfare. Other countries were intimidated by the government of the United
States so that they would not send any aid leaving the government in Nicaragua limited to its
own scarce resources. (Lagon, 1994, Chapter 7)
The success of the Sandinista reforms terrified the U. S. government. The United States
launched a three step attack against Nicaragua and their supporters. The World Bank and Inter-
American Development Bank had been involved in several projects in Nicaragua at the time.
(Model, Chapter 4) The Reagan administration pressured both banks to stop any and all projects
they were involved in and seize any form of assistance they were offering.
THE REAGAN DOCTRINE’S EFFECTS ON MANY COUNTRIES 3
Secondly, the Reagan administration launched the Contra War along with, according to
the United Nations, an illegal economic war. The contras were funded in part by the selling of U.
S. arms to Iran. Later, this became known globally as the Iran-Contra Affair. (Glazov, 2002, p.
23) The contras devastated the Sandinistas by forcing them to use the already scarce resources
for war efforts, taking away from social programs. Unlike in the past, the United States refused
to send disaster relief aide when Hurricane Joan destroyed the area. By pressuring the allies of
the United States, the Reagan administration made sure that very little aide was sent to help the
citizens of Nicaragua and the surrounding areas.
Finally, diplomatic fakery was used by the U. S. government to somewhat trick
Nicaragua into making poor decisions. Many promises were published in well-respected media
outlets in regards to the peace plan of August 1987 and the scheduled national elections to come.
The Nicaraguan government did what was required under the peace plan, while no one else paid
any attention to the plan what so ever. The United States of American and the Reagan
administration never had any intention of following any part of the 1987 peace plan. Instead, the
United States actually tripled CIA supply flights to the contra. Within a couple of months, the
peace plan, which Nicaragua placed tremendous hope upon, was completely dead.
As the elections opened, the Reagan administration let it be known to the entire world
that the funding of the contra war and the embargos suffocating the country would continue if the
Sandinistas won the upcoming election. (Glazov, 2002) The U. S. were determined to stand their
ground regardless of the collective opinions of the remainder of the world. Impressively, the
Sandinistas still received an astonishing forty percent of the vote but the Reagan administration
took victory in the fact that the Sandinistas lost governmental control.
THE REAGAN DOCTRINE’S EFFECTS ON MANY COUNTRIES 4
Many give credit to the Reagan doctrine for allowing the seamlessly endless Cold War to
finally find closure. Although much good had come from the efforts which the doctrine allowed
to happen, many people around the world gained insight to the lengths the United States was
willing to go to in order to fulfill the needs of the country and administration. The sales of arms
to Iran, with the profits adverted to the contras, was made possible by way of the controversial
Reagan doctrine. (Garthoff, 1994) As described, much good has been brought to the U. S. and the
world as a direct result of the doctrine which sped up the fall of communism. Unfortunately,
along with the good, much negativity came to be as a result of the Reagan doctrine also. The
contras in Nicaragua, which the Reagan administration and United States openly funded, were
found to engage in illegal activities, such as drug trafficking and violating basic human rights of
