CC BY
50
ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИЕ НАУКИ
_SMART POWER AS THE FACTOR IN THE SINO-U.S. RELATIONS_
DOI: 10.31618/ESU.2413-9335.2020.5.71.601
Cheng Guo
Ph. D. researcher.
Miklukho-Maklaya Str., 6, Moscow, Russian Federation, Department of Political Analysis and Management, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University).
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4927-6596
Yin Qun Ph. D. researcher.
Miklukho-Maklaya Str., 6, Moscow, Russian Federation, Department of Theory and History of International Relations, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University).
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2685-9898
ABSTRACT
This research work analyzes the characteristics of American public diplomacy from the perspectives of smart power theory, comparing China and the United States' smart power strategy. The article revealed that globalization and the process of technological evolution have led profound changes in the contempopary world politics and international relations, the smart power factors such as culture, science, technology, and information have become increasingly prominent in political science. These factors have not only created the fundamental theory of smart power, but also affected the form and definition of diplomacy. The research methodology is based on a complex combination of scientific methods, mainly comparative, analytical, systematic. The obtained conclusions can be referred that smart power as a key factor, has become a new theoretical perspective for understanding changes in contempopary international relations and foreign policy. It has naturally become the theoretical support for public diplomacy, meanwhile public diplomacy itself is also an important content and strategic path for smart power construction.
Key Words: China, Diplomacy, Hard Power, Public Diplomacy, Smart Power, the United States,
Introduction
The origin of the term "smart power" is under debate and has been attributed to both Suzanne Nossel and Joseph Nye. [1] American scholar Joseph S. Nye was also first proposed the term of "soft power" in his famous "American Decline" debate in the late 1980s. In that debate, "The Rise and Fall of the United States," represented by the "American Decline Theory," from Yale historian Paul Kennedy's book "The Rise And Fall of the Great Powers", published in 1987, has prevailed and touched an American nerve.[2] This has once plunged many American people into the pessimistic mood of the "American Decline." However Mr. Nye denied in the debate the hepothesis of American decline, and proposed the concept of soft power, based on the theory of interdependence. [3] In the theory of international relations, smart power is an ability of single nation that can affect the preferences of other nations. From the perspective of possessing resources, smart power resources refer to assets that could generate attractiveness. "There are three main types of resources for a country's smart power: culture, politics values and foreign policy. [4] Although there is no separate emphasis on the use of international institutions and information as smart power resources, Joseph Nye still takes the international system and information as the source of smart power in many of his research works. [5] The emergence and development of smart power theory has extended the theoretical research of international relations to a new field, becoming the new theoretical perspective of
understanding changes in international relations and diplomacy, also provides theoretical support for international relations in public diplomacy practice.
Methodology
The methodological basis consists of the general scientific methods of political analysis on international relations issues, in particular comparative, theoretical, analytical, systematic, and descriptive methods. Furthermore, research methods are based on the principles of structural-functional analysis, which provides the comprehensive review of smart power and public diplomacy in a changing Sino-U.S. relations.
Results
Smart power is reflected in the attractiveness of one country to the rest of countries, and it is an important content for a country to shape and display its charm on both the international and domestic stages. It not only emphasizes the attractive construction and innovation of a country in shaping the mainstream values of the domestic society, the improvement of governance capabilities, and the cultivation of civil society, but also requires it to promote its outstanding culture, development model, and diplomatic idea to the world to gain recognition and mutual understanding from other countries. The promotion of the smart power resources is achieved through public diplomacy. Public diplomacy refers to one nation's government influencing people of foreign countries through information dissemination, cultural exchanges, mass media, opinion polls, and non-governmental organizations, expanding the dialogue between local
governments and citizens, reducing the misconceptions, and improving country's image in the foreign public and its international influence, and thus a diplomatic approach that promotes its national interests. As an important supplement to traditional diplomacy, the value of public diplomacy is increasingly recognized by the world.
