The global strategy of the United States has experienced a development process from scratch, from fragmentation to system integrity, from military strategy to global strategy, which can be roughly divided into four stages: brewing, initial formation, formal formation and post-cold war period. The division of this stage is based on the comparative growth and decline of international strategic forces, and also reflects the historical process of the United States from local expansion to overseas expansion and from overseas expansion to global expansion under the impetus of domestic political and economic situation. Using the method of historical analysis, this paper deeply discusses the formation and evolution of American global strategy, and comparatively studies the track of the gradual transformation of American global strategy from "cold war type" to "post-cold war type" after the Cold War.
Global strategy refers to the general program that big countries mobilize and use political, economic, military and diplomatic means to participate in international struggles, safeguard and enhance their own interests and achieve fundamental political goals. In a sense, only global powers can form a global strategy. Generally speaking, American global strategy can be divided into three stages: gestation period (1783 to 1898), initial formation period (1898 to 1945) and formal formation period (1945 to1945).
First, the origin and initial formation of American global strategy
The United States is a new capitalist country, and the strategic research in western countries started very late. Because the east and west are bordered by two oceans, and the north and south are weak countries, the United States has never encountered a serious threat to its security from independence to the end of 19, and has never had an urgent need to fight overseas. The United States has long pursued isolationism, maintained a "detached position" and stayed away from the disputes in the old European continent. While developing commercial relations, the United States should try its best to avoid political contacts with foreign countries and permanent alliances with any foreign countries in order to safeguard its independence, territorial integrity and freedom of choice. Therefore, from the victory of the war of independence in 1783 to the end of 19, the policy pursued by the United States was actually a grand strategy, that is, "western hemisphere defense", and its fundamental goal was to prevent the eastern hemisphere from invading the western hemisphere again and gain a dominant position in North America and hegemony over the western hemisphere.
/kloc-at the turn of the 0/9th century, American capitalism developed to the stage of imperialism, and its global strategy also entered the initial stage. Driven by commercial interests, the United States began to turn its attention to the outside world and decided to expand its influence on a larger international stage. The development of the situation has promoted the formation of "interventionism with specific goals" in the United States, from mainland expansion to overseas expansion. Peter Trubowitz once pointed out: "The United States created a continental empire in the19th century, and then set its sights on more distant borders." The motivation and foundation for the initial formation of American global strategy are:
First, the rapid growth of American economic strength has laid a material foundation for the implementation of overseas expansion policy. The victory of the northern industrial bourgeoisie in the civil war cleared the way for the development of American capitalism. By the 1990s of 19, the total industrial output value surpassed that of Britain, ranking first in the world and close to the sum of Britain, France and Germany. Strong economic strength provides material guarantee for the United States to carve up the world again. At this time, the territory of the United States expanded westward to the Pacific coast. At the same time, due to the imbalance of economic and political development, Germany, Japan and Russia rose on the world stage, and Britain began to decline. It has become an inevitable situation to re-divide the world and divide the sphere of influence according to the new balance of power.
Second, the United States has a theoretical basis for overseas expansion. At the same time that the power balance of big countries has changed and international competition has intensified, Europe is forming two major military groups, ready to break the original power balance by force. In this context, the public opinion of establishing a new international order has gradually emerged in the United States. 1896, Brooks Adams published The Law of Civilization and Decline, which demonstrated the rationality and inevitability of the United States moving from isolationism to internationalism, and demanded that the United States abandon isolationism, quickly step onto the international stage, defeat its main competitors and establish a new international order headed by the United States. Mahan, a young naval officer and historian, studied the history of the world's oceans, especially the history of Britain's global expansion. In 1890, he published the book The Influence of Sea Power on History: 1660- 1783, which clearly put forward the famous "Sea Power Theory". Mahan also wrote a series of papers to explain the blueprint of the new international order with the theory of sea power. He believes that if a country wants to play an important role in world affairs, it must master sea power; Controlling the ocean is the military factor of sea power, and using the ocean is the economic factor of sea power; The United States wants to build a powerful navy in Asia and the Pacific to achieve its strategic goals. Adams and Mahan demonstrated the future new international order and the status of the United States from different angles, which represented the national interests of the United States and became the main theme of public opinion, and had a great influence on many American politicians and diplomats, especially theodore roosevelt, who first served as assistant secretary of the navy and then as president. Therefore, the "sea power theory" adapts to the political needs of the United States eager to re-carve up the world and is an important symbol of the turning point of American foreign strategy.
