Penny Diplomacy
http://www.msnbc.com/news/998426.asp?0cb=-117194490
UNKNOWNS: Americans thought rising prosperity would unite the rest of
the world behind their ideals, but it has not worked out that way
By Robert J. Samuelson
NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL
Issues 2004 — "Soft power," a now fashionable phrase, is hardly a new
concept. Ever since World War II, American foreign policy has operated
on the assumption that the active promotion of prosperity, through the
spread of free trade and mixed capitalism, would advance the nation's
geopolitical agenda. Countries that traded together and nurtured large
middle classes would come to share similar interests and values. They
would adopt democracy and maintain friendly relations. After the
collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the cold war, the alliance
of markets and foreign policy seemed triumphant. "Globalization" was
on everyone's lips. The American vision would spread-though perhaps
slowly—everywhere as more nations fell under its sway.
Robert J. Samuelson
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