Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2011 The Domino Theory in the Popular Geopolitics of the U.S. News Media, 1989-2009 Christopher Whitaker Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND PUBLIC POLICY THE DOMINO THEORY IN THE POPULAR GEOPOLITICS OF THE U.S. NEWS MEDIA, 1989 - 2009 By CHRISTOPHER WHITAKER A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Geography in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2011 The members of the committee approve the dissertation of Christopher Whitaker defended on May 2, 2011. _______________________________________ Patrick O‘Sullivan Professor Directing Dissertation _______________________________________ Michael Creswell Outside Committee Member _______________________________________ Jon Anthony Stallins Committee Member _______________________________________ Lisa Jordan Committee Member Approved: _____________________________________ Victor Mesev, Chair, Department of Geography _____________________________________ David W. Rasmussen, Dean, College of Social Sciences and Public Policy The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members. ii This dissertation is dedicated to Anna, Canon, Cora and Gabe. I can only hope that someday you will be half as proud of your father as I am of mine. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this dissertation is the result of the contributions made by many people who supported me over the course of my life and throughout my academic career. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Patrick O‘Sullivan who mentored me during my doctoral program offering scholarly guidance and remarkable patience while I grappled with all of challenges in bringing this project to fruition. I am profoundly grateful for his willingness to serve as my advisor and stick with me over many years of graduate work. Similarly, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Michael Creswell who steadfastly remained my outside committee member over the years while my dissertation gradually moved away from conventional international relations and diplomatic history and into the realm of critical social theory. I am also thankful to Dr. Tony Stallins and Dr. Lisa Jordan who kindly stepped in to serve on my committee after earlier members moved on to other institutions. And finally, this dissertation would never have been possible without the support of my family, especially my wife Debbie. She put up with me over many years of marriage and scholarly pursuits, always providing support and expressing confidence in my academic abilities. She helped make this dissertation possible and, in many ways, was a crucial motivating factor in my efforts to achieve scholarly and professional success. I am perpetually grateful to my parents Paul and Donna who always expressed a faith in my abilities and a willingness to support my academic endeavors throughout my life. The fostered my love of learning and confidence from a very early age. I would be remiss if I didn‘t also mention my siblings, Kim, Mike, and Scott. Kim helped endow me with a love of reading as a child. Scott taught me about critical reasoning and rhetoric before I even knew what the terms meant and has always exhibited a genuine interest in my academic research. Mike was a central figure in my early life that helped me through some difficult periods in my youth and offered genuine friendship that we shared over the years. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ vi Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... vii 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW: THE DOMINO THEORY .........................................................10 3. THEORETICAL LITERATURE REVIEW .........................................................................32 4. RESEARCH METHODS ......................................................................................................62 5. THE DOMINO THEORY AND THE BOSNIA DEBATE, 1993-1995 ..............................82 6. THE DOMINO THEORY AND THE KOSOVO DEBATE, 1999 ....................................121 7. THE DOMINO THEORY AND THE IRAQ WAR DEBATE, 2003-2007 .......................155 8. CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................................224 APPENDICES .....................................................................................................................234 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...............................................................................................................248 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ...............................................................................................272 v LIST OF FIGURES 4.1 Total articles containing term ―domino theory‖ appearing in the Lexus Nexus Academic Universe, U.S. Newspapers and Wires database since 1985 ................................72 5.1 Total articles containing term ―domino theory‖ and references to ―Bosnia‖ or ―Robert McNamara‖ therein ..................................................................................................84 5.2 Percentage of articles associating Bosnian crisis with the domino theory ............................95 5.3 Overall tone of articles toward U.S. military intervention in Bosnian crisis ........................96 5.4 Percentage of articles by type (Bosnian crisis) ....................................................................102 5.5 Percentage of articles referring to the Vietnam War in discussion of a U.S. intervention in Bosnia ..........................................................................................................109 6.1 Percentage of articles containing term ―domino theory‖ and references to ―Kosovo‖ therein ..................................................................................................................................122 6.2 Percentage of articles associating Kosovo crisis with domino theory ................................134 6.3 Overall tone of articles toward Clinton Administration‘s intervention in Kosovo .............136 6.4 Percentage of articles by type (Kosovo crisis) ....................................................................138 6.5 Percentage of articles referring to the Vietnam War in discussion of Kosovo ...................146 7.1 Total articles containing term ―domino theory‖ and references to ―Iraq‖ therein ..............157 7.2 Percentage of articles associating Iraq war with the domino theory ...................................184 7.3 Percentage of articles by type (Iraq crisis) ..........................................................................189 7.4 Overall tone of articles toward Bush Administration‘s invasion and/or occupation of Iraq ..................................................................................................................................198 7.5 Percentage of articles referring to Bush‘s efforts as the democratic domino theory ...........209 7.6 Percentage of articles referring to the Vietnam War in discussion of war in Iraq ..............213 vi ABSTRACT This dissertation explores the way in which the U.S. news media employed the domino theory as a (or part of a) geopolitical discourse in its coverage of foreign policy challenges facing the United States in the post-Cold War era in a manner that operated to frame the tone and content of it reporting on these issues for American news audiences. This study relies on the use of thematic content analysis of newspaper articles using the domino theory in their reporting on three distinct sets of geopolitical affairs issues appearing in the Lexis-Nexis newspaper database from 1989 to 2009 using a grounded theory-based research approach. This methodology assesses, documents, and illustrates the way in which the media‘s representations relying on this well known geopolitical metaphor shaped the complexion of news coverage on the crises in Bosnia (from 1993-1995); Kosovo (1999); and Iraq (from 2003-2007). The results of this study advances our understanding of the domino theory‘s enduring role as a geopolitical discourse that promotes certain political agendas and the role of America‘s journalists in actively producing geopolitical knowledge about the world through their reporting. The analysis of the U.S. news media‘s discourse in these three case studies demonstrates that the domino theory was relied upon in the popular geopolitics produced by the American media on these three foreign affairs issues and revealed a series of patterns in the findings. The phrase most commonly originated from the country‘s journalists rather than the individuals or groups to whom it was attributed. The American news media often used the phrase as a (or part of a) oppositional discourse to re-interpret arguments for military intervention in these international crises in an overwhelmingly negative light. This finding directly contradicts the claims embedded in hundreds of news articles on these issues that the domino metaphor was being harnessed to rationalize and legitimize