The Study On The Reagan Administration's Public Diplomacy To South Africa's Apartheid Issue

As the important part of soft power, public diplomacy has been taken seriously by all the nations and academia in recent years. The United States was the first to put forward the concept of "public diplomacy", and has accumulated abundant theories and practice of it. This article takes the Reagan administration's public diplomacy to South Africa's apartheid issue as the research object, makes an overall study of the strategic background as well as the continuity, variation and influence of the policy of public diplomacy toward the apartheid issue in South Africa. The Reagan administration came to power on the occasion of another peak of cold war, and Reagan took all measures against the Soviet Union. In South Africa, as to the apartheid, which was criticized by the international community, Reagan's two terms had adopted different policies due to actual situation. But the most fundamental core idea was always the same, namely, supporting South Africa to counter the Soviet Union. Under the tacit approval of the United States, the South African government had further strengthened its repression on the masses of black people, which caused the South African people and the international community criticizing the United States'policy. In order to improve the image of the United States in South Africa and the international community, the Reagan administration specially established a working group to coordinate the public diplomacy activities for black South Africans'. The existing projects not only included the educational exchange programs implemented by U.S. Information Agency and United States Agency for International Development and other government departments, but also covered the activities of training the blacks according to the "Sullivan Codes", which performed by American corporations and NGOs. Although the public diplomacy implemented during the Reagan administration hadn't abolished the apartheid, it strengthened the connection among the America and the black people in South Africa, especially the black teachers, students and elites to some extent, and also changed the domestic image of American Administration to a certain degree. The public diplomacy of Reagan administration had some influence on the policy toward South Africa of Bush Administration, and had promoted the eventual abolishment of the apartheid objectively. From the supporter of the apartheid to the moralist of the antiapartheid, the purpose was always served the interests of America, which was the nature of public diplomacy.