Fall Finals 2018

Here is the paper’s abstract: 

This paper addresses the conflicting interests of national security and human rights in the Carter Administration’s foreign policy within Central America. I argue that the Carter Administration inherited situations which made for conflicts with Panama and Nicaragua and the United States Congress. I argue that the Cold War mindset and focus on the Soviet Union in Congress further exasperated the situations within Central America. I also argue that the extent to which human rights and the morally-centered foreign policy put forth by the Carter Administration accomplished major goals in human rights can be seen in the example of interactions with Panama and Nicaragua. In examining Panama I argue that the Panama situation is itself an act of moral politics and an accomplishment of a major goal. In examining Nicaragua I argue that human rights was applied as a tool that was both successful and unsuccessful. That Nicaragua while not truly accomplishing a major goal did allow for a showing of the shifted policy. And ultimately, the situation in Nicaraguan is a classic example of tensions within the human rights centered foreign policy and Cold War practices. These arguments are made through an examination of primary sources from Foreign Relations of the United States and memoirs of officials, both of the administration and Nicaragua. The evidence is supported then from an examination of secondary sources including books and newspapers.