In the immediate post-Cold War period, as the security rationale for the U.S. embargo disappeared, the United States tightened rather than eased sanctions on Cuba. This dissertation focuses on the competition between Congress and the executive for control of policy towards Cuba, and the domestic interests which shaped policymaking and led to the passage of two major pieces of legislation fiercely resisted by U.S. allies. The dissertation begins with an analysis of U.S. policy towards Cuba in the summer of 1989, before the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. Five days of congressional hearings called by Representative George Crockett (D.Michigan) in his attempt to spark a reassessment of relations between the two countries form the basis for a review of policy over the preceding thirty years. The first chapter will also introduce the Cuban American National Foundation, the pre-eminent domestic interest group in U.S. policy towards Cuba in 1989-1996, and the U.S. campaign to have Cuba condemned for human rights violations at the United Nations Human Right Commission. The second chapter examines the policy debate in 1989-1992, focusing on the provision of information to Cubans, the intensification of economic sanctions, and the continuation of the human rights campaign. The third chapter analyses the role of migration from Cuba to the United States between 1959-1992, arguing the main objective of U.S. policy. Chapter four looks at continuity and change under the Clinton administration, and in particular at the administration’s handling of the rafter (migration) crisis of 1994 and the resulting agreements reached with the Cuban government. The primary focus of the fifth chapter will be the struggle between the executive and Congress over the Helms-Burton legislation, signed by Clinton in March 1996.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:599383 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Gibbs, J. F. |
| Publisher | University of Cambridge |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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