Main Article Content
Abstract
The Vietnam War is known to be one of the longest wars the US has been involved in. Many may have associated the war as just another one of the many proxy wars the US was involved in during the Cold War. However, there is more to learn from the Vietnam War as the recent conflicts the US was involved in, like that in Afghanistan, bore a resemblance to that of the Vietnam War. Hence, to understand the current state of the US, it is important to take a thorough look into the Vietnam War. The article aims to provide explanations to the driving force behind US involvement, its flawed approaches and perception towards its conduct in Vietnam along with the state of realism after the end of the Vietnam War. The article utilizes the qualitative research method along with the realism school of thought to answer the research questions. The result shows that the national interest on power accumulation and national security considerations were the driving force behind the US involvement. Moreover, on the issue of US approaches throughout the war, the reliance on realist values can be attributed as one of the factors that led to the US failure in Vietnam. In regard to realism's fate following the end of the war, it can be seen that the current and foreign policies made after the Vietnam War are still imbued with it.
Keywords
Article Details
References
- Brown, W. (1976). The Last Chopper: The Denouement of the American Role in Vietnam, 1963 - 1975. London: Kennikat Press.
- Bryman, A. (2012). Social research methods (4th ed.). OxfordL Oxford University Press.
- Buzan, B. (2016). People, States and Fear an Agenda for International Security Studies in the Post-Cold War Era. United Kingdom: ECPR Press
- Cawthorne, N. (2010). Vietnam a War Lost and Won. London: Arcturus Publishing Limited.
- Cordesman, A. (2019). The Strategy the U.S. Should Pursue in Iraq. CSIS. Retrieved 10 September 2022, from https://www.csis.org/analysis/strategy-us-should-pursue-iraq
- Dougherty, K., & Stewart, J. (2016). Kronologi Perang Vietnam: Konflik yang Mengguncang Sejarah Perang Amerika. Jakarta: PT Elex Media Komputindo.
- Herr, M. (1991). Dispatches. United States: Vintage Books.
- Hulsman, J. (2021). A US Realist Foreign Policy for the Indo-Pacific. Aspenia Online. Retrieved 8 September 2022, from https://aspeniaonline.it/a-us-realist-foreign-policy-for-the-indo-pacific/
- Jacobs, A. (2014). Realism. In S. Schieder & M. Spindler, Theories of International Relations. New York: Routledge.
- Jørgensen, K. E. (2018). International Relations Theory: A New Introduction (2nd ed.). London: Palgrave.
- Lin, M. (2009). China and the Escalation of the Vietnam War: The First Years of the Johnson Administration. Journal Of Cold War Studies, 11(2), 35-69. https://doi.org/10.1162/jcws.2009.11.2.35
- Manullang, A. J. (2021). Limited War: US Diplomacy Instrument during the Vietnam War. Ir Corner. Retrieved 8 September 2022, from https://www.ircorner.com/limited-war-us-diplomacy-instrument-during-the-vietnam-war/#_ftn1.
- Mearsheimer, J. (2013). Structural Realism. In T. Dunne, M. Kurki & S. Smith, International Relations Theories Discipline and Diversity (3rd ed.). OxfordL Oxford University Press.
- Noack, R. (2020). Here’s what might happen if the U.S. were to suddenly quit Iraq. The Washington Post. Retrieved 10 September 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/01/09/heres-what-might-happen-if-us-were-suddenly-quit-iraq/
- Resky, M. (2015). Kegagalan Politik Luar Negeri Amerika Serikat di Vietnam, 1965 - 1975. Yogyakarta: Deepublish Publisher.
- Schuman, F. (1969). International Politics Anarchy and Order in the World Society. Tokyo: Tosho Printing Co., Ltd.
- Shapcott, R. (2014). International Ethics. In J. Baylis, S. Smith & P. Owens, The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Politics (6th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Šimko, J. (2019). Vietnam War - The New Aspect of Warfare. International Conference KNOWLEDGE-BASED ORGANIZATION, 25(1), 144-149. https://doi.org/10.2478/kbo-2019-0024
- Turse, N. (2013). Kill Anything that Moves: the Real American War in Vietnam. New York: Metropolitan Books.
- Utama, B., Pattipeilhy, S., & Windiani, D. (2019). Towards Perpetual Peace: The Dynamics of US and Vietnam Relations Since The Settlement of Agent Orange Case in 2000. Global: Jurnal Politik Internasional, 21(2), 198. https://doi.org/10.7454/global.v21i2.394
- Wicker, T. (1991). Ghosts of Vietnam. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 10 September 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/26/opinion/in-the-nation-ghosts-of-vietnam.html.
- Windrow, M. (2003). The French Indochina War 1964 - 54. China: Osprey Publishing.