The Decline of America’s Soft Power under the George W. Bush Administration

Abstract

Using military and economic power is not always the necessary or desirable strategy for the United States to achieve its aim. Another key element of America’s global leadership is its soft power, which is defined by Joseph S. Nye as a country's ability to influence events through attraction, rather than military or economic coercion. Attraction stems from credibility and legitimacy. In George W. Bush administration, the United States found itself in difficulty in winning hearts and minds among international communities. Global public opinion polls have shown an obvious decline in America’s popularity in Europe, in Latin America, and, most dramatically, in the Muslim world. The phenomenon of American soft power decline in George W. Bush administration has spurred a vast literature. In order to further explore the causes of American soft power decline specifically, this dissertation aims to examine how and why and to what degree American soft power declined in George W. Bush administration, with special concern to American foreign policy related to Iraq War. By combining scholars’ theoretical opinions with empirical data of some surveys conducted in international scale, this dissertation has examined two hypotheses, which have finally turned out to be valid. Hypothesis 1: The Iraq War that the United States has indulged itself in is a significant factor that has contributed to the decline of American soft power evidently. Hypothesis 2: In spite of the appeal of democracy, although the United States has promoted democracy in Iraq, such coercive democratization has failed to reverse the declining trend of America’s image or recover America’s soft power. The 2003 Iraq War was a typical case of America’s misuse of its hard power and its illegitimate foreign policy. The war was illegitimate regarding to the fact that it was against global public opinions and UN approval, it was preventive, it was regarded as for oil control, it was subversive, and it had negative results. One of the chief results of America’s going to war in Iraq unilaterally was the decline of American soft power. George W. Bush intended to improve America’s soft power by democratizing Iraq and then the Middle East. America’s pragmatic interest in spreading democracy, the disadvantages of American-style democracy, and the unoptimistic situations of the democratized nations, all undermined the legitimacy of America’s coercive promotion of democracy in Iraq, which had become a collapsed state. Instead of improving the soft power of the United States, such coercive democratization in Iraq has contributed to the decline of American soft power. It is necessary to suggest that coercive promotion of democracy should be demoted by American government among the priorities of U.S. foreign policy.