Change and continuity in United States efforts at nuclear non-proliferation from 1945 to 2000: Preventing nuclear flows into Korea

This dissertation explores U.S. non-proliferation efforts from 1945 to 2000, focusing on a case in Korea. The research examines the role of perception in U.S. policymaking to prevent nuclear flows into Korea. Four central questions guide the research: What motivated the United States to pursue nuclear non-proliferation from 1945 to 2000? When and why has the United States strengthened or weakened its security policy towards Korea during the same time frame? To what degree did the U.S. policymakers' perception of security interests affect the security policy? How did the security policy impact nuclear flows into Korea?; It is very important to understand the U.S. security policymaking as it applies to a case in Korea. U.S. policymakers dissuaded the South Korean acquisition of nuclear weapons in the 1970s. They mobilized international support to freeze the North Korean nuclear program in the 1990s. In the North Korean case, any mistakes by policymakers could have brought the ‘hot’ region to the brink of a war. Therefore, an understanding of security policymaking is necessary to identify-the patterns of behavior, which managed to avoid a nuclear war.; The theories of nuclear proliferation and the cognitive dimension of decision-making lay the basis to analyze the security policy. The analytical framework relies on foreign policy models: routine situations and bureaucratic politics; crisis situations and presidential politics; extended crisis situations and domestic politics. The research posits the hypothesis that the U.S. policymakers' perception of security interests in Korea influenced the security policy. The role of perception in creating policy will be examined throughout each case, but, an exclusive focus on perception would lead to poor assumptions and weak conclusions due to other factors to affect policymaking. Therefore, it is critical to place perception factors within the larger context of the security/strategic situation.; The research seeks to contribute to the literature and to policy formulation for U.S.-Korean relations. Few studies have examined the role of perception in policy or developed a policy framework with which to approach the subject. This dissertation provides detailed insight into U.S. security policy towards Korea in a policy framework by which perception related to security policy can be assessed.