This dissertation proposes to examine the conspiracy narratives of Don DeLillo, Joan Didion, and Leslie Marmon Silko that retell American experience with the Cold War and its culture of paranoia for the last half of the twentieth century. Witnessing the resurgence of Cold War paranoia and its dramatic twilight during the period from late 70s to mid-80s and the sudden advent of the post-Cold War era that has provoked a volatile mixture of euphoria and melancholia, the work of DeLillo, Didion, and Silko explores the changing mode of Cold War paranoid epistemology and contemplates its conditions of narrative possibility in the post-Cold War era. From his earlier novels such as Players, The Names, and Mao II to his latest novel about 9/11 Falling Man, DeLillo has interrogated how the American paradigm of paranoid national self-fashioning envisioned by Cold War liberals stands up to its equally paranoid post-Cold War nemesis, terrorism. In his epic dramatization of Cold War history in Underworld, DeLillo mythologizes the doomed sense of paranoid connectivity and collective belonging experienced during the Cold War era. In doing so, DeLillo attempts to contain the uncertainty and instability of the post-Cold War or what Francis Fukuyama calls "post-historical" landscape of global cognitive mapping within the nostalgically secured memory of the American crowd who had lived the paranoid history of the Cold War. In her novels that investigate the history of American involvements in the Third World from Eisenhower through Kennedy to Reagan, Didion employs the minimalist narrative style to curb, extenuate, or condense the paranoid narratives of Cold War imperial romance most recently exemplified in the Iran-Contra conspiracy. In her latest Cold War romance novel The Last Thing He Wanted, Didion reassesses her earlier narrative tactic of "calculated ellipsis" employed in A Book of Common Prayer and Democracy and seeks to commemorate individual romances behind the spectacles of Cold War myth of frontier. Departing from the rhetoric of "hybrid patriotism" in Ceremony, a Native American story of spiritual healing and lyricism that works to appease white paranoia and guilt associated with the atomic bomb, Silko in Almanac of the Dead seeks to subvert the paranoid regime of Cold War imperialism inflicted upon Native Americans and Third World subjects by mobilizing alternative conspiracy narratives from the storytelling tradition of Native American spirituality. Silko?s postnational spiritual conspiracy gestures toward a global cognitive mapping beyond the American Cold War paradigm of "paranoid oneworldedness".

While the Cold War in Latin America has been examined from a variety of angles, the scholarship on Soviet-Latin American relations is thin, outdated, and based almost totally on published sources. Moreover, much of the literature is replete with misconceptions about the nature of the Soviet approach to the Western Hemisphere and the relationship between Moscow and its regional allies. Using a case study approach, and based on substantial research in the archives of the former Soviet Union, this dissertation argues that Moscow’s approach to Latin America was more cautious and pragmatic than ideological and messianic. Rather than attempting to extend their control over the region, the Soviets instead sought to pry Latin American regimes away from dependence on the United States and to encourage the region to adopt a non-aligned foreign policy. To a degree heretofore not sufficiently appreciated, this approach involved the clever use of international organizations, particularly the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement. Moreover, Latin American communists and Soviet sympathizers were hugely influential in shaping Moscow’s perceptions of the region and its relationship to the United States, and in pressuring Soviet leaders to provide more support to their regional allies. / text

The purpose of this study is to examine how the Swedish Young Conservatives related to Vietnam issue between 1965 and 1973 by studying the organization's own newspaper with the method qualitative text analysis as described in Esaiasson et al. (2007). In the absence of previous research which has studied the same topic we have chosen to relate the results of this study to previous studies, that have dealt with Svenska Dagbladet´s attitude to the Vietnam war, as it is the most well known conservative Swedish newspaper and can thus be considered representative of the conservative press in Sweden. In order to achieve the aim, we studied the association's view on the Vietnam conflict, on American policy and on the Swedish Government's policy as well as on Vietnam issue as discussed in Swedish public opinion.The results shows that Swedish Young Conservatives retains a positive image of the United States  for almost the entire investigation period, when the United States is seen as the good party in the conflict and as a symbol for democracy and freedom. A new and more negative image of the United States is emerging in 1972. The conflict is seen as the United States fight against communism until 1972, when a reassessment of the conflict takes place and the United States presence in Vietnam is beginning to be questioned. The result also shows that the Swedish Young Consevatives remains critical of the Government's policy of Vietnam during the entire investigation period, in line with the moderate party. Key words: Vietnam War, Swedish Young Conservatives, Swedish conservative press, Swedish foreign politics.

