Structures, Processes, and Communication in the Transformation of the Carter Administration’s Foreign Policy

The enunciation of the Carter Doctrine has been considered a momentous shift not only in the Carter presidency, but also in contemporary U.S. foreign policy.1 While the Middle East had been viewed as a region of strategic interest for the United States by prior administrations, President Carter, for the first time, committed the United States to assuming the responsibility of upholding on its own, and militarily if necessary, American interests and the security of the region against further Soviet encroachment. Many authors have recently emphasized that the Carter Doctrine has served to rationalize and justify increasing American military involvement in the Middle East and continues to dictate America’s strategy for the Persian Gulf region.2 Numerous studies have sought to explain the reasons underlying the change in the Carter administration’s foreign policy, but few have identified the mechanisms driving the change process.