عنوان

Atoms for Peace, US foreign policy and the globalization of nuclear technology, 1953--1960

Country Code

IR

Number

457T

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Country of publication

IR

Title Proper

Atoms for Peace, US foreign policy and the globalization of nuclear technology, 1953--1960

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

Subsequent Statement of Responsibility

;supervisor: Wittner, Lawrence S.

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

State University of New York at Albany: United States -- New York

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

: 2011

Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item

299 pages

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Body granting the degree

, State University of New York at Albany: United States -- New York

Text of Note

This dissertation analyzes the bilateral agreements for cooperation on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy enacted under President Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace program from 1953 to 1960. It challenges previous representations of Atoms for Peace that depict it as a legitimate attempt at arms control or dismiss it as a mere propaganda campaign. Atoms for Peace was not intended to be a disarmament measure. Instead, it united nuclear, economic, and foreign policy objectives in a synergistic program intended to fulfill a number of postwar aims: blunting nuclear fears in order to quiet criticisms of the American nuclear project, supporting postwar development projects while encouraging American businesses, and cementing old alliances while creating new ones. Using case studies of U.S. relations with nations around the globe, I argue that the bilateral agreements and the resulting technology exchanges denote an important shift in U.S. foreign policy in the mid-1950s. They represent a new atomic diplomacy that remade the political and technological map through the export of knowledge, fissionable material and equipment.Although Eisenhower was the instigator of the program that became known as Atoms for Peace, he is surprisingly absent from this dissertation. He quickly delegated responsibility for the program to the Atomic Energy Commission and the State Department. Key decisions were made at the staff level. When they were involved in setting Atoms for Peace policy, with a few exceptions Eisenhower, John Foster Dulles, and the National Security Council chose among a limited set of options drawn up by their staffs.Along with highlighting the role of mid-level bureaucrats in formulating nuclear power policy, this dissertation shows that the policy process was complicated by the multiple aims and aspirations of the participants. US officials hoped that the propagandistic potential for Atoms for Peace would shore up American authority and influence worldwide but nations in Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America made use of American aid in unpredicted ways to stake out their own claims to techno-political power, challenging US dominance in the process. Motivated by considerations of propaganda and spurred by techno-utopianism, members of the Eisenhower Administration sought to make civilian nuclear technology an ideological, political, and economic tool of foreign policy. But the international market for nuclear technology which emerged as a result would prove to be an unpredictable and often unwieldy instrument of foreign policy.

American history

World History

Modern history

International Relations

Subject Term

Cold War

Subject Term

Eisenhower

Subject Term

Dwight D.

Subject Term

Foreign policy

Subject Term

Nuclear reactors

Subject Term

Nuclear weapons

Subject Term

Propaganda

Subject Term

Nuclear technology

Subject Term

Globalization

Subject Term

Atoms for Peace

Subject Term

United States

Drogan, Mara

Wittner, Lawrence S., supervisor

Country

ایران

Date and Hour of Consultation and Access

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