Squilibri di potenza, conflitti regionali e competizione bipolare: le sfide agli interessi di sicurezza statunitensi nel Golfo Persico negli anni di Carter e di Reagan

The research work analyzes U.S. security policy in the Persian Gulf region during the Carter and Reagan administrations. In the State of the Union Address of January 1980, President Carter declared that “an attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force”. Among historians it is now widely acknowledged that Carter enacted a revolutionary change in the regional strategy security of the United States, assuming that the United States would no longer delegate to others the military responsibility of the defence of American interests in the Persian Gulf. The research work, based on extensive examination of U.S. published and unpublished documents, is aimed at comprehending the origins of Carter’s commitment to the Persian Gulf region and at assessing the outcome of such a commitment.