Soft Power And Us Foreign Policy Toward Latin America In The Post-cold War Era

In recent years, soft power, a term coined by Joseph Nye in 1990, is becoming more and more popular in China as well as the rest of the world. Although people frequently talked about it, they tend to interpret it quiet differently. Moreover, the sources or elements of soft power remain debated. This thesis sets to explore the power theories, identify the sources of soft power, and analyze the sources of US soft power in Latin America from a historical perspective.Though soft power is a comparatively new concept, the soft power strategy has been used in the practice of US foreign policy a long time ago. Historically, the United States built up its soft power in Latin America through three sources: ideas, institutions, and policies. Correspondingly, soft power strategy constituted an indispensable part of the US foreign policy toward Latin America. Such policies and initiatives as Dollar Diplomacy, Good Neighbor Policy, and Alliance for Progress are examples of the application of soft power strategy in the history. In the post-Cold War era, the first Bush administration and the Clinton administration made significant changes to their foreign policies toward Latin America, such as democracy promotion, trade liberalization, and enhanced collaboration with international institutions. Through these policy shifts, the role of soft power was intensified. This thesis attempts to analyze the US foreign policy toward Latin America in the post-Cold War era from the perspective of power strategies, identify the role of soft power in US foreign policy, and sum up the implications of US soft power strategy in Latin America for China.