| Orientalism is one of the most important postcolonial theories.Its representative character and work is said and his monograph Orientalism.The manifestation of Orientalism in American Middle East diplomacy is the framework of “binary opposition between good and evil” at the cognitive level and the construction of the“demonized” image of hostile countries at the operational level.Taking the political and cultural attributes of Orientalism itself as the starting point,this paper focuses on the security diplomacy and values diplomacy in American Middle East diplomacy in the post Cold War era,and analyzes their Orientalism characteristics.In the Middle East security diplomacy of the United States in the post Cold War era,whether it is the Gulf War in the name of the “division of justice”,the “9.11”incident that detonated the “prejudice bomb”,the war in Afghanistan advocating“friends or enemies”,the nuclear sanctions against the “evil country” Iran and the Libyan war on the grounds of “eliminating tyranny”,all these security diplomacy practices contain the internal logic of Orientalism.The United States usually selects a phased enemy according to the development of the situation and political needs.After determining the object,it immediately begins to “demonize” the image of its opponent,shape it as the “evil” side,highlight the evil of the enemy and the huge threat caused by it,so as to create the binary opposition between good and evil,and then form the two camps of good and evil.Once these works are completed,the United States will regard itself as the “leader of the justice camp”,lead its allies to take various coercive/sanctions measures and even various acts of violence against the“evil” party,and finally logically complete the rationalization sanctions,attack and subversion of “good” against “evil”.In the post Cold War era,the value diplomacy of the United States towards the Middle East has appeared in various forms,including “the exception theory of Middle East democracy”,“the axis of evil theory” and “the democratic transformation theory of the greater Middle East”.The formal transformation between the three does reflect the changes and progress of the United States’ cognition and specific response to Middle East affairs,but the value judgment and fundamental understanding of Middle East affairs behind it have not changed.In essence,they are a subjective construction of the Middle East dominated by the western world,which is full of strong Orientalism.In the actions of civil and military integration,old and new under each strategic framework,whether it is the subversion of force against Middle East countries,the inclusion/support of pro American regimes,or the promotion of the“Greater Middle East democratic transformation plan”,it is supported by Orientalism.In the Middle East diplomacy of the United States in the post Cold War era,Orientalism runs through it all the time.The role of the United States is either the leader of the justice alliance or the main promoter of legal violent subversion and transformation. |