Third, the US military strategy has begun to take shape. The Spanish-American War is the most well-prepared war after the American War of Independence, and "preparation" is considered to be the biggest feature of the military strategy adopted in this war. As early as 65438+mid-1990s, the United States began to make a battle plan for Spain. 1896 naval officer william king Bull pointed out in the strategic report "War with Spain" that the goal of the US war against Spain should be to make Cuba independent and seize the Philippines and Puerto Rico, and the main direction should be Cuba and the Philippines; The key to the war is to seize the sea power and control the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; The main war style is naval battle, and the actions of the navy will determine the course of the war. After the war began, the US government basically guided the war according to this strategic idea. The goal of the United States is not to attack Spain, but to attack several overseas colonies in Spain. The direction and area of action are on the edge of the sphere of influence of the Spanish Empire. Therefore, the American strategy in the Spanish-American War is called "peripheral strategy", that is, the strategy of directly attacking the fragile periphery of the Spanish Empire.
Fourth, the United States began to break through the restrictions of Monroe Doctrine, shifted its attention from America to other continents, and embarked on the road of overseas expansion. 1823, the United States put forward the "Monroe Doctrine" to guide the expansion in the Western Hemisphere. 1898 In April, the United States launched the Spanish-American War, seized Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam, and extended its reach to the Pacific region. 1899, American secretary of state John Hayward twice put forward the "open door" policy, demanding the right to invade China together with other western powers. Marked by the Spanish-American War and the "open door" policy, American foreign policy has entered the regionalism stage of overseas expansion.
Second, the formal formation and development of American global strategy
On the eve of World War I, Mackinder, a famous British geopolitical scientist, turned his attention to the vast Eurasia and took the lead in distinguishing the concepts of land rights and sea rights. He asked: From a certain consistency of geographical relations, isn't the central region of world politics the vast region between Europe and Asia? As a result, the famous political mantra of Maxwell's syllogism appeared in history: "Whoever rules Eastern Europe will control the heart of the mainland;" Whoever controls the heart of the mainland can control the world island (Eurasia); Whoever controls the world island can control the whole world. "
World War II was a turning point in the whole international relations and the strategic history of the United States. In the past 300 years, especially since the19th century, Europe has been at the center of world politics for a long time, maintaining the traditional pattern of international relations centered on European balance of power. World War II broke this pattern, Britain and France became second-class powers, West Germany and Italy were defeated, and the era when Europe dominated international affairs has become history. The United States not only stepped onto the world strategic stage, but also greatly enhanced its economic, military and political strength in the war. With its strength far exceeding that of any other country, the United States has become the overlord of the capitalist world and has risen to the power center of international relations. Therefore, it is inevitable for the situation to completely abandon the isolationist policy, move from the periphery of international relations to the center and expand on a global scale. As early as World War II, Roosevelt and others designed a set of methods to establish the postwar world order and realize the "American century", which laid the foundation stone for the establishment of the whole postwar world structure by leading the establishment of the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and signing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The opposition between ideology and national interests of the United States and the Soviet Union and Truman's taking over as president in April 1945 accelerated the process of the United States pursuing globalism and confronting the Soviet Union. As the first and largest socialist country in the world, the Soviet Union made great national sacrifices to win World War II and gained unprecedented international status. Under the influence of the Soviet Union, the Oriental Group has gone beyond the scope of a country, and its influence is constantly expanding. The Soviet Union was no longer limited by its geographical location and extended its influence to Europe. In this situation, the struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union spread rapidly around the world, which made the United States "face unprecedented challenges to its traditional views on national security, war and peace" and "have to seek new ways to safeguard national security".
