| ID | 109176 |
| Title Proper | Why has the United States not bombed Iran? The domestic politics of America's response to Iran's nuclear programme |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Oren, Ido |
| Publication | 2011. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | Why has the United States (US), under both the Bush and Obama administrations, refrained from attacking Iran even though US officials have depicted the Iranian threat in all but apocalyptic terms and even though a loud chorus in Washington has been persistently calling for a preventive strike against Iran? I present an analysis-informed by Graham Allison's famous bureaucratic politics model-of the main political and bureaucratic forces in Washington acting to promote or impede a preventive attack on Iran's nuclear sites. I argue that America's abstention from attacking Iran should be understood not as a coherent national response to Iran's nuclear programme but rather as (in Allison's terms) an 'intra-national political outcome' resulting from the 'pulling' of 'Iran Threat' interests-primarily Vice President Cheney's camp in the Bush White House, members of Congress, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)-and the countervailing 'hauling' of the Pentagon, the military's top brass, the intelligence community and the Department of State. The main reason why neither the Bush nor the Obama administration has opted for a military strike is that the 'haulers', who were led by a formidable bureaucratic-political player, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, have had the upper hand over the hawkish 'pullers'. |
| `In' analytical Note | Cambridge Review of International Affairs Vol. 24, No. 4; Dec 2011: p.659-684 |
| Journal Source | Cambridge Review of International Affairs Vol. 24, No. 4; Dec 2011: p.659-684 |
| Key Words | United States ; Obama Administration ; Iran ; Nuclear Programme ; Domestic Politics ; Cheney |