På skilda breddgrader - USA:s interventionspolitik i Korea och Vietnam på 1960-talet

Sammanfattning: This comparative case study examines American foreign policy in Korea and Vietnam after the agreements of armistice in 1953 and 1954. During the 1960’s the United States increased its military presence in Vietnam. In Korea however, the US did not intervene after the agreement of armistice. The study aims to explain why the US chose two different approaches from a neoclassical realist perspective. It seeks systemic explanations, as well as explanations related to state capacity and the American decision makers’ perception of the power relations. The result shows that structural explanations were not enough to explain the differences in the US policy. However, the South Vietnamese state was less capable of withstanding external threats than the South Korean. Moreover, the South Vietnamese army was inferior to the North Vietnamese, while the South Korean was superior to its northern counterpart. These factors can explain the American decision to intervene in South Vietnam while reducing its military presence in South Korea.