National and International Security

Policing Northern Ireland: A Question of Primacy (A)

Publication Date: January 1, 1993

How can normal social order be kept in a country racked by political disorder? This case describes the extreme difficulties faced by the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Northern Ireland as it struggles to define its role in a society divided by...

The Reagan Administration and Lebanon

Publication Date: January 01, 1988

When Israel invaded Lebanon in June 1982, the United States became deeply involved: first by sending a special envoy to broker a withdrawal of PLO forces from Beirut (a withdrawal supervised in part by US marines); then by helping Christian...

The Indian Ocean Negotiations

Publication Date: January 01, 1988

In June 1977, US and Soviet negotiators met in Moscow for the first round of talks on arms control in the Indian Ocean. Over the preceding decade, the growing political importance of that area had led both nations to establish a limited naval...

The Reykjavik Summit: Watershed or Washout?

Publication Date: January 01, 1988

On October 11 and 12, 1986, at Reykjavik, Iceland, Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan met for the second time. The issues they intended to address--nuclear arms reductions, the future relationship of...

Fall of the Shah of Iran

Publication Date: January 01, 1988

In the first months of 1979, the Shah of Iran-on whom successive American administrations had relied as a pillar of strength in a strategic and turbulent region-fell from power. Less than a year earlier, no analyst, inside or outside government,...

Internal & External Corruption in the Philippines' Tax System (A)

Publication Date: January 01, 1986

In an effort to weed out corruption in the government, President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines fired 2,000 government officials suspected of corruption, among them the commissioner of revenue, in the fall of 1975. That September, Marcos...

Managing NATO's Nuclear Business: The December 1979 Decision (B)

Publication Date: January 01, 1984

This case chronicles the series of events that led the United States and its NATO allies to decide, in December 1979, to deploy new nuclear missiles in Western Europe that were capable of striking the Soviet Union. Part A provides background on...

Wage and Price Controls (A): The Debate in 1980

Publication Date: January 01, 1983

When inflation reached 18 percent in 1980, a groundswell of public opinion clamored for mandatory wage and price controls. President Carter steadfastly refused, citing consensus among government leaders and economists that America's previous...

Americanizing the Vietnam War

Publication Date: January 01, 1983

In 1964-65, the United States made a series of decisions that culminated in the commitment of large ground forces to South Vietnam for sustained offensive action. President Johnson thus effectively took over the defense of South Vietnam. This...

Korea and the Thirties (B)

Publication Date: January 01, 1980

On June 25, 1950, the US Ambassador to the Republic of Korea received an alarming call from his deputy chief, E.F. Drumright, warning him that the communists were hitting along the front. The invasion caught the Republic of Korea and its...

Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs

Publication Date: January 01, 1998

In April 1961, President Kennedy denied US military assistance to a force of CIA-trained Cuban exiles attacking Cuba, thus sealing the fate of the Bay of Pigs invasion. When the losses had been tallied, 114 exiles were dead, Castro was left with...

The Coming of the Cold War

Publication Date: January 01, 1976

In February 1947, the Truman administration received a pair of urgent requests: to replace Britain as the supporter of the Greek government, which was beleaguered by Soviet-backed leftist guerillas; and to bolster Turkey against Soviet...