Araştırma Makalesi

Step by Step Peace the Construction of a US-Centered Middle East Order, 1973-1975

Cilt: 10 Sayı: 1 31 Mayıs 2026
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Step by Step Peace the Construction of a US-Centered Middle East Order, 1973-1975

Öz

This article examines how U.S. Middle East policy between 1973 and 1977, under Henry Kissinger’s guidance, implemented a realist grand strategy through incremental step by step bilateral diplomacy, coercive linkage, and tight control of diplomatic forums. It asks whether Kissinger’s post 1973 diplomacy constituted a coherent grand strategy and how it contributed to the construction of an enduring American led regional order. Conceptually, the study draws on Silove’s distinction between grand plans, grand principles, and grand behavior and on Brands’s ends–ways–means understanding of grand strategy, while engaging debates on U.S. hegemony, order building, and critical perspectives on American power in the Middle East. Methodologically, the article employs theory guided qualitative process tracing of key episodes after the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War. Using declassified U.S. archives (FRUS volumes and presidential libraries), U.S. General Accounting Office re-ports, contemporary media, and scholarly works, it applies hoop, smoking gun, and straw in the wind tests to competing explanations of U.S. policy. The empirical analysis focuses on Egypt’s post 1973 realignment and the 1974-1975 disengagement agreements, the consolidation of U.S. predominance in the Persian Gulf through the “twin pillars” of Iran and Saudi Arabia, and the persistence of Kissingerian patterns in later U.S. policies up to 2025. The findings show that Kissinger’s approach translated a global realist grand plan into regional grand behavior that privileged order over comprehensive peace. In the Arab–Israeli arena, step by step disengagement accords, American forum control, and the deliberate deferral of the Palestinian question created a stable but partial order. In the Gulf, permissive arms transfer to Iran, institutionalized economic interdependence with Saudi Arabia, and the development of Diego Garcia as an offshore hub produced a durable but fragile hegemonic security system. Together, these arrangements entrenched U.S. primacy yet postponed fundamental issues such as Palestinian self determination and the political legitimacy of Gulf regimes. The article concludes that Kissinger’s grand strategy offers both a sophisticated repertoire for sustaining influence and a cautionary example of the long term costs of prioritizing stability and great power management over inclusive peace.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Kaynakça

  1. Alvandi, R. (2012). Nixon, Kissinger, and the shah: The origins of Iranian primacy in the Persian Gulf. Diplomatic History, 36(2), 337-372. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7709.2011.01025.x
  2. Alvandi, R. (2014). “Protect Me”: The Nixon Doctrine in the Persian Gulf. In Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah: The United States and Iran in the Cold War (pp. 28-64). Oxford University Press.
  3. Bercovitch, J. (2011). Theory and practice of international mediation: Selected essays. Routledge.
  4. Brands, H. (2014). What good is grand strategy? Power and purpose in American statecraft from Harry S. Truman to George W. Bush. Cornell University Press.
  5. Collier, D. (2011). Understanding process tracing. PS: Political Science & Politics, 44(4), 823-830.
  6. Cooper, A. S. (2011). The oil kings: How the U.S., Iran, and Saudi Arabia changed the balance of power in the Middle East. Simon & Schuster.
  7. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, Volume E-9, Part 2, Documents on the Middle East Region, 1973-1976, Document 19. (Washington, April 10, 1974.) Memorandum From the Chairman of the Interdepartmental Working Group (Sisco) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger); National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, P820050-0479.
  8. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, Volume E-9, Part 2, Documents on the Middle East Region, 1973-1976, Document 104. (Washington, March 6, 1974, 2128Z.) Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Saudi Arabia; National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 631, Country Files, Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Volume V, January 1-April 1974.

Ayrıntılar

Birincil Dil

İngilizce

Konular

Uluslararası Siyaset, Amerika Çalışmaları, Bölgesel Çalışmalar, Ortadoğu Çalışmaları, Uluslararası İlişkilerde Siyaset

Bölüm

Araştırma Makalesi

Yayımlanma Tarihi

31 Mayıs 2026

Gönderilme Tarihi

5 Aralık 2025

Kabul Tarihi

3 Nisan 2026

Yayımlandığı Sayı

Yıl 2026 Cilt: 10 Sayı: 1

Kaynak Göster

APA
Toman, M. (2026). Step by Step Peace the Construction of a US-Centered Middle East Order, 1973-1975. Sinop Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 10(1), 835-862. https://doi.org/10.30561/sinopusd.1837015
AMA
1.Toman M. Step by Step Peace the Construction of a US-Centered Middle East Order, 1973-1975. sinopusd. 2026;10(1):835-862. doi:10.30561/sinopusd.1837015
Chicago
Toman, Murat. 2026. “Step by Step Peace the Construction of a US-Centered Middle East Order, 1973-1975”. Sinop Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 10 (1): 835-62. https://doi.org/10.30561/sinopusd.1837015.
EndNote
Toman M (01 Mayıs 2026) Step by Step Peace the Construction of a US-Centered Middle East Order, 1973-1975. Sinop Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 10 1 835–862.
IEEE
[1]M. Toman, “Step by Step Peace the Construction of a US-Centered Middle East Order, 1973-1975”, sinopusd, c. 10, sy 1, ss. 835–862, May. 2026, doi: 10.30561/sinopusd.1837015.
ISNAD
Toman, Murat. “Step by Step Peace the Construction of a US-Centered Middle East Order, 1973-1975”. Sinop Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 10/1 (01 Mayıs 2026): 835-862. https://doi.org/10.30561/sinopusd.1837015.
JAMA
1.Toman M. Step by Step Peace the Construction of a US-Centered Middle East Order, 1973-1975. sinopusd. 2026;10:835–862.
MLA
Toman, Murat. “Step by Step Peace the Construction of a US-Centered Middle East Order, 1973-1975”. Sinop Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, c. 10, sy 1, Mayıs 2026, ss. 835-62, doi:10.30561/sinopusd.1837015.
Vancouver
1.Murat Toman. Step by Step Peace the Construction of a US-Centered Middle East Order, 1973-1975. sinopusd. 01 Mayıs 2026;10(1):835-62. doi:10.30561/sinopusd.1837015