Truman Doctrine

Notion of Truman Doctrine

The meaning of Truman Doctrine may be as follows: a promise of US aid to all ‘free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside powers” (also see Brezhnev Doctrine)

Definition of Truman Doctrine

The Canada social science dictionary [1] provides the following meaning of Truman Doctrine: President Truman declared in 1947 that one of the primary objectives of American foreign policy was ‘the creation of conditions in which we and other nations will be able to work out a way of life free from coercion. We shall not realize our objectives unless we are willing to help free people to maintain their free institutions, and their national integrity against aggressive movements that seek to impose on them totalitarian regimes. …. I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.’ The context of this statement was the perceived threat of communist expansion and the policy developed from it gave shape to the cold war and the polarization of the world into peoples in the sphere of influence of the two dominant world powers (the Soviet Union and the United States). See: BERLIN WALL / COLD WAR / NEW WORLD ORDER in this legal dictionary and in the world encyclopedia of law.

Truman Doctrine: Resources

Notes and References

• Drislane, R., & Parkinson, G. (2016). (Concept of) Truman Doctrine. Online dictionary of the social sciences. Open University of Canada