In order to fully implement the "containment strategy", the United States launched the "Marshall Plan" in Europe, established NATO, and rearmed West Germany. In Asia, the United States has successively signed bilateral and multilateral treaties with the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and other countries, and on the basis of these treaties, signed the Treaty on Collective Defense in Southeast Asia with relevant countries in September 1954, forming a strategic encirclement of China in East and Southeast Asia; In the Middle East, it promoted the establishment of the Central Treaty Organization under the auspices of Britain, and introduced "Eisenhower Doctrine" during the Eisenhower administration. Speakman believes that the essence of this "containment strategy" of the United States against the Soviet Union (and the newly established People's Republic of China (PRC)) is to maintain the military superiority of the United States on the edge of Eurasia, so as to suppress the Soviet Union's breakthrough to the edge and then challenge the western maritime forces.
The proposal of "containment strategy" marks the qualitative change and leap of American strategy. This change is mainly reflected in: (1) From the alliance with the Soviet Union in wartime to the war with fascist countries such as Germany, Japan and Italy, the transition to the Soviet Union as the main opponent and fighting object, and containment of the Soviet Union and "expansion of capitalism" have become the strategic goals that the United States has been implementing for more than 40 years after the war. (2) The American fortress strategy centered on American homeland changed to a real global strategy, which broke through the long-standing "isolationism" strategic trend of thought centered on American homeland security and less involved in European affairs, and instead emphasized the global nature of American interests and American security, and formulated a relatively complete global strategy for actively participating in world affairs and competing for world dominance for the first time. From the beginning of this strategy, the American military strategy in various post-war periods has been obviously global and offensive. (3) From traditional conventional strategy to modern strategic system under nuclear conditions. Although the United States did not form a systematic nuclear strategy at the initial stage of putting forward and implementing the "containment strategy", with the actual use of Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs in August 1945, the United States has begun to study the theory of using nuclear weapons, and the embryonic form of nuclear strategy is taking shape. (4) From following the footsteps of Western Europe to walking in the forefront of the world. Before World War II, American military strategic thought was basically an imitation of the traditional military theory of western European countries such as Britain and France. In national policies, politics and military are always out of touch, and there has never been a strategic theory that combines political goals with military goals. Starting from the "containment strategy", the United States swept away the lack of strategic thinking caused by the lack of strategic tradition in the past, quickly set off a "strategic fever", created a new situation in American modern strategic research, and established an independent strategic system with American characteristics, which had an important impact on the development of strategic thinking in all countries, especially in western countries.
Containment strategy is not only the military strategy of Truman administration, but also the core of its national strategy-"Truman Doctrine", which laid the foundation for the global strategy of the United States after the war. This combination of military strategy and national strategy shows that the United States has not yet formed a complete and multi-level strategic system in the early post-war period. One of the reasons for this situation is that at that time, the United States had not yet established a unified international organization to plan and operate a unified military strategy. Both the national strategy and the military strategy were put forward and formulated by the President. During the Eisenhower administration, American military strategy and national strategy began to distinguish. The "new look" policy and the "new look" policy are the national strategy of the United States, and "massive retaliation" is the military strategy. However, because the formulation of American military strategy in this period was basically put forward and formulated by officials outside the Department of Defense, the "separation" between military strategy and national strategy has not been completed from the perspective of strategic decision-making procedures. During the Kennedy-Johnson administration, the United States further straightened out the relationship between military strategy and national strategy, not only taking "peace strategy" as national strategy, but also changing the precedent of military strategy put forward and formulated by the State Council officials in the past. Taylor, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, put forward a military strategy called "flexible response". The content of American military strategy is more and more substantial, and the level is more and more clear. Under military strategy, nuclear strategy and conventional strategy are clearly distinguished. From 1969 to 12 in 1982, the United States experienced the change of Nixon, Ford and Carter governments, and changed from a political party government to a democratic government. During this period, because the United States was deeply troubled by the "Vietnam War Syndrome", the Soviet Union seized the opportunity to press hard, and the five power centers of the United States, the Soviet Union, Japan, Europe and China were taking shape. The United States has to carry out the "Nixon Doctrine" which attaches importance to the three principles of partnership, strength and negotiation, and carefully take the middle line between the two extreme policies of the world police and isolationism. Consistent with the national strategy, the United States has put forward a military strategy of "realistic deterrence". The connotations of "Nixon Doctrine" and "Realistic Deterrence Strategy" are basically the same, and the core is to implement the policy of "local people fighting local people" and try to avoid the US military from being involved in the Vietnam War-style local war again. 198 1 after the Reagan administration came to power, it put forward "reaganism" in its national strategy, saying that the United States would resist any place where Soviet aggression or Soviet-backed aggression occurred and try to push the Soviet influence back to the Soviet territory. As an important part of "Reaganism", the Reagan administration put forward a "new flexible coping strategy" militarily. The proposal and development of "Reaganism" and "New Flexible Coping Strategy" indicate that the global strategy of the United States has crossed the scope of simply containing the Soviet Union and entered a new stage of active attack and flexible counterattack.
