Literature Review On Joseph Nye

If I were asked what is the most prominent book which describes the foreign policy structure worldwide in the period of post Cold War I would probably say that it is : "The Paradox of American Power: Why the World's Only Superpower Can't Go It Alone by Joseph S. Nye.In his theory he gives the evaluation of the forces involved. Nye points out the necessity of deliberate analysis and debate.It is safe to say that in the post Cold War period we can observe a kind of mess in the foreign policy. He also shows us consequences of this state of affairs.
Since Rome Empire there was no such state as the U.S which has control over numerous actions throughout the world. While speaking about globalization we can’t help mention the production of the U.S. There are two game plans for this supremacy: to spread or to vanish. In the sphere of foreign policy powers mean the capacity to achieve the desired goals and to alternate the present posture of affairs. We mostly consider powers in the economic and military spheres. The powers can be utilized successfully and unsuccessfully, mind that.
As we have seen in the recent years military power is extremely important which can easily become the main interest.Though governments prefer not to use direct military interference and they can recruit terrorists to eliminate their enemies. According to Nye these terroristic organizations are similar to pirates, who acted in the 19th century.
On the over hand military forces can be utilized in order to stabilize instable relations between countries. For instance, such strategy was used with some European and Asian countries which were glad the U.S forces to normalize the situation with neighbors.
If the state follows market rules it can increase its economic capacity. Without doubt we shouldn’t underestimate the power of economic force nowadays. The leaders of the governments who are not interested in the well-being of their citizens can disregard market rules. In describing the idea of hard power Nye was skillfully analyzing the role of economic and military powers.
Speaking about soft powers I want to mention institutional, ideological and cultural forces. The strategy means that instead of enforcing people to do what you want you make them think that these are truly theirs intentions to do so. This is what soft power is about. Soft power declares institutions, values and standards. It is not only persuasion or impact, but a complicated strategy of people manipulating which is useful for the administration of the state. Government and citizens affect each other and that’s why soft power is popular. Factors that spoil the idea of soft power are: divergence from others, vainglory and a concernment in nation interest. The main aim of Nye’s research is to investigate various types of power in different nations.
The usage of soft power is more effective in modern societies than in pre-industrial nations like the Middle East or Africa. The thing is that in the modern world a state can’t dominate relying on military force only. The power of economy is as important as military strength. Assuming the balance of power in the world, the supremacy of the U.S is obvious, but at the same time other states are not going to unite their power against it. If the U.S behaves in a gentle manner their pressure and power will be swept under the carpet.
After the World War two nations preferred to be closer to the U.S rather than the Soviet Union because the latter was threatening them. Nye realizes that there should exist the so-called leader or dominant power which would regulate relationships worldwide and stabilize economy and finance spheres. No matter how strong the U.S is know it lacks power to minify global terrorism or to achieve the goal of nuclear non-dissemination. The U.S. needs cooperation with others, but it requires a set of adjustments and compromises. Nye supposes that the efficiency of the U.S soft power can be infected by self-exaltation of the government.
The realizable challenges for the dominance of the U.S are approved in principle. For example China can be regarded as a source for many possible challenges. Though, its military and economic spheres have so many obstacles even for the replacing of the U.S position of the supreme force in Southeast Asian regions and the Western Pacific.
There are three types of dependence: cultural, economic and political. The most obvious one is economic dependence. It can be found in financial aid and investment from other country or in branches of trade. Foreign military and security aid constitute political dependence. The so-called pro-core dependent policy means that the dependent countries accord their foreign policies with those which the core state favors. According to this the Core state will provide economic aid to its subordinates. These dependent states are called periphery.
There is also an anti-core foreign policy which requires compensation. This means that periphery states make their own choices in foreign policy taking into consideration the preferences of the core state in order to be awarded. In other words periphery countries share the ideas of core state. This type of strategy means not to create relations between dependence and foreign policy. The periphery states can make own decisions without complying with the core country but they should expect particular sanctions from it, like military or economic embargo .The phenomenon of compensation we can observe when one country is not opposite to the core state but must be responsible for the anxiety in the world which this relations will create.
Three suppositions we must take into consideration in connection with the leadership style: first of all- motivation for action, second of all- openness to information and reaction to political restraints. According to this foreign policy theory there exist two types of leaders: a leader that is contextually-responsive and a goal driven leader. Goal driven leaders take what they want no matter how many obstructions they meet. They are pursuing their own interest and aim. On the contrary contextually-responsive leaders take into consideration what other want. They pay attention to advisers, media, interest groups and public.
President Nixon has visited China in 1972 in order to support their admission to the UN. The president changed the long-term hostility to this communist country. The governments made an agreement to strengthen their cultural, scientific and trade contacts.
This example shows that Nixon decided to review the U.S foreign policy toward China. President Nixon was trying to end the era of confrontation and held negotiations with communists. The main purpose of getting on track with China was to achieve superiority over The Soviet Union by opening the doors for trade and travelling. If we dig deeper we will see that he was trying to get rid of Vietnam War in the first place and to prevent the rise of the Eastern Europe economy and to preserve the dominance of American market. Another success was the Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty which contributed to the U.S security because the possibility of nuclear war was reduced. Nixon was a contextually-responsive leader but he also ignored the ideological pressure so we can consider him a goal driven leader as well.
He was attentive to his advisers and public but he was a strong leader. As Nye describes, he was the very first president who was trying to interact with China.
It is a well-known fact that we are living in the era of globalization. National frontiers have become more blurry. Globalization has effects on our day-to-day living. According to Nye the oldest variation of globalization is the environmental interdependence. The very bright example of it is the spread of the diseases, for instance, the Black Death. Another example is the spread of exotic flora and fauna worldwide. Somewhere these organisms have vanished native species. Otherwise, not all effects of globalization are negative. Mind the fact that lots of crops and dishes were borrowed from both Eastern and Western cuisine. There is also military globalization which means interdependence in which rrce is used in order to threat. A good case in point is world wars. During the Cold War the interdependence between The Soviet Union and the U.S was highly visible. Besides, everybody understood that each of these two parties was capable to destroy the other in thirty minutes. Another type of globalization is social and it is evident as the spread of ideas, people, and cultures. It is a common practice nowadays.
With the help of author’s skillful structural organizationi of the book one can easily understand the content of it. Due to the fact that all the chapters in the “The Paradox of American Power“ are written chronologically and according to the degree of interest.
All in this entire book is a perfect illustration to the governmental decision-making. It is safe to say that the U.S has a great potential on its way to the world domination and it seems to me that its government is not going to stop.