A Study On Walter Russell Mead's Thoughts Of American Diplomatic Tradition

As an outstanding American foreign policy researcher,Walter Mead integrates the historical and realistic issues of American foreign policy,realizes the combination between the history of foreign policy and the realistic issues of international relations,and builds a theoretical framework for understanding American foreign policy.This paper aims to elaborate Mead's academic thought.American diplomatic tradition is the core topic of Mead's academic research.By combing the history of American diplomacy,Mead analyzes the factors influencing American diplomatic tradition,and summarizes the formation and development of American power form.He believes that the study of American diplomatic history should focus on a more macro perspective and pay attention to its historical heritage.Mead's study goes beyond the traditional dichotomy of Idealism/Realism,Unilateralism/Multilateralism and creatively put forward four American Diplomatic Traditions:Hamiltonian,Wilsonian,Jeffersonian and Jacksonian.It is these four doctrines that form an organic combination and dynamic development through interaction,and jointly determine the U.S.diplomatic behavior.On this basis,Mead explores the“source of power”of American diplomatic tradition and put forward the concept of“sticky power”in addition to hard power and soft power,thus realizing the theoretical sublimation of American diplomatic tradition.From the perspective of knowledge production,this is inseparable from Mead's dual status as a scholar and think tank expert.According to the framework of“four doctrines”and“three powers”,Mead's traditional theory of American diplomacy tends to be complete and mature,becoming a theoretical tool to analyze history and recognize reality.Mead's thought and theory matured in the early 21^stcentury.According to his analysis framework,this paper analyzes the diplomatic behavior of the four administrations of Bill Clinton,George W.Bush,Barack Obama and Donald Trump in the post Cold War era,and holds that Mead's theory can reasonably analyze the diplomatic behavior of the previous administrations,It provides a new and reasonable perspective for us to understand American diplomatic tradition and American diplomacy in the 21st century.The main body of this paper is divided into six chapters.Chapter one makes a detailed analysis and interpretation of Mead's academic experience,writings and viewpoints,especially the framework system of“four doctrines”and“three powers”.According to Mead,the core of Hamiltonian is to pursue commercial interests,and national diplomatic behavior should seek various external conditions conducive to the integration of the US into the global economic system.Wilsonian advocates the spread of American democracy and values around the world,and believes that the US has the obligation to guide the development direction of countries in the world as a“beacon of civilization”.Jeffersonian opposes too much international intervention,advocates that the interests of the people and the healthy development of society should be regarded as the primary task and supports small-government doctrine.As for Jacksonian,it is characterized by nationalism and populism,and focuses on improving the military strength of the US.Based on expounding the historical background and development process of the four schools,this chapter analyzes their time and means of playing a role,and focuses on how they work together to influence the formulation and implementation of American foreign policy in combination with the changes of international and domestic situations.Then,this chapter introduces Mead's theory of“form of power”.He divides the forms of American power into Sharp Power,Sticky Power,Sweet Power and Hegemonic Power.Sharp Power is the military strength of the US,which can be composed of its significant nuclear superiority,extensive overseas military deployment and huge military expenditure in a broad sense.As the embodiment of the influence of economic activities,Sticky Power has a sticky absorption effect on other economics.Similar to the concept of Soft Power,Sweet Power is the attraction of American ideals,culture and values,and is an invisible attraction and inspiration.As for Hegemonic Power,it is a collection of power,which is the comprehensive advantage of the first three powers when they work together.If it is said that the“four doctrines”theory analyzes the four consciousness propositions hidden in the torrent of American diplomatic history from a diachronic perspective,then the analysis of American power form enriches Mead's theory from a synchronic perspective,and the two form a complete analysis network.This coordinate analysis structure not only fully respects and considers the continuation and inheritance of American diplomatic history,but also highlights the diplomatic characteristics in American history,especially since World War II.It forms a horizontal and vertical two-dimensional theoretical framework on the macro level,which helps to sort out