Third, the adjustment and trend of American global strategy after the Cold War.
(A) during the Bush administration
In the late 1980s, the international situation began to undergo earth-shaking changes. 1985 after Gorbachev took office, he insisted on advocating and promoting "new thinking", completely denying himself and taking the road of total westernization. As a result, he failed to reverse the unfavorable situation in the struggle between the Soviet Union and the United States, which led to political turmoil, worsening economic situation and sharp ethnic contradictions. The "wind of radical reform" of the Soviet Union spread to Central and Eastern European countries, and these countries began to break away from the track of the Soviet Union and explore new development models and foreign policies. Affected by its own political, economic and national crisis, the Soviet Union was forced to drastically cut its military expenditure and implement a contractionary military policy, which was obviously not an opponent of the United States in the arms race and regional competition. The comprehensive national strength of the Soviet Union declined sharply, and its international influence declined day by day.
Faced with the rapidly changing international situation, the United States has to make a comprehensive and fundamental adjustment to its global strategy that lasted for more than 40 years after the war, in order to find a new paradigm to replace the "containment strategy" against imperialism. 1990 In March, Bush submitted his first national security strategy report to Congress. The report pointed out that the United States should not simply contain the Soviet Union, but boldly "surpass" the "containment strategy" pursued for a long time after the war. He tried to "bring the Soviet Union into the international system as a beneficial partner" with greater ambition and ambition than all his predecessors, and comprehensively used political, economic, military and diplomatic means to "create a new era beyond containment".
The great changes in the world situation have also made the United States feel that it is strategically necessary to establish a world order under its leadership and domination in order to maximize its global interests. 1990 In September, shortly after the Gulf crisis broke out, Bush formally put forward the strategic concept of establishing a "new world order". Since then, Bush has repeatedly supplemented and further elaborated his "new world order" thought. The main contents of the "new world order" are: (1) emphasizing the realization of a world of "peace and security, freedom and the rule of law" under the leadership of the United States; (2) Pay more attention to "multilateral" cooperation rather than "unilateral" actions in international affairs, and attach importance to the role of allies and the United Nations; (3) Establish a new international system according to American values and ideals, and consolidate and promote the so-called "freedom" and "democracy" in the world; (4) Implementing regional defense strategy, focusing on preventing and responding to regional conflicts that threaten American interests. Bush's idea of "new world order" is a program in American foreign relations at the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Its basic goal is to maintain the security and stability of the world after the cold war, meet the new challenges facing the United States, promote the cause of world "democracy", and thus safeguard the global interests of the United States.
Although the global strategy of the United States during the Bush administration was still transitional and did not completely abandon the strategic concept of the Cold War, it first determined the national interests of the United States after the Cold War and outlined the general outline of the new global strategy of the United States, which became the general policy of the Bush administration to adjust the global strategy of the United States.
199365438+1October 13, Secretary of State Christopher pointed out at the nomination hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that after the Cold War, the United States "needs to design new strategies" to protect its interests: first, it must promote its economic security; second, it must maintain a strong national defense force; third, it must encourage the ongoing global democratic revolution. 65438+ 10 18, Clinton once again stressed that the world has undergone fundamental changes, and American foreign policy must adapt to this change in order to achieve its goals, and once again stressed that American foreign policy will be based on the above three pillars.
