Coercive Diplomacy And The North Korea Policy Of Trump Administration

After the cold war,the United States grew increasingly conscious that nuclear weapon had made total wars a less and less attractive option.Military power was no longer limited to wars,but was also used to deter and coerce adversaries.Since the end of the Cold War,coercive diplomacy,which combines diplomacy with military muscles,has been frequently used by U.S.leaders to achieve foreign policy goals.One typical case is North Korea,as was seen in the "Strategic Patience"policy of the Obama administration.However,instead of achieving denulcearization,the policy indulged North Korea with time and initiative,leading to a substantial progress in North Korea's nuclear power.In light of this predicament,the Trump Administration launched the"maximum pressure and engagement"policy,which raised the priority of the North Korea issue in US diplomacy and reinforced sanctions and deterrence against North Korea.In fact,the"maximum pressure" policy is also typical coercive diplomacy,a strategy that aims to stop the objectionable behavior of the adversary through threat or limited use of military force.Since 2017,the North Korea policy of Trump administration has witnessed the high intensity at the beginning,the improving North-South Korea relationship and the historical Trump-Kim summit.and the second summit that ended without an agreement.For now,the tension on the North Korea Peninsula appears to have been de-escalated,but is still far from a total denuclearization.Trump's coercive diplomacy against North Korea has produced some effect,but is in no way a permanent cure to this issue.This paper employs the coercive diplomacy theory,to analyze and evaluate the North Korea policy of the Trump administration and propose considerations and thoughts for its future development.