During the Cold War, hard power such as military industry and nuclear deterrence occupied absolute dominance in the East-West confrontation, especially when major powers used military power to balance the strength of the international system. Today, economic, cultural and information factors are playing an increasingly important role in international relations. New power resources will be more effective, such as the ability to effective communication and establishment of multilateral mechanisms. In the context of changing world, all countries, including China and the United States, need to learn to achieve their strategic goals and national interests through new sources of power.
From the course of historical evolution, the power resources of each leading country have become increasingly extensive. Especially since the 20th century, the universal culture and international system have increasingly displayed its flexible power. The success of any country in responding to the new threats in the global information age depends not only on its military and economic strength, but also on the smart power represented by its culture and values, and global images. In this sense, the resources of smart power have enriched the content of public diplomacy, making culture, science, technology, and information all important contents of public diplomacy. Meanwhile, the abundance of communication content has also brought about the diversification of public diplomatic communication methods.
Comparative Analysis of Smart Power of China and the United States
From the perspective of strategic cognition, American scholars noticed two levels when analyzing the source of anti-Americanism, that is "What is the United States" and "What the United States does?" The decline of the United States' previous smart power was mainly caused by "what the United States does", and "what is the United States" still has a strong appeal, which is one of the main reasons why the United States still has an advantage in the field of smart power. [6] Therefore, American popular culture, democratic values, advanced technology and information advantages have become the main components of its smart power. The concept of smart power used by Chinese scholars is broader than that of Joseph Nye. Nye's smart power is mainly aimed at international relations, the Chinese scholars' discussion of smart power includes both foreign policy and domestic policy. In addition, Nye's discussion of American smart power is mainly focused on levels of popular culture and political models, while Chinese scholars 'discussion of Chinese smart power is focused on traditional cultural and economic development models, and involves national cohesion, social equity, moral standards and anti-corruption. Moreover, the impact of
the concept of smart power on national policy appears to be greater in China than in the United States. [7]
From the perspective of strategic intentions, the "Smart Power Strategy" is an extension and expansion of the soft power diplomacy strategy. The goal is to deconstruct the rest of nations' existing ideology, values, and cultural identities while building up the American-style ideology and values among them to achieve its purpose of dominating the world at the least cost. Over the past 30 years of reform and opening up, China's hard power, especially its overall economic strength, has been unprecedentedly improved. Compared with the rapid development of hard power, the quality of China's smart power is extremely disproportionate. Therefore, China's smart power strategy aims to enhance itself and achieve peaceful rise, in order to enhance China's national cohesion and international affinity under the guidance of the concept of harmony, and to minimize the possible negative effect caused by the growth of China's economic and military power. Thereby creating a good external environment for China's peaceful rise.
From a strategic perspective, the smart power of the United States is extroverted, while the concept of Chinese smart power is introverted. When Joseph Nye studied and discussed smart power, he considered the issue mostly from the perspective of international relations. From this point of view, its concept of smart power has the characteristics of extroversion. The methods of American popular culture, education, and mature public diplomacy are "shaping new others" with emphasis on assimilation; while the promotion of China's traditional culture and shaping international image include "shaping new self" and focus on probation. The connotation of China's smart power is broadly defined as: the power resources contained in the core values, political system, cultural ideas, and national spirit, and the influence and driving force internalized in the behavior of the state. Its basic characteristics are mainly reflected in endogenous and introspection. China's smart power mainly focus on international relations on the one hand, and more on domestic development on the other. In particular, some scholars regard the execution of development strategies, national cohesion, national creativity, and cultural appeal as important sources, which makes China's smart power more introverted.
From the perspective of goals, the goal of the U.S. smart power strategy is to achieve soft hegemony, the goal of U.S. public diplomacy is consistent with smart power at this point, which is to serve U.S. hegemony. For a long run, American public diplomacy has a "sacred mission" to promote American cultural values and the free market system. Some scholars have pointed out that the main goal of American public diplomacy is: first, to publicize US policies, especially US foreign policy, in order to win the major support from the foreign people and governments, thereby directly serving US foreign policy; Second, to let foreigners better understand the United States and its social system and culture, so as to enable foreign governments and people to understand the social and cultural roots of American foreign policy, in order to
export American values, democratic institutions, and a free market economic system. After the September 11, the main purpose of the United States to strengthen public diplomacy is to publicize the United States' anti-terrorism policy, promote the goal of democratization, alleviate anti-Americanism, and improve the United States' global image. .
