| The decades from1945to1961witnessed the shaping of post-war order and the establishment of America’s world hegemony.It is also a key period when East-West bloc conducted overall confrontation during the Cold War. Moreover, it is during this period that the United States expanded its ideology throughout the world extensively. The United States conducted a large-scale psychological propaganda war in order to disseminate American values of freedom and democracyand foster pro-American forces. Overseas Student Program was one of the numerous forms of psychological propaganda which The U.S. government implemented during the Cold War. This dissertation, which intends to set American Overseas Student Program during the Cold War as an example,trys to analyse the historical origins, the politicalobjectives, the implementation of the Overseas Student Program. The last but not the least, it attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of the exchange programme so as to reveal its significance in the psychological propaganda strategy of the United States.The main body of this dissertation is consisted of five chapters and, the main contents and central viewpoints of each chapter are epitomized as follows:The first chapter traces the historical origin and evolution of the American overseas Student exchanges programme and its latter transition to an instrument of the Cold War psychological propaganda.The motives laid beihind the American overseas Student exchanges programme and the role which it played in foreign relations varied from time to time. With the outbreak of Cold War after world war II, overseas student projects,as a tool of psychological propaganda in the Cold War, was incorporated into in the anti-Soviet and anti-communist strategy track of the U.S. governmentand, consequently adopted a significant approach to compete for its predominance in the ideological field. The student exchange programme was mainly implemented by the U.S. governmentand the private institution served as an auxiliary.It was their’coalition force’that fought the ideological battle in hostile, friendly and neutral countries.The second chapter explores the reasons and progress of those students exchange programmes which targeted at the’free world’among which Japan is the most typical.It also fucus onthe Latin American Student Program to illustrate the implementation of America’s overseas student programmes in the "free world". The purpose of student programmes in "Free countries"was subordinate to the U.S. Cold War propaganda psychological strategy.is to consolidate the identity of capitalist value system among western counries, to prevent Soviet ideology from penetrating into western counries, to contain left-wing political forces in Western countriesso as to maintain their pro-American and anti-communism orientation, and not least to promote America’s national image. As a result of free from political obstacles in the ’free world’and the common interests shared between U.S. and its allies, student exchange programme in the "free world" can be successfully implementedand achieved remarkable results.The focus of the third chapter is to investigate the reasonsand implementation of the student exchange programme in the’neutral countries’and takes India as a typical country. It also set student leaders program as a case study.The United States vigorously implemented students programs in neutral countries in order to influence their youth student groups, to prevent neutral countries from leaning to Soviet bloc, and to draw as many neutral countries as possible to its side. The implementation of American student projects went well in neutral countries. The political propaganda intentions which lied in the programme, though, often encounter antipathy from neutral countries. However, neutral countries urgently needed knowledge and technical assistancefrom the United States, so they would maintain friendly relations with the United States. Under this circumstances, American student exchange programs achieved certain results in neutral countries.The fourth chapter probes into the reasons and progress of the student exchange programme in socialist countries and, especially Eastern Europe and highlights the Overseas Chinese Student Program. Student programmes targeted at socialist countries aimed to stir up dissatisfaction with the existing political, economic and social systems inside those countries, to undermine public support for the communist regime, to provoke their centrifugal tendencies within the bloc, and not least to weaken their strength against the United States in the Cold War. Because of distrust the exchanges between the United States and the soviet bloc didn’t go quiet well and only remain in small-scale. Though limited, these exchanges programme enjoy profound influence. The fifth chapter explores how the United States contended for the World Youth Student Organization during the Cold War. It could be recapitulated in the following three aspects:First,to control the World Youth Student Organizations and simultaneously, to sabotage those pro-Soviet world youth and student organizations and their activities through actions both overt and covert; Second, to dominate youth and student organizations from the other countries or regions of the world, especially from Latin America; Third, to win over important youth and student leaders in the world, and maintain their pro-American orientation. However, as a consequence of its domestic racial problem, and the nuclear deterrence policy and hegemony which it vigorously pursued, the United States failed to fundamentally reverse its disadvantage position in the World Youth Student organization.Student program in the "free world" was mainly based on "construction", namely, to consolidate the capitalist ideology; Student program in the "neutral countries" was mainly based on the "pull", which is to say, to draw as many neutral countries as possible to America’s side; Student program in the socialist countries was mainly based on the "damage", that is, to attack and destroy the socialist ideology faith among the people, and moreover to weaken public support for the socialist regime.However, all roads lead to Rome.. Though the approach differs from country to country, they share the same goal, namely, the extention of the so called "ideological frontier" of the U.S. government after World War II. Its effect is undiable thus it is understandable that the United States continued to promote its overseas students exchange programme in the post-Cold War era. In the Cold War psychological propaganda, the characteristics of American overseas student program could be summarized as follows:First, the United States tried to influence the studentsgroup who enjoy knowledgeandculture, they are young, dynamicand inclined to accept new ideas,andmaster the complex ideological theory; Second, direct contact between people is a more trustworthy and effective communication; Third, student exchange imperceptibly influence the targeted groups in friendly atmosphere. However, its limitations are obvious:First, recipients of the exchange programme were relatively limited; Second, overseas student programmes are "slow media" and focus their attention on long-term goals; Third, the cost of implementing the exchange programmes is relatively high. The original purpose of international student exchanges is to promote cultural exchanges including knowledge, technology, and ideas among countries. But during the Cold War, overseas student programmes of the United States degenerated into a psychological propaganda tool and finally became the regular proposition of the United States Government... |
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