The Soft-power Theory In The Clinton Administration Diplomacy

The Clinton administration is the first government of America in the post-cold war era, and in its eight years time , the international situation had changed greatly and there were so many problems to be solved in the international society . There are many evident characteristics in Clinton's foreign policies, and these new policies have good influences on the later governments. The Latin America is always been seen as the"backyard"of the United States , but in recent years , its power and importance grows evidently , the position in international society grades up , and it is being more often attended by other countries in the world , so this study is valuable . The soft-power theory is a new IPE theory , so far it has a very broad influence, no matter in or abroad, in politics or economics. As its process of evolution and perfection, this theory is becoming a hotter theory and a main branch.This article takes the policies to the Latin America as examples, after the analysis of these policies, it points out that there are many evident factors of soft- power in Clinton's diplomacy , President Clinton made good use of the soft-power theory. There are four sections in this article:Part one is the analysis of the soft-power theory and its applications in the U.S.'s foreign policies in the past. First the author makes a good review of the theory's growth , pointing out that the conception is very complicates and multiplex , the traditional standards of hard power and soft power is not so perfect now . The soft power includes many aspects such as cultures and civilizations, ideologies and also politics, economics, and military affairs. The later three are always been seen as the hard powers in the past, but now, in this article, they are soft powers, too. The soft power involves every aspect of our society. In this article, the author brings forward his own definition of the soft power, with many detailed interprets to make it clear. Second, this part also generalizes the applications of the soft-power theory in American foreign history. Far before the outbreak of the theory, it had been used very well.The second part gives a brief about the Latin America's geography, cultures and some other things, and also the main polities to this area in American history, especially the time when the Cold War had just been ended, the value estimations and strategy programs of the U.S. to Latin America . Comparing to Europe and Asia, as its specialty of"backyard", the Latin America is always been ignored . The third part is the key stone of the article. In this part, there are two sections separated as tradition and non-tradition. In the traditional section , the author analyses the soft power factors from four aspects , they are national security strategies , free economic policies , democracies and human rights problem , and the Cuba problem ; in the non-traditional section , the article refers to the opium , immigrants , cultural benefits , terrorism , crimes , environment protect , natural disasters , starvation and diseases , e.g. These problems are all have global influences , only can be solved by the whole world together .The last part is a summarization and estimation of Clinton's foreign policies overall. Comparing to the former governments, in this post-Cols War era, the Clinton administration made a good effort in its foreign policies, and the production is prosperous, and the most important thing is that he made a very good use of the soft-power theory .