American counterinsurgency doctrine and El Salvador : the frustrations of reform and the illusions of nation building / Benjamin C. Schwarz.

By:

Schwarz, Benjamin C [author.]

Contributor(s):

Publisher: Santa Monica, CA : RAND, 1991Description: xviii, 106 pages ; 23 cmContent type:

text

Media type:

computer
unmediated

Carrier type:

online resource
volume

ISBN:

0833012185

Subject(s):

LOC classification:

UA23 .S368 1991

Online resources:

Online Access

Available additional physical forms:

Also available on the internet via WWW in PDF format.

Summary: This report assesses the political and social dimensions of American counterinsurgency policy in El Salvador. It attempts to explain why low-intensity-conflict doctrine has not produced the desired results and to reassess that doctrine's future utility. The author's appraisal of U.S. involvement in El Salvador leads him to conclude that there is a vast disparity between U.S. objectives and achievements there. For a decade, U.S. policy toward El Salvador tried to synthesize liberal and conservative aims: foster political, social, and economic reform, and provide security to a country whose freedom from communism the United States deemed essential. In attempting to reconcile these objectives, however, the United States pursued a policy that used means unsettling to itself, for ends humiliating to the Salvadorans, and at a cost disproportionate to any conventional conception of the national interest.

Item type:

Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)

Holdings ( 0 )
Title notes ( 5 )

No physical items for this record

"National Defense Research Institute"--Cover.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-106).

This report assesses the political and social dimensions of American counterinsurgency policy in El Salvador. It attempts to explain why low-intensity-conflict doctrine has not produced the desired results and to reassess that doctrine's future utility. The author's appraisal of U.S. involvement in El Salvador leads him to conclude that there is a vast disparity between U.S. objectives and achievements there. For a decade, U.S. policy toward El Salvador tried to synthesize liberal and conservative aims: foster political, social, and economic reform, and provide security to a country whose freedom from communism the United States deemed essential. In attempting to reconcile these objectives, however, the United States pursued a policy that used means unsettling to itself, for ends humiliating to the Salvadorans, and at a cost disproportionate to any conventional conception of the national interest.

Also available on the internet via WWW in PDF format.

Description based on print version record.