The purpose of China's public diplomacy is closely linked to the goal of China's smart power strategy, that is, to enhance China's national cohesion and international affinity under the guidance of the concept of harmony, and to maximize the elimination of possible negative effects caused by China's economic and military hard power. Eliminating the "China threat theory", "China collapse theory" and other adverse effects, shaping a good and positive image of China, to show the world people a real China. On the other hand, let the world truly understand China's harmonious foreign policy, cultivate China's image and create a good international environment for economic growth, and promote the construction of a harmonious world. A self-confident, pragmatic, open, and responsible China is the basic goal of China's public diplomacy, thereby gradually promoting the transformation of China's image in the international community from neutral to positive and close. With the enhancement of China's national strength, raising public diplomacy to a strategic height and establishing a public diplomacy system with its own characteristics, making it a powerful promoter of traditional diplomacy, should be the proper meaning of China's public diplomacy today.
Analysis of the Public Diplomatic System under the U.S. Smart Power Strategy
From the perspective of communication subjects, American public diplomacy is a government action conducted by government agencies, which is different from the folk-to-people diplomacy. However, with the evolution of globalization, the subject of public diplomacy in the United States has become increasingly rich, forming a multi-level transformation from the national level to non-governmental organizations, transnational corporations, private groups, colleges and universities, and even individuals. From this point of view, the subject of American public diplomacy highlights not only the government factors, but also the role of non-governmental organizations and multinational companies.
From the perspective of the object of communication, the object of American public diplomacy is ordinary foreign citizens, especially "media editors, journalists, university staff, and student leaders. In recent years, ordinary young people have been added instead of traditional diplomatic offices.[8] At the national level, with the expansion of global hegemony in the United States, anti-Americanism has gradually risen, especially in the Middle East, where anti-American sentiments have spreading. The September 11 is an extreme reflection of anti-American sentiment in Arabic countries. In this case, the United States believes that the key issue to eliminate terrorism from its roots is to reshape the United States' image in the Arabic world and gain the understanding and
respect of the Arabic peoples. Therefore, after 9/11, the United States' public diplomatic activities focused on the Arabic countries as the object of dissemination.
From the perspective of communication content, American public diplomacy is engaged in foreign cultural propaganda activities, which mainly include popular culture, education, democratic values, scientific and technological information advantages, and so on. It is no exaggeration to say, since the birth of the movie, Hollywood has been a beautiful and powerful place in American foreign policy. At the same time, the elements of life represented by McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and cowboys are not just a way of life, but more importantly, the United States promotes American values by selling products to other countries. Therefore, Coca-Cola is not a simple matter. Behind it is the entire superstructure, full of various expectations and behavior patterns, followed by a social outlook on the status quo and the future, and an interpretation of the past.[9] The content of American public diplomacy is also reflected in the education and academic frontiers represented by Harvard University. In fact, rich educational resources and creative academic frontier ideas have brought considerable smart power to the United States.
From the perspective of the media, as a non-traditional diplomatic activity, US public diplomacy includes media diplomacy, public statements and debates, public information, international broadcasting services, education and cultural programs, and political action plans. For example, VOA, Radio Free Asia, CBS, CNN, ABC, FOX and other foreign media channels, as well as the Fulbright Scholarship Conduct cultural infiltration and talent competition with academic and cultural exchange activities such as the Ford Fund project, immigration, and the policy of studying abroad. With the help of advanced information technology and developed mass media, the United States has incorporated public diplomacy, mainly publicity and cultural exchange, into the country's overall foreign affairs. It aims to influence foreign diplomacy through exchange understanding, information communication, and foreign public affairs. To promote and realize their own national interests.
