US Foreign Policy Making Process : Comparative Analysis of Gulf Wars (1991-2003)

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the US foreign policy decision making process during the gulf war 1991 and Iraq war 2003. By taking these two gulf war as case study for this research US foreign policy has been critically analyzed. With this research an attempt has been made to answer these central questions, 1- why G. H. W. bush did not remove saddam from power in 1991 and the J.W. Bush administration remove saddam Hussein from power in 2003?And 2- to discuss the US foreign policy decision making process prior to the conduct of these two wars. The role of major players influencing the US foreign policy has been discussed with the application of rational actor model to further examine the rationale behind US foreign policy decisions. This thesis also examines the shift in US foreign policy from post cold war era to post 9/11 era. In this thesis official discourse and documents has been used as reference prior to 1991 and 2003 gulf wars. Purpose of this research is to explore how foreign policy decisions are made and the rationale behind those decisions.