American Foreign Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

American Foreign Policy - Essay Example Seeking to explore the effects of the end of the Cold War on the foreign of policy of the United States, this essay will address the changes caused by this tumultuous event on the international geopolitical system. Has American state self-interest changed following the collapse of bipolarity? What motivates US foreign policy in this New World Order? During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a bitter confrontation pitting two opposite poles in the international order against one another. In this period of bipolarity, state behavior was mediated by concerns regarding the stability of the international system as well as the state interest and behavior of the other major power. Today, the United States operates in a unipolar world and is the world’s hegemonic state. State behavior is less constrained as it was during the Cold War but US state interest today reflects power conditions and the maintenance of overall system stability which promotes the supreme status of the United States in the international system. Power is a â€Å"hard† issue and a primary concern for survival; so called â€Å"soft issues† like human rights and democracy are far less salient. In the anarchic world of international affairs, hard or core issues always supersede soft issues and are integral to defini ng state interest and behavior. What is the state of the international system following the end of the Cold War? In an article entitled â€Å"Soft Balancing in the Age of U.S. Primacy†, T.V. Paul addressed the issue of hegemonic power and stability in the post-Cold War period and explores the means through which other powers have attempted to counteract the global supremacy of the United States. As the world’s hegemonic power, the United States has, in the Cold War period, resorted to unilateralism and expansive military might. The systemic level response, according to this article has been a variety of soft-power strategies by