닉슨 행정부의 걸프지역 균형정책 폐기와 역내 도서 영유권 갈등

Nixon's Termination of Balancing Policy and Territorial Disputes over Islands in the Gulf

This article attempts to examine the impacts of power transition from the United Kingdom to the United States on regional stability of the Gulf on the basis of structural realism. In this regard, the Nixon administration terminated British balancing policy whose purpose was to maintain equilibrium between Iran and Saudi Arabia. American government supported Iranian preponderance under the Nixon Doctrine. However, this strategy instigated Iranian aspiration to dominate the Gulf region, thus resulting in the intensification of the territorial disputes over Islands such as the Tunbs and Abu Musa. To prevent conflicts among Iran, Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah, several proposals of mediation were presented. However, the agreement for peace couldn't be accomplished. Consequently, Iran occupied the Tunbs by dispatching military forces and dominated the northern parts of Abu Musa by dividing the Island into two sections. All things considered, the territorial disputes over the Islands during the Nixon administration can be seen as a historical case which reveals the impacts of structural changes on international relations in the Gulf.