In 1952 Turkey was invited to become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. This study examines the context of the Turkish demand for an American security guarantee and of American and British security interests in the Eastern Mediterranean in the late 1940s in the light of Cold War developments. The postwar weakness of Great Britain, who had until then guarantied the status quo in the area induced Ankara to tum to the United States as a guarantor of Turkish political independence and territorial integrity against a powerful Soviet Union. The Turks asked for a formal alliance with the Americans, but this proved to be a difficult task. In the eyes of American military and State Department officials Turkey was a barrier against Soviet penetration in the Middle East. Hence, it was thought necessary to strengthen her resistance to the Soviets through the provision of American military aid. However,, Washington was reluctant to stretch the United States' resources by extending its commitments to this area which was still thought to be a British military responsibility. Britain for her part responded to Turkish demands in accordance with her general interests in the Middle East. London regarded Turkey as a part of Middle East defence: hence, it favoured an American commitment to Turkey, but mainly as a means of getting the Americans involved in the area as a whole. The evolution of American military thinking regarding Europe and the Middle East in 1951, made Washington to revise its policies towards Ankara. The realisation of Turkey's importance for the organisation of defence both in Western Europe and the Middle East along with the fear that Turkey might turn neutral in the event of a conflict with the Soviet Union induced the Americans to meet Turkish demands in what appeared to be the easiest way, that is, inviting Turkey to join the Atlantic Alliance. The study concludes that in the late 1940s Ankara followed a pragmatic foreign policy. Turkish leaders had a clear perception of their country's interests and were particularly alert at exploiting the circumstances which would promote them. In contrast, the foreign policy of the United States towards the Eastern Mediterranean was still developing and lacked the determination of a great power. Britain, on the other hand, continued to plan like a great power although it was obvious that she was not in a position to do so any more.

The thesis analyses Britain's political involvement in Bulgaria during 1943 - 1949. It explores Britain's motives for seeking increased influence in the country and traces the most significant British attempts to shape Bulgarian politics. It examines British strategic decisions and diplomatic activities in Bulgaria against the background of the evolving domestic political situation and of Soviet objectives in the Balkans. Evidence from British archives is tested against recently released Bulgarian and Russian sources. The study clarifies problems central to the interpretation of post-war Bulgarian developments and addresses the question of British attitudes to the whole of Eastern Europe. Bulgaria's marginal place in British political and military thinking is found to be at odds with the country's recognised strategic importance. Towards the end of the Second World War, Bulgaria attracted the attention of the British Government occasionally, mostly in the context of broader regional issues such as that of the Balkan Federation. Although the realisation of limited capabilities to influence Bulgarian developments coloured Britain's wartime approach, never did British policy makers disavow interest in Bulgarian affairs. The research establishes that in the armistice period British policy towards Bulgaria was overwhelmingly governed by traditional geopolitical factors. These focused around Bulgaria's potential military threat of British imperial positions in the Eastern Mediterranean and overshadowed any proclaimed British commitment to democracy. Britain's priorities were complicated by the emerging Cold War as a Soviet-dominated Bulgaria was perceived as a springboard for Communist penetration of Europe. Ironically, British unwillingness to challenge Soviet influence in the northern Balkans exacerbated the very dangers Britain was striving to alleviate. Wavering British support for the Bulgarian anti-Communist Opposition only served to expose Britain's weaknesses and further antagonise the Soviet Union. This engendered continuous restraint and gradually led to the isolation of Britain from Bulgarian politics after British recognition of the Bulgarian Communist Government in 1947.

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Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Law, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 269-293).