Containment with a new face: United States foreign policy in the Caspian, 1989--2000

The United States seized upon the opportunity presented with the end of the Cold War to engage in a high-yield, low-cost strategy to limit potential future threats from Russia. To accomplish this, the U.S. expanded its sphere of influence into areas hitherto controlled by Russia and then engaged in a strategic policy designed to contain Russia. The U.S. employed this strategic policy in order to keep Russia behind the rolled-back borders set in place with the collapse of the Soviet Union and to limit Russia's ability to reestablish its empire.; This dissertation examines four cases of U.S.-Russia interactions from 1989 through 2000. The cases are: economic aid to the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and the changing nature of that aid; the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program (Nunn-Lugar); NATO's eastward expansion and the related development of the Partnership for Peace (PfP), and Caspian oil and the pipeline issues. This dissertation argues that these cases demonstrate a United States' strategic and foreign policy aimed at a containment of Russia.