American foreign policy.The following chapters of the paper use Mead's theory to summarize the American diplomatic tradition from different historical periods,analyze the political tendencies,factions of presidents in different periods,their distinctive diplomatic style and diplomatic activities in office,and clearly show the influence of the four doctrines on national leaders and their diplomatic styles.Chapter two mainly analyzes the evolution of American foreign policy from World War?to the end of the 20^thcentury.After World War?,the United States entered the Fordism economic era.The rapid development of capitalism brought structural changes to American society.At the same time,in international relations,the United States stepped on the international political stage as a world power,and the four doctrines began to face the complex situation in international relations.With the decline of Britain in World War II,the US established its hegemony in the world after the cold war,and American capitalism transited to the post Fordism era.In this historical stage,the types of American power pursued by the four doctrines in different periods were constantly changing,which brought about the continuous development of American foreign policy.After the end of the cold war,Sticky Power once became the main type of power pursued by America.During the Clinton administration,Hamiltonian became the dominant idea of diplomatic activities.The third chapter mainly analyzes the rise and fall of Wilsonian during the Bush administration.As a representative of Neo-conservatism,George W.Bush has the characteristics of Wilson.The September 11 attack made him get the firm support of the Jacksonians and cast a tough and realistic shadow over Wilsonian.Nevertheless,with the escalation of the war on terror,the four doctrines gradually had divergence,and George W.Bush's Great Middle East strategy failed.Chapter four interprets the rise of Jeffersonian during the Obama administration.Obama is a typical Jeffersonian.Just like his campaign speech manifesto,his most prominent feature is to carry out strategic contraction,to use smart power to adjust his diplomatic propositions,to seek the balance between various factions,and to strive to restore the global leadership of the US.However,Jeffersonian's political views are often criticized as too moderate or slow to take effect.Obama's foreign policy has achieved some results,but it has not been able to fundamentally meet the requirements of the American people.The fifth chapter analyzes the diplomatic characteristics of the Jacksonians during Trump's administration.Resulting from the increasing imbalance of economic and industrial structure,political anti elitism and the lack of identity in social and cultural values in the US,America's populism is on the rise,and Trump came to the White House,widely supported by the Jacksonians.Under the strong tendency of nativism,Trump's foreign policy is obviously self-centered,however,Jacksonian doesn't have a systematic concept of governance,nor can it establish a continuous diplomatic thought.Chapter six interprets the international and domestic situations faced by the four doctrines in the 21^stcentury,and analyzes their possible adjustment and integration strategies.Meanwhile,according to Mead's viewpoint,the strategic dimension of American foreign policy-making and the possible types of foreign leading ideas are considered.Faced with the contradiction between the pursuit of free capital for commercial interests and the imbalance of domestic industrial structure and the serious employment problem in the US,Hamiltonian need to seek a developing mode of rational allocation of resources.After the Great Middle East strategy,the Wilsonians gradually declined.In the face of the developing trend of the international situation from American hegemony to uni-multipolarity model,with the increasing role of international organizations,the Wilsonians are required to reflect on an improve the way of their values dissemination.While the Jeffersonians can adjust their own political views,but they adhere to the basic idea of“avoiding unnecessary international intervention”all the time.To integrate into the international community at the lowest cost,to avoid war and to optimize the allocation of limited resources have become the representative propositions of Jeffersonian in the new situation.As for the Jacksonians,although they lack mature diplomatic concepts,they have a deep mass basis among ordinary American voters.At the same time,as the expressive bonds that sustains the other three schools,with a solid foundation of strength,Jacksonian will have a profound impact on the foreign policy of the US.In short,how to understand the contemporary international situation and think about its own international role,how to fully recognize and adhere to the use of the sea power system,and how to make reasonable choices and combinations among the four schools are the strategic dimensions that need to be taken into consideration in the process of US foreign policy making.