The United States’ foreign policy and enabling interstate aggression : a case study of the Moroccan annexation of the Western Sahara

Abstract

The thesis is a study of the Moroccan state’s actions and rhetoric surrounding the Western Sahara and the role of US foreign policy as a motivating factor in the Moroccan annexation and ongoing administration of this territory. This study focuses on the consequences of the Trump administration’s recognition of Morocco’s annexation of the Western Sahara and acknowledgment of the Moroccan Autonomy Plan for the region. It combines a historical study with an inter-state comparison. In analyzing actions taken on the part of the Moroccan state and the United States, this study incorporates aspects of critical constructivist and postcolonial schools of thought as well as a theoretical understanding of settler colonialism to understand their contemporary manifestations in the Western Sahara. This also incorporates analysis of the history of colonial extractivism inherent to this region’s administration. This is done to understand whether or not United States foreign policy constitute an instigator of interstate conflicts. To conduct this analysis, this study analyzes behaviors taken on the part of the Moroccan state after the United States’ acknowledgment of Moroccan control of the Western Saharan territory during the Trump administration. This study also contextualizes the United States interventionalism during the period of the Cold War and its adherence to Realist theory in positioning itself internationally for its own interests.