US foreign policy and the Iran hostage crisis
By: David Patrick Houghton.
Series: Cambridge studies in international relations ;; 75
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2001
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 252
Subjects: Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981.; United States -- Foreign relations -- 1977-1981 -- Decision making.; United States -- Foreign relations -- Iran.; Iran -- Foreign relations -- United States.
Other titles: United States foreign policy and the Iran hostage crisis
Description: "Why did a handful of Iranian students seize the American Embassy in Tehran in November 1979? Why did most members of the US government initially believe that the incident would be over quickly? Why did the Carter administration then decide to launch a rescue mission, and why did it fail so spectacularly?

US Foreign Policy and the Iran Hostage Crisis examines these puzzles and others, using an analogical reasoning approach to decision-making, a theoretical perspective which highlights the role played by historical analogies in the genesis of foreign policy decisions. Twenty years after the failure of the hostage rescue operation, Houghton uses interviews with key decision-makers on both sides to reconsider these events - events which continue to poison relations between the two states.

The book will be of interest to students and scholars of foreign policy analysis and international relations."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 229-241) and index.