Republicans in the White House - Hard times for Soft Power? En teoriprövande studie om skillnaderna i soft power mellan demokratiska och republikanska administrationer
Foreign policySoft powerHypothesis-testingDemocratic administrationsRepublican administrationsPolitical and administrative sciencesStatsvetenskapFörvaltningskunskapLaw and Political Science
According to many scholars America's soft power is in decline, a power resource whose importance has been increasing in world politics. This makes it interesting to examine if there is a difference between how Democratic and Republican administrations wield their soft power.This thesis is a hypothesis-testing study and the purpose is to test the hypothesis that Democratic administrations, to a greater extent than Republican, can create, utilize and defend soft power. My thesis is based on Joseph Nye's theory of soft power and the focus of this study is the aspects of the foreign policy resources. In order to measure this concept I have made my own operationalization where five different indicators serve as my guidance. I use the method of least likely-cases to select and motivate the administrations being tested, which gives me a comparative study of the Democratic administrations of Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton and the Republican administration of George H. Bush.My results show that the credibility of my hypothesis to some degree is being strengthened. Not all my indicators are confirmed, but this study has demonstrated more indicators that support my hypothesis than contradict it.