Date of Award:

8-2021

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Political Science

Committee Chair(s)

Jeannie Johnson

Committee

Jeannie Johnson

Committee

Laura Gamboa-Gutierrez

Committee

William Furlong

Abstract

This thesis examined the common idea that the CIA is a regime change advocate by testing the merits of two competing political science theories, one focused on internal (endogenous) influences within CIA and one focused on external (exogenous) pressures on CIA emanating from the American public and elected officials. This was accomplished through two case studies – one where the CIA conducted covert regime change operations and one where it did not. Of the two hypotheses, public choice theory, which focused on the external pressure on the CIA, offers the most potential as an explanatory tool for CIA involvement in regime change. While cultural variables were identified in an examination of memoirs and government documents, there was no consistency across the two cases. Through analysis of external pressures, CIA efforts matched what the public’s, the president’s, and Congress’s attention was focused on—Chile and not Peru.

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