MORE LIKE KOREA THAN SUEZ : BRITISH AND AMERICAN INTERVENTION IN THE LEVANT IN 1958

In: Small wars & insurgencies, Band 8, Heft 3, S. 1-24

Abstract

IN JULY 1958 THE UNITED STATES AND THE UNITED KINGDOM SENT INTERVENTION FORCES INTO LEBANON AND JORDAN. THIS ARTICLE EXAMINES THE ATTITUDES, INTENTIONS AND MOTIVES OF THE ACTIVE PARTIES IN THIS INTERVENTION TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE OPERATIONS WERE AN EARLY FORM OF "WIDER PEACEKEEPING," OR A LATE ATTEMPT AT COLONIALISM. IT CONCLUDES THAT THE OPERATIONS IN THE LEVANT IN 1958 CONTRIBUTED TO THE TEMPORARY MAINTENANCE OF RELATIVE PEACE AND STABILITY, BUT CANNOT BE REGARDED AS PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS WITHIN THE ACCEPTED DEFINITION OF "TRADITIONAL PEACEKEEPING." OVERALL, THE AMERICAN AND BRITISH POLITICIANS TOOK A CYNICAL AND INSTRUMENTAL VIEW OF THE UNITED NATIONS. THE U.S. OPERATION WAS CONCERNED WITH COLD WAR PUBLIC RELATIONS. THE BRITISH ACTION WAS AN ATTEMPT AT COLONIALISM, BUT A DECADENT FORM OF LATE COLONIALISM, A NOSTALGIC ADVENTURE WHICH MISFIRED.