Conclusion
The world today is undergoing a profound transformation and adjustment. A series of compelling new issues, changes, and trends have emerged in international relations. The transformation is characterized by power transfer, issues transfer, and paradigm transfer, which has profoundly affected all nations in the world, and the major international forces in the world have rearranged and combined. At the same time, international political power is more manifested as intangible smart power resources such as scientific and technological information, flexible organizational capabilities, political cohesion, international institutions, and universal culture. Changes in power resources and the nature of power in international politics have not only promoted the development of international relations theory, spawned the theory of smart power, but also affected the form of diplomacy and changed the content of diplomacy. The
development of globalization and informatization has made smart power resources stand out in international relations. Changes in diplomatic content have also made public diplomacy, with information communication, cultural exchange and communication as the main method, gradually become the first choice of countries' diplomatic strategies. Countries on the global stage are gradually realizing that to establish and maintain stable relations between nations, it is not enough to rely on traditional government consultations and negotiations, but necessary to establish a relationship between one government and nongovernmental actors such as the common people. Effective communication media, exchanges and communication on culture, values and other aspects, cultivate public goodwill and recognition of other nations, carry out a wide range of public diplomatic activities, and continuously enhance the national smart power to promote and realize national interests.
УДК: 327 ГРНТИ: 11.25.40
Reference
1. Dorfman A., Mattelart A. How to Read Donald Duck: Imperialist Ideology in the Disney Comic, NY: International General Editions, 1975, p. 97.
2. http//www.publicdiplomacy.org
3. Kazenstein P. J., Keohane R. O. Anti -Americanism sin World Politics, Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2007, p. 2.
4. Kennedy P.The Rise And Fall of the Great Powers, Vintage Books, 1987.
5. Keohane R. O., Nye J. S. "Power and interdependence in the Information Age," Foreign Affairs, 77(5), (1998): 89- 90.
6. Nossel S. "Smart Power". Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
7. Nye J. S. "Get Smart: Combining Hard and Soft Power". Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
8. Nye J. S. Soft Power: the Means to Success in World Politics, New York: Public Affairs, 2004, p.5.
9. Nye J. S. "The Changing Nature of World Power," Political Science Quarterly, Volume 105, Issue 2, 1990.
ВЕНЕСУЭЛА КАК КЛЮЧЕВОЙ ПУНКТ ВЛИЯНИЯ РОССИИ В ЛАТИНСКОЙ АМЕРИКЕ: _КРАТКОСРОЧНЫЕ РИСКИ_
DOI: 10.31618^^2413-9335.2020.5.71.602 Фадеичев Григорий Евгеньевич
Московский Государственный Лингвистический Университет
Студент IV курса
Grigoriy Fadeichev
Moscow State Linguistic University 4thyear student
АННОТАЦИЯ
В настоящее время Латинская Америка переживает период политической турбулентности, что неизбежно влечет за собой изменение баланса сил в регионе. В свете прихода к власти в латиноамериканских государствах проамерикански настроенных правительств правого толка, Россия вынуждена искать тесного сотрудничества с традиционными союзниками в регионе. Данная статья освещает возможные риски для региональной политики Российской Федерации, ввиду политической нестабильности в Венесуэле, основном региональном союзнике России.
ABSTRACT
Nowadays Latin America is passing the political turbulence period that inevitably results in the change of the regional balance of power. While the right-wing and American backed governments are taking the power in the regional countries, Russia is to search for more tight contact with the traditional regional partners. This article is devoted to outline the possible challenges (related with severe political crisis in Venezuela, the main regional ally) the regional Russian policy may face with.
Ключевые слова: Латинская Америка, Венесуэла, политический кризис, правый поворот, Россия, США.
Keywods: Latin America, Venezuela, political crisis, right turn, Russia, the USA.
Латиноамериканский регион своими обширными богатствами, территориями и людскими ресурсами всегда привлекал к себе внимание ведущих мировых держав. Впервые территории Центральной и Южной Америки были покорены и освоены разраставшейся Испанской Империей, которая не только использовала свои обширные колонии в Новом свете для
финансирования европейских войн, но и заложила границы будущих независимых государств и принципы их дальнейшего сосуществования. Несмотря на такой мощный скрепляющий фактор, как единство языка и культуры (кроме разве что Бразилии и небольших бывших колоний Нидерландов и Великобритании), страны региона, получив независимость, так и не смогли
