The Alternation and Synthesis of Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Containment as Grand Strategy During the Cold War

Abstract

In my thesis, I will analyze the containment policy as a grand strategy of the US during the Cold War. The aim of this analysis is twofold. In the first part, I will deal with the reasons of the Cold War, and will explain Kennan’s revelation concerning the nature of the Soviet power, and, stemming from this, the tenets of containment. The various versions and modes of the implemented containment policies will also be discussed in this section of the thesis, focusing on how the foreign policy of the subsequent cold war presidents can be aligned with the applied forms of containment policy. In the second part of the thesis, the containment policy of the Reagan administration will be examined in detail by concluding that Ronald Reagan’s recognition to synthesize the advantages of the different methods of the containment policy eventually had helped the US win the Cold War.