The Relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2021 in the subject Politics - Region: Near East, Near Orient, grade: 1,0, University of Bamberg, language: English, abstract: The relocation of the United States Embassy in 2017 from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem came as a surprise to many. Previous administrations had decided to waive the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, that demanded the US embassy be moved to Jerusalem. In thesis two separate hypothesis will be analyzed from two respective theoretical perspectives: Ideational liberalism and defensive structural realism. Domestic ideational preferences and their transmission through legitimate actors, as well as threats to US interests in the region will be examined for their potential to cause a deviation from the antecedent policy.

This thesis concludes, that domestic policy preferences in fact caused the Trump- administration to shift away from this established precedent, proving the ideational liberalism hypothesis correct.