In the United States, a presidential doctrine is a statement outlined by the president that comprises the stances, attitudes, and stances of the foreign affairs of the country and its primary objective was to end the Cold War. The Reagan Doctrine was issued by President Ronald Reagan in 1985 during his State of the Union address. The American people and the Congress had called upon Reagan to fight and overwhelm the Soviet Union. In his address, Reagan said that the main goal of the doctrine was to work with the allies of the United States and to support those who are fighting against the Soviet Union in order to defeat the aggression it had imposed on people across the globe, and to secure the rights of the people. The Reagan Doctrine borrowed its concept from the Roll-Back strategy that was set up by John Foster Dulles in the 1950s whereby the United States would actively repel the Soviet Union’s influence. However, the Reagan Doctrine differed in the sense that the United States would rebel the influence of the Soviet Union by supporting the states that were against Soviet dominance (1).
Relationship of Nicaragua and the United States before the Reagan Doctrine
The Reagan administration invested much of its resources in supporting armies that were focused on curtailing the influence of the Soviet Union. Nicaragua is a prominent example of the application of the Reagan Doctrine whereby the United States focused on ousting the leftist Sandista government by sponsoring the contra movement (1). Before the Reagan Doctrine was implemented, the United States was concerned about the governance of Nicaragua. The country has been subjected to the Somoza dictatorship and the Sandinista National Liberation Front ousted it and governed the country from 1979-1990.
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While in power, that Sandinista government made many changes to the governance of the country including imposing communism. In 1982, a group was formed comprising of Somoza loyalists and Sandista rebels known as Contra to fight against the Sandista government. The Contra received support from the United States and the countries that were opposed to the government’s communism ideas.On the other hand, the Soviet Union along with its allies supported the Sandinista government. The Contra formed the National Opposition Union Party for the 1990 elections, which was backed by the United States based on the Reagan Doctrine and won the election, removing the Sandinista Government from power (2).
Current Relationship of Nicaragua and the United States
The Party took over power and set up capitalism and pro-U.S. relations (2). Currently, the United States is working on its interests in Nicaragua. The United States hopes to achieve this by helping the country increase its prosperity, democracy and security. However, since the end of the Cold War, the relations of the country with the United States have been interrupted from time to time due to the frequent periods of dictatorships, rebellion and armed conflict that the country has experienced. According to the bilateral relations fact sheet of the United States, the greatest hindrance of collaboration between the two countries is the country’s flawed electoral processes that have enabled President Ortega and the Vice President Murillo, who is his wife, to abuse power. The United States has scolded the actions of Ortega and Murillo strongly in an attempt to reduce their aggression towards democratic actors. It has also moved away foreign aid from the government and redirected it to civil-society groups. Still, the United States remains to be the country with most important economic partner of Nicaragua. It supplies thirty two percent of its imports, buys fifty one percent of its exports, makes twenty percent of its investments, provides nineteen percent of its tourists and sends fifty four percent of its remittances (3).
Regional and Global Effects of the Reagan Doctrine
The Reagan Doctrine led to several events that led to the end of the Soviet Union’s doctrine of communism. In 1989, the Soviet Union stopped occupying Afghanistan, and later Soviet and Vietnam. It further strengthened the position of the United States as the most powerful country. The Doctrine also ended the fears of the escalation of the Cold War to nuclear conflict. The United States did not get casualties given that the American troops did not get involved in the war directly. It was much easier for the United States to arm anti-communist movements that it was for the Soviet Union to maintain its communist regimes. As such, the Reagan Doctrine succeeded in curbing the expansion of the Soviet Union with its Brezhnev doctrine which supported communism (4). The allies of the Soviet Union receded and their governments were modified to embrace capitalism. For instance, in Nicaragua, the Sandista government was removed from power and replaced with the National Opposition Union Party.
Success of the Reagan Doctrine in Nicaragua
With the aid of the United States, the contra, who later formed the National Opposition Union Party, overpowered the Sandista government and removed it from power. The party replaced the communist governance that had been imposed by the Sandista government with capitalist governance. As such, the United achieved its mission of ending the Soviet Union’s communist agenda. Additionally, given that the underlying principle of the Reagan Doctrine is that supporting freedom fighters is the same as self-defense, the United States succeeded in defending itself from being overtaken by the Soviet Union and it continued to be the most powerful country globally. It further strengthened its relations with the new formed government and collaboration between the two governments strengthened. In spite of the frequent periods of dictatorships, rebellion and armed conflict in the country that has interrupted its relationship with the United States, the government of the United States is still working on its interests in the country and it remains to be its number one economic partner.
References
Reagan Doctrine 1985 . U. S. Deaprtment of State. https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/rd/17741.htm
Kevin Santos Flores 2010. The Reason the Reagan Administration Overthrew the Sandinista Government. https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=ohiou1268941542&disposition=inline
U.S. Relations with Nicaragua . U. S. Department of State. https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-nicaragua/
James Scott, 1996. Deciding to Intervene: The Reagan Doctrine and American Foreign Policy . (pp. 79-89). Duke University Press, Cham.
