Publications
Publications
- November 2021
- Diplomatic History
The Nixon Doctrine and the Making of Authoritarianism in Island Southeast Asia
By: Mattias Fibiger
Abstract
This article argues that the Nixon Doctrine was an instrument of authoritarianization in island Southeast Asia. It traces the formulation of the Nixon Doctrine and its implementation through foreign aid decisions, revealing that President Richard Nixon and his chief foreign policy aide Henry Kissinger overrode countervailing opinions within the foreign policy bureaucracy to fashion the doctrine into a vehicle of authoritarian entrenchment. It also charts the effects of the Nixon Doctrine, showing how American aid enabled national leaders in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia to shrink the domestic constituencies upon which state power depended and construct and consolidate authoritarian regimes.
Keywords
Diplomacy; Foreign Aid; Authoritarianism; Geopolitics; Nixon; International Relations; Policy; History; Southeast Asia; United States
Citation
Fibiger, Mattias. "The Nixon Doctrine and the Making of Authoritarianism in Island Southeast Asia." Diplomatic History 45, no. 5 (November 2021): 954–982.