The Influence Of American Values ??on Its Foreign Policy Since The 21st Century

This paper does a systematic analysis of the impact of American values on the formulation and implementation process of its foreign policy.The research on the US foreign policy is a complex system.The reasons for choosing the cultural perspective are as follows.First,in the context of globalization,the research on the ideas,norms,identity,religion and other cultural factors has opened up new areas of contemporary international relations.When the foreign policy of a country is studied,especially that of major powers,the country's political traditions,values and culture in a broad sense must be related to and considered.Attaching great importance to the relationship between culture and its foreign policy is determined by the implications and functions of culture.The values,as the core of culture,are stable,lasting and universal acceptance and evaluation formed in the activities of their own social groups in history.In this sense,values are not only part of national identity but a national spirit and even one important variable influencing the foreign policy of a country.The author considers that the influence of American values in foreign policy can be divided into three levels:the first level is the core values,the second is its political values formed on the basis of the core values,and the third is the diplomatic thoughts and conduct norms directly impacting the foreign policy.Among them,the core values are shared by all decision makers,and the decision makers led by the President will form different political values as a result of the difference in their origin,religious belief,education background,careers,which will foster certain diplomatic thoughts and conduct norms to impact the formulation and implementation of foreign policy.American values have two features:contradiction and multi-dimensions.American core values are an opposite complex of its exceptionalism(as God's chosen people,manifest destiny,American hegemony,etc)and universal values(individualism,freedom,equality,democracy,the rule of law,and so on).From the founding fathers to ordinary people,Americans all hold that the United States is unique—they are chosen by God,and shoulder the sacred mission of saving other peoples and are destined to lead the world,and this uniqueness keeps developing with the world historical development and the changes of American international status.Despite new arrivals of one generation after another,the United States is still regarded as a multicultural country,but so far the United States has not got rid of the deep influence from Puritan Protestant culture of the Anglo-Saxon whites.Meanwhile,Americans still believe their values and system are universal,a model for people around the world to learn,and should be spread to all countries by all efforts.Due to the contradiction and multi-dimensions of the American values,the political values of the US foreign policy decision makers led by the President presents the opposition of two dimensions:one is the opposition between liberalism and conservatism,and the other is the opposition of realism and idealism.Meanwhile,President-led decision-makers show two opposite dimensions in foreign policy thoughts and conduct norms,one being the opposition of isolationism and internationalism,and the other being the opposition between unilateralism and multilateralism.The above American values of three levels influence foreign policy through the American foreign policy-making system.As a complex system,American foreign policy-making system consists of the President,the Executive agencies,the Congress,the Supreme Court,local governments,interest groups,think tanks,the press and public opinion,with the President,the Executive agencies and the Congress as the main decision-making body.The American foreign policy-making process is a diplomatic game among the decision-making bodies led by the President.Values of various foreign policy makers is the fundamental cause of the formulation and implementation of United States foreign policy.The author tries to find out the influence of American values on the formulation and implementation of its foreign policy by analyzing the national strategies,regional and national policies,as well as the involvement in global governance and hot-spot issues of the George W.Bush and Obama administrations.The author believes that the Bush Administration's foreign policy,such as implementation of the global strategy against terrorism and active intervention in international affairs and regional security,is influenced by the Bush administration values(the Bush doctrine),the idealized neoconservatism as well as unilateralism and internationalism.The Obama administration pushes smart power,implements America's Rebalance to the Asia-Pacific,pays attention to non-traditional security and global issues,and stresses international cooperation and system on foreign policy,and tries to impact the world by a combination of military power,economic power and American values.This shows that the Obama administration's political values are practical liberalism combined with multilateralism and internationalism.The Trump Administration implements the"America first" idea aiming to achieve the strategic objectives of "Make America Great Again" in the strategic stage of contraction.Trump's idea and strategic objectives are the embodiment of American core values under the current domestic and international situation.The personal leadership style and a series of words and deeds of Trump before and after taking office show that the political value is conservatism combined with realism,and the diplomatic thoughts and conduct norms are towards isolationism and unilateralism.Therefore,since Trump took office,many of the new deals concerning the national strategy and domestic and foreign affairs seemed incompatible with the characteristics of the times,such as "deglobalized" economic and trade policies,reversed energy and environmental protection bill,"inhumane"immigration policies,and so on.There are great differences in the cultural traditions,history and political system between China and the United States,which objectively become obstacles to the development of China-US relations.The most fundamental difference is in the values.As the 21st century's two most important powers,China-US relations is crucial to not only the well-being of the people of the two countries,but also the world peace and development.In the future,how can the two countries respect each other?How to deepen cooperation,seek common ground,and regulate differences to build a more mature relations?All these should be considered from the values perspective so as to build a new type of relations based on their cultural symbiosis and consciousness.In this sense,the values and policy towards China of the Trump administration brings opportunities which outweigh the challenges in the long run,yet both China and the United States have to be patient to ride out a two-year period.