Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-8zxtt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-09T05:20:37.509Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Consensus or Crisis? Without Duarte in El Salvador

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Extract

A Lesson of the Reagan years is that a workable consensus between Congress and the presidency is essential to the execution of an effective and sustainable foreign policy. In a democracy, no consensus ever will be absolute; but if there is not at least general agreement on both the goals and the means to be employed, almost any policy is likely to fail. For instance, divisiveness undermined Reagan administration designs on Nicaragua. For a policy to succeed, a workable consensus must precede any long-term commitment of US resources, troops, or prestige.

Furthermore, even if a consensus is achieved, the goals and the means employed to attain them must be realistic. The experience of US policy in Panama exemplifies this. Uniting such diverse figures as neo-conservative Reagan administration official Elliott Abrams, ultra-conservative Senator Jesse Helms, and liberal Senator John Kerry, the US objective of ousting General Noriega enjoyed extensive bipartisan support.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Americas Watch (1988a) Human Rights in El Salvador on the Eve of Elections 1988. New York, NY: Americas Watch Committee (March).Google Scholar
Americas Watch (1988b) Compliance with the Human Rights Provisions of the Central American Peace Plan. New York, NY: Americas Watch Committee (January).Google Scholar
Armed Forces of El Salvador (1986). Campaña ‘Unidos para Reconstruir.’ San Salvador, El Salvador: Armed Forces (August).Google Scholar
Arzobispado de San Salvador (1988a) Debate Nacional 1988. San Salvador, El Salvador: Arzobispado de San Salvador (4 September).Google Scholar
Bacevich, A., Hallums, J., White, R., and Young, T. (1988) American Military Policy in Small Wars: The Case of El Salvador. Cambridge, MA: John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Barry, T. and Preusch, D. (1986) El Salvador: The Other War. Albuquerque, NM: Inter-Hemispheric Education Resource Center.Google Scholar
British Parliamentary Human Rights Group (on Guatemala) (1984) Bitter and Cruel. London, England: British Parliamentary Human Rights Group (November).Google Scholar
Brown, C. (1985) With Friends Like These: The Americas Watch Report on Human Rights and US Policy in Latin America. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.Google Scholar
Diskin, M. (1988) “El Salvador: Reform Prevents Change,” in Thiesenhusen, William C. (ed.) Searching for Agrarian Reform. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Economist (1988) Country Profile, 1988-89: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. London, UK: Economist Intelligence Unit.Google Scholar
Farah, D. (1988a) “Salvadoran Death Squads Threaten Resurgence.” Washington Post (28 August).Google Scholar
Farah, D. (1988b) “Salvadoran Army Announces Changes in Senior Command,” Washington Post (2 July).Google Scholar
Farah, D. (1988c) “El Salvador's Judge in Death Squad Case is Assassinated,” Washington Post (12 May).Google Scholar
Gibb, T. (1988) “Informant: Re-arming Precedes Elections,” Miami Herald (28 August).Google Scholar
Golden, T. (1987) “'Reformed’ Officers Keep Hands Clean—for Now.” Miami Herald (3 August).Google Scholar
Greenberg-Lake (1989) El Salvador National Election Survey. The Analysis Group, Inc.Google Scholar
Hatfield, M., Leach, J., and Miller, G. (1987) Bankrolling Failure: United States Policy in El Salvador and the Urgent Need for Reform. Washington, DC: Arms Control and Foreign Policy Caucus.Google Scholar
LeMoyne, J. (1988a) “Salvador Candidate is Suspected in Misuse of $2 million in US Aid.” New York Times (6 March).Google Scholar
Manwaring, M.G. and Prisk, C.E. (eds.) (1988) El Salvador at War: An Oral History. Washington, DC: National Defense University Press.Google Scholar
Mcswan, A. (1987) “Salvadoran Army Press-Gangs Youth into War.” Reuters International Press Service (27 February).Google Scholar
Mine, D.G., (1988) “Respect for Rights Hasn't Hit Home in El Salvador.” Miami Herald (31 October).Google Scholar
(El) Mundo (San Salvador) (1988a) “Diputados Apoyan a Ochoa.” 30 September: 2.Google Scholar
(El) Mundo (San Salvador) (1988b) ‘“Somos Amigos de los Norteamericanos, pero no subordinates’ dice Ochoa Pérez.” (12 May): 3.Google Scholar
Norton, C. (1987a) “Salvador Ruling Party Battered by Mounting Charges of Corruption.” Christian Science Monitor (10 August).Google Scholar
Norton, C. (1987b) “Salvadoran Army Press-Gangs Youth.” Christian Science Monitor (13 January).Google Scholar
Rivera Damas, A. (1988) “El Clamor por la paz: vision pastoral del drama de El Salvador.” San Salvador, El Salvador: Office of the Archbishop.Google Scholar
Roett, R. and Smyth, F. (1988) Dialogue and Armed Conflict: Negotiating the Civil War in El Salvador. Washington, DC: Johns Hopkins Foreign Policy Institute.Google Scholar
Salaverry, J. (1988) “A Winning US Policy is Needed in El Salvador.Washington, DC: The Heritage Foundation (backgrounder, 20 July).Google Scholar
Smyth, F. (1989) “Outnumbered Salvadoran Rebels use Guile to Maintain Stalemate.” Miami Herald (26 December).Google Scholar
Smyth, F. (1988a) “Major Command Shake-up Likely in Salvadoran Army.” Miami Herald (29 June).Google Scholar
Smyth, F. (1988b) “Elections, Power Split, Leave El Salvador Crippled.” Miami Herald (18 May).Google Scholar
Villalobos, J. (1989) “A Democratic Revolution for El Salvador.” Foreign Policy (Spring).Google Scholar
Waghelstein, J. (1985) El Salvador: Observations and Experiences in Counterinsurgency. Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College (January).Google Scholar
Walker, W. (1989) Briefings given to international press by US Ambassador to El Salvador William Walker, San Salvador, 12 March 1989 and 28 October 1988.Google Scholar
Wall Street Journal (1987) “Corruption Threatens Political Gains Made by US in El Salvador.” (14 September).Google Scholar