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Foreign policy making often involves the balancing of priorities and tradeoffs. U.S. foreign policy to Central Asia has changed over time, in response to regional concerns and domestic priorities. This study examines U.S. foreign policy motivations in Central Asia, the limitations and counterweights in the region, and the results of U.S. foreign policy to the region. Security, energy, and democracy building are the primary areas of U.S. interest in the region, with security having taken precedence in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. In a complex region, surrounded by many interested international players, poorly calibrated U.S. policy and balancing of policy interests resulted in the souring of relations between the U.S. and Central Asian countries. Many have charged that bungled policy and the reentrance of large neighbors Russia and China resulted in a turning point that led to a large and costly decline in U.S. influence. Did the U.S. lose Central Asia? Was it inevitable that Central Asia’s neighbors would reemerge as primary influences? This study assesses mismanagement of U.S. foreign policy interests, the interests and policies of Russia and China in the region, the future outlook of U.S. policy, and possibilities for cooperation between the U.S. and neighboring superpowers in the region. / text

The Obama Administration in the United States has announced and started implementing foreign policy that is distinctly different from that of its predecessor, the Bush Administration. A new foreign policy doctrine, based on the concept of ‘smart power’, is now emerging and acknowledges that a combination of ‘hard power’ and ‘soft power’ is required for the US to build an appropriate framework within which to tackle unconventional threats such as terrorism. In essence, the prioritisation of soft power indicates a return to intangible power resources, such as culture, ideology and institutions, and most importantly, prioritises diplomacy as an instrument of foreign policy. This study will determine why this dramatic shift has occurred, and will investigate the diplomatic fallout of the Bush Administration’s ‘war on terror’ during which ‘hard power’ tools were favoured and diplomacy was marginalised or, at best, combined with unilateral and even coercive tools of foreign policy. The study will also interrogate the preliminary assumption that the foregoing has convinced policy-makers in the US that the country, despite its superpower status, will not be able to achieve its long-term goals on its own and, if it acts unilaterally, will undermine those political alliances and institutions that are vital to its foreign-policy goals. This has arguably prompted the Obama Administration’s recent embrace of global diplomatic norms, inter alia, transparency, inclusiveness, multilateralism, respect for international law, and basic civility in international relations. / Mini Dissertation (MDIPS)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Political Sciences / Unrestricted

This dissertation traces the cultural and intellectual history of Nicaragua from the heyday of modernization as ideology and practice in the 1960s, when U.S. planners and politicians identified Nicaragua as a test case for the Alliance for Progress, to the triumph of neoliberalism in the 1990s. The modernization paradigm, implemented through collusion between authoritarian dictatorship and the U.S. development apparatus, began to fragment following the earthquake that destroyed Managua in 1972. The ideas that constituted this paradigm were repurposed by actors in Nicaragua and used to challenge the dominant power of the U.S. government, and also to structure political competition within Nicaragua. Using interviews, new archival material, memoirs, novels, plays, and newspapers in the United States and Nicaragua, I trace the way political actors used ideas about development to make and unmake alliances within Nicaragua, bringing about first the Sandinista Revolution, then the Contra War, and finally the neoliberal government that took power in 1990. I argue that because of both a changing international intellectual climate and resistance on the part of the people of Nicaragua, new ideas about development emphasizing human rights, pluralism, entrepreneurialism, indigenous rights, and sustainable development came to supplant modernization theory. The piecemeal changes in development thinking after modernization corresponded not to a single catastrophic shift, but rather obeyed a catastrophic logic of democratic empire, in which U.S. and Nicaraguan politics were characterized by a dialogue about ideas of development but U.S. power remained the final determining factor. Though the new ideas did not replace modernization's former unifying power, they nonetheless constitute the contemporary paradigm of neoliberalism. / History

In 1942 Curtin officially turned Australia to the United States for support and regarded the United States as Australia’s ally in World War II. Curtin’s call to the US set a precedent for Australia’s foreign and defence policy to rely on American support. This thesis analyses the Australian effort to become an ally to the Americans in the early 1950s and to increase American interest in the defence of Southeast Asia. ANZUS and SEATO culminated the Australian effort in bringing the Americans to the defence of Southeast Asia and Australia. Australia believed that it had ‘a special relationship’ with the United States through the formation of these treaties and regarded these treaties, especially ANZUS, as the cornerstone of Australia’s defence. The United States, however, did not give any special significance to these treaties and continued to treat Australia as it treated other friendly countries. The main focus of this thesis is on how the American-Australian alliance forged through ANZUS and SEATO influenced Australian foreign policy regarding Southeast Asia, especially in relation to issues such as the West New Guinea sovereignty problem, the defence of Malaya, Konfrontasi and Vietnam. The central argument is to examine how the American connection affected Australian foreign policy in Southeast Asia. As both countries saw the importance of this area to their strategic and defence interest and were heavily involved in the defence of Southeast Asia after World War II, this thesis will analyse on how the Australians reacted to and interacted with the Americans. This thesis reveals that Australia’s suggestions, plans, views and opinions regarding events in Southeast Asia were constantly rejected by the Americans. This rejection however, did not deter the Australian government from continuously pursuing a policy that would impress the United States. Australia tried hard to be a ‘good buddy’ to the Americans and became ever more subservient and submissive to American wishes. Although there were cases where Australia tried to pursue a policy that differed from the Americans, as in West New Guinea prior to 1959 and in the defence of Malaya, these Australian efforts could not sustain pressure from other actors and were doomed to failure without the support of the Americans. The failure to pursue independent policies was influenced by the increasingly dependent attitude of the Australian government towards the Americans and the fear that Australia would be left alone to defend itself. As Britain, Australia’s traditional ally’s influence in Southeast Asia was in decline,Australia perceived that it did not have other choices but to cling ever more tightly and submissively to the Americans for its own survival.

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This thesis analyses China's national identity construction and its foreign policy implications especially towards Japan and the United States during the Hu Jintao period 2002-2012. The vast literature on China's rise takes “rising nationalism” in China as one of the key indicators of increased likelihood for aggressive behaviour in the future. This work problematizes some of the simplified assumptions made in this literature by emphasising the domestic context from which foreign policies rise. I argue that culture specific values deriving from national identities shape attitude structures and affect the whole thinking and conceptualisation related to foreign policy with wide-ranging consequences. Thus, in this research national identity is operationalised through values and attitudes deriving from it. With empirical evidence, I show in my thesis that most things discussed as "nationalism" in China studies literature can be analytically separated into at least two components, each with different foreign policy relevant correlates. Analysing two sets of survey material with statistical methods I show that the type of national attachment in China constrains foreign policy preferences in a different way than often assumed in the literature: "patriots" support an internationalist stance in contrast to "nationalists" who favour more assertive behaviour towards Japan and the US as well as generally protectionist economic policies. In addition to analysing the associations between core values and foreign policy preferences, I also provide other examples of cultural factors shaping Chinese foreign policy context including the role of historical legacies and their political use, and the role of the media in the formation of foreign threat perceptions and foreign policy preferences. The need to better understand these national identity dynamics is emphasised because of the ongoing pluralisation of Chinese foreign policy establishment, which gives more space to domestic input from various levels of society.

This paper attempts to provide a comprehensive description and analysis of Al-Qaeda affiliates fighting in Syria. The implications for Middle Eastern Security, US foreign policy and Islamic extremism in the future are projected.

Thesis (M.A.)-Marine Corps Command and Staff College, 2008. / Title from title page of PDF document (viewed on: Dec 29, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.