A Study Of American Economic Diplomacy In Third World Countries During The Cold War (1947-1969)

The United States would always like to use economic diplomacy to accomplish its strategic objectives as masterfully as possible in history,and the economic diplomacy exerts great impact on the evolution of American history. American economic diplomacy in the third world is the essential part of its strategy of containment during the Cold War.However,the scholars in China have not yet paid enough attention to the above-mentioned problems. In order to overcome the weakness of the related research,the author selects the subject. This paper,made up of the sections of the introduction,the text(6 chapters ,22 parts) and the conclusion, has about 200,000 words.The introduction discusses the the aims and significance of the subject of the paper,analyzes the general contemporary situation of the academic achievements of the selected subject accomplished by the scholars at home and abroad. The author concludes that the related study is emerging on the part of the historical evidence and theoretical understanding in the academic field .Meanwhile,it is of great importance as far as the academic value and practical significance are concerned. The research methods, the frame and structure of the paper , especially such core concepts as the third world and the economic diplomacy , are analyzed and interpreted relatively thoroughly by the author.In the first chapter ,the historical origins of American economic diplomacy are generalized and analyzed. American economic diplomacy generally includes the five historical periods prior to the Cold War,such as the period of commerical diplomacy,the period of the Open Door diplomacy(the Dollar Diplomacy),the period of reparations diplomacy,the economic diplomacy in the neutralistic period and the period of the lend-lease diplomacy. From the historical perspectives,American Cold War economic diplomacy can be regarded as the continuance of the pre-cold war economic diplomacy to some degree,and the historical investigation enables us to understand American economic diplomacy in the third world countries during the Cold War in the broader contexts.In the second chapter,the author investigates the origins of American economic diplomacy in the third world countries from the view of the strategy of containment,concludes that with the appearance of "the Act of Military and Economic Aid to Greek and Turkey" (the Truman Doctrine) as a symbol,the United States starts to connect its own interests with the domestic situations of the third world countries for the first time. The Economic diplomacy is one of the main ways to achieve this target. The development of the Truman Doctrine in the Far East region resulted in The China Aid Act of 1948 and the implementation of the policy of American support of Jiangjieshi(the Kuomingtang government) and anti-Communism.However,the policy encountered the destiny of a total defeat in the end.Moreover,the economic reconstruction and recovery of America's allies connected closely with the Truman Doctrine,such as the Marshall Plan and the Marshall Plan in Asia,urged the United States to carry out special economic diplomacy in Southeast Asia, whose objectives were to obtain the local natural resourses as well as the markets. In the third chapter, centering on the Point Four Program, the author makes an inquiry into the reasons why the United States would like to offer the third world countries technical assistance. The ideological roots include containing the so-called expansion of communism,the lessons stemming from the first economic crisis after the Second World War and the Great Depression in the 1930s,and expanding the markets in the third world countries. The first is the leading factor among them .Concerning the historical origin,the Point Four Program the United States implemented can be thought as a reaction to the requirements of the Latin American countries. At the same time, the contents ,emphasis and the differences among the regions in the process of the implemention and their causes of the Point Four Program are also analyzed in accordance with the declsssified files. With the changes of the executive agencies,the Point Four Program was ignored by the American government increasingly,encountered the historical destiny of liquidation in the middle of 1953.In the fourth chapter,the historical backgrounds of American economic diplomacy in the third world countries are elaborated during the Mutual Security Act at first, the author holds the opinion that the breakout of the Korean War,the initial rise of the third world and the Soviet economic diplomacy in the third world cause the Eisenhower Administration to switch the direction of foreign assistance from Europe to the third world; Defence assistance emphasizing military security is the main tool of American economic diplomacy. American economic diplomacy in the period can be divided into two stages,and its own characteristics are expounded in a comprehensive manner in the chapter. In addition,the historical backgrunds , evolution and effects of American economic diplomacy in the "anti-Communism"allies in Asia,the "neutralistic"nations and "strategic resourses"regions(the Suez Cannal Crisis cited as an example),are analyzed respectively.In the fifth chapter,the paper begins with the strategy of peace of the Kennedy Administration,then the author points out that the real rise of the third world in the 1960s impells Kennedy to try to make some changes in order to accomplish the objectives of the strategy of containment more smoothly. The Rostow Doctrine signaled the final establishment of American economic diplomacy during the Kennedy-Johnson Administrations. For example,development assistance was the esential tool ;besides the current anti-communism,its objectives was to induce the third world to accept the American model of development. Based on the The Foreign Assistance of 1961, the Alliance for Progress is one of the most important and typical cases for the economic diplomacy carried out by the Kennedy Administration. The author also analyzes the following questions in this chapter: the deeper causes of the appearance of the Alliance for Progress ,the dilemmas of the Alliance and the characteristics and effects of the foreign assistance policy in the Johnson Administration.In the sixth chapter, the paper firstly briefs the hisorical sources, the substantial and systematic foundations of American food diplomacy. From the viewpoint of the author, the food diplomacy is the supplement of American economic assistance diplomacy, is the important parts of American foreign policy toward the third world countries during the Cold War on an equal basis. At the same time, the concrete implementation and its characteristics of Public Law 480(The Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 )during the Eisenhower Administration and the Kennedy-Johnson Administrations,such as Food for Peace Program,Food- for-Peace through Development and Food for Freedom Program,are analyzed respectively in the chapter.The conclusion of the paper is that in the final analysis the logic of the Cold War urges the United States to carry out its economic diplomacy in the third world countries on the part of the real dynamic causes,which leads to the spread of the Cold War globally. The American economic diplomacy is one of the tools of American strategy of containment during the Cold War,and as far as the application of various kinds of American foreign economic aid are concerned,they are in fact the inevitable subsidies for the American economy. The American economic diplomacy is an imporant external factor ,which has great influence on the development of the third world countries. The American economic diplomacy in the third world countries during the Cold War is neo-colonialism in essence.