An account of U.S. policy from the Sandinista revolution through the Iran-contra scandal and beyond. Sklar shows how the White House sabotaged peace negoatiations and sustained the deadly contra war despite public opposition, with secret U.S. special forces and an auxiliary arm of dictators, drug smugglers and death squad godfathers, and illuminates an alternative policy rooted in law and democracy.

Using a comparative case study method, Scott examines the historical, intellectual, and ideological origins of the Reagan Doctrine as it was applied to Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Mozambique, and Ethiopia. Scott draws on many previously unavailable government documents and a wide range of primary material to show both how this policy in particular, and American foreign policy in general, emerges from the complex, shifting interactions between the White House, Congress, bureaucratic agencies, and groups and individuals from the private sector."--

'It is riveting. Ryan provides us with one of the best accounts of the Raegan-era foreign policy available, dealing with a portion of history that took place in Central America in the Eighties. For future historians of the Cold War, Ryan's book will be a necessary point of reference.' - Bernardo Sepulveda Amor US-Sandinista Diplomatic Relations examines the reasons why agreement was not reached between the United States and Nicaragua between 1979 and 1990. The traditional US hegemonic approach to the region was applied to the Sandinista revolutionary government which the Reagan administration wanted out of power. Washington's responses to the various attempts at finding a diplomatic solution were to block agreement where possible, but concurrently demonstrate support for diplomacy to encourage Congressional support for the ongoing low intensity conflict.