Wilsonianism And American Foreign Policy After The Cold War:Architecture For A New Europe And The Rebalance To Asia

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28 thU.S.President in the U.S.history.His ideology toward the U.S.foreign policy formed a term,Wilsonianism.Different writers have different interpretations on Wilsonianism.The best way to understand its notion is to study Wilson's Fourteen Points speech,in which President Wilson's picture for a post-war order was drawn in detail.Although his dream did not come true,his thoughts,Wilsonianism,has had a far-reaching influence both theoretically and practically.Theoretically,what President Wilson proposed in the Fourteen Points,such as democracy,freedom,open diplomacy and lasting peace among nations,constituted the earliest thoughts of idealism in IR theory.And it further inspired the development of neo-liberal institutionalism.Practically,Wilsonianism provided the fundamental norms and rules of the U.S.foreign policies after the Cold War,in the two geostrategic regions,Europe and Asia-Pacific.Wilsonianism and neo-liberal institutionalism provide a good viewpoint for analyzing American foreign policy after the Cold War.In light of that,the thesis will begin with an in-depth analysis of Wilsonianism based on President Wilson's Fourteen Points,covering its background,content and major principles.Then neo-liberal institutionalism,as the development of Wilsononianism,will be studied,including its emergence,basic arguments,assumptions,its connection with and difference from Wilsonianism and its application in the American foreign policy.After that,two cases,the U.S.polices in Europe and the Rebalance to Asia strategy are to be analyzed to see how the United States managed to create a constitutional order in the two regions after the Cold War.In a word,Wilsonianism's influence on American foreign policy was obvious in the aftermath of the Cold War.As one of the four great traditions of the U.S.foreign policy,its significance should not be neglected.