A Study Of The Policy Differences Between The U.S. Parties On The Middle East After The Cold War

The Middle East,with abundant oil resources,is very important in the geopolitical strategic location.It occupies a significant position in the United States’ global strategy.After the Cold War,the United States has strengthened its practical control over the Middle East through a series of military and diplomatic actions with its superpowers and comparative advantages in the world’s political,economic,military,and scientific and technological fields.Although the Middle East policies are successive among all previous governments of America,the differences are rather obviously.Under the new circumstances,it is of great practical significances to thoroughly discuss the adjustment trajectories and the law of changes of the U.S.government’s diplomatic policy in the Middle East after the Cold War.This article mainly aims to discuss the differences and causes of the U.S.government’s Middle East policies during the post-Cold War era.The United States is a typical two-party state.The Republican Party and the Democratic Party took turns to govern in a long-term manner and dominated the policy direction of the country’s internal affairs and diplomacy.The two major political parties represent the interests of different social strata and groups and have different political ideas,thus forming their own different Middle East policies.The Republican government’s Middle East policy has a strong sense of realism.It focuses on strength as a basis for diplomacy and advocates the use of traditional “hard power” and tough methods as a basis for diplomacies and advocates to protect the interests of the United States in the Middle East.The Democratic government’s Middle East policy is more idealistic and focuses on the use of "soft power" tends to use the means of negotiation and cooperation to handle affairs in the Middle East.The Republican government has adopted a unilateralist foreign policy in the Middle East region.It uses its own strength to conduct its own way in the Middle East.It does not negotiate with other countries and ignores the influence of international public opinions.It has a relatively indifferent attitude toward the United Nations and international mechanisms.While the Democratic Party government emphasizes multilateralism.It has focused on the role of the United Nations and other international organizations and international mechanisms,and attached great importance to resolve conflicts in the Middle East through multilateral cooperation and dialogues and to achieve U.S.national interests.After the Cold War,both the President George H.W Bush administration’s “New order in the Middle East” and the President George W Bush administration’s “Detachment policy”,or the Clinton administration’s “East to curb Iran and Iraq,west to promot peace talks” and the Obama administration’s “New Middle East policy”,all reflect and represent the huge difference between the bipartisan Middle East policies and their pursuit of goals.From the comparative analysis on the policies of the Republican and Democratic parties in the United States after the Cold War to deal with the Iraqi issue,Palestinian-Israeli peace talks and advancing the peace process in the Middle East,we can conclude that for the interests of different social strata represented by the two parties and long-formed diplomatic thoughts,the two parties have great differences in their foreign policy concept,strategic focus,and methods dealing with the Middle East affair.After the Cold War,the U.S.government’s Middle East policy has long oscillated between realism and idealism,unilateralism and multilateralism,isolationism,and internationalism.To some extent,it is precisely the “policy pendulum” that has intensified turmoil in the Middle East and has maintained the long-term existence of U.S.forces in the Middle East.