1In July, 1994, the Clinton administration published its first National Security Strategy Report, which developed the "expansion strategy" into a "participation and expansion strategy". While "expanding" the interests, values and political and economic model of the United States, it also highlights the involvement and participation of the United States in international affairs, counters the idea of retreating to the "American fortress", and insists that "only participation" can "stand tall". (Note: White House, Contacts and Contacts of National Security Strategy, July 1994. The proposal of "participation in expansion strategy" indicates that the theoretical framework of American global strategy after the Cold War has been finally determined, which indicates that American global strategy has basically completed the transformation from "cold war type" to "post-cold war type". The "participation expansion strategy" can be summarized as: taking advantage of the international situation that is generally beneficial to the United States after the Cold War, strengthening its involvement and participation in international and regional affairs, "expanding the boundaries of the free world" and realizing the "world leadership position" of the United States. In recent years, the United States has taken the following steps to implement the "participation and expansion strategy":
First, actively build a coordinated relationship between major powers led by the United States and led by the West. Clinton said: "The security relationship inherited by the United States and its allies from the Cold War era is the key to advancing the post-cold war agenda." "The first task must be to strengthen and adapt to the partnership of the United States to meet the challenges after the Cold War." But at the same time stressed that "the United States is still an indispensable country. Sometimes, the United States and only the United States can play a decisive role between war and peace, freedom and oppression, hope and fear. "
Second, emphasize economic priority and highlight economic security. After the end of the Cold War, the status of economic factors in international relations has risen, and countries have paid more attention to the competition of comprehensive national strength centered on economic construction than before. The Clinton administration clearly put forward "economic security" as one of the three pillars of American national security strategy. To this end, the United States not only attaches great importance to foreign exports strategically, establishes an export promotion office, puts forward the strategy of "emerging big markets" and pursues a proactive foreign economic policy, but also actively promotes the liberalization of regional trade and investment and strongly supports the establishment of a global free trade system.
Third, maintain military security and ensure security interests. The national security strategy report of the United States 1994 clearly points out that among the three principles of American foreign policy, security is the first, thus changing the practice that the Clinton administration put economic issues first in foreign policy in its first year in power.
Fourth, pay attention to promoting "global democratization" step by step. When the Clinton administration came to power, it coincided with the end of the Cold War and the end of history, so it just inherited the mantle of the old Democrats and clearly regarded "global democratization" as one of the three pillars of the US global strategy. This shows that the United States is determined to export American values and political and economic models to the world with greater strength and scale.
During the first term, although the Clinton administration put forward the strategy of participation and expansion, its foreign policy was still widely criticized at home and abroad. Many people believe that American foreign policy lacks strategic awareness, swings from side to side, is inconsistent, and attaches too much importance to short-term interests, making the United States an unreliable and unpredictable country with both enemies and friends. The research report published by RAND Company pointed out: "Due to the lack of a widely recognized grand strategy, many aspects have encountered difficulties. The initiative of the United States is weakened and it is often in a state of passive response. In the face of numerous threats and challenges, it is more difficult to prioritize and form consistent countermeasures; Policies on many issues are often contradictory, uncertain or unsustainable. "
(3) The second term of the Clinton administration.
At this stage, the United States began to evaluate the recent international environment and the trend of the world's major forces, and focused on the competition of great powers in the 2 1 century, and formulated the global strategy of the United States for the 2 1 century. This is fully reflected in a series of important documents published by the United States. For example, the report on national security strategy published in May 1997, compared with previous years' reports, did not use the name of "participation and expansion strategy", but replaced it with the report on national security strategy in the new century.
Thirdly, it is clearly pointed out for the first time that Russia and China may become global competitors of the United States after 20 15, which shows that the United States is worried about the long-term prospect of maintaining its dominant position.
Finally, it is pointed out for the first time that the United States is facing a serious direct challenge of "asymmetric threat". The so-called "asymmetric threat" refers to various threats such as terrorism, nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, information warfare, environmental damage and so on brought to the United States by hostile countries or forces whose absolute military strength is extremely disproportionate to that of the United States.
Under the new situation, the trends of American global strategy mainly include:
1. puts forward a new strategic concept of "shaping-responding-preparing", emphasizing the combination of safeguarding current interests and meeting future challenges. 1In May 1997, the United States published the National Security Strategy Report Facing the New Century, and put forward a new global strategic concept of "shaping-responding-preparing" on the basis of "participation and expansion strategy". "Shaping" means not passively adapting to the changes in the international environment, but more actively transforming the international environment to make it develop in a direction beneficial to the United States; "Response" refers to responding to various crises in the world quickly and effectively according to the nature and degree of threats to American interests; "Preparation" means immediately preparing for the uncertain future, so as to ensure that 2 1 century will become a more powerful American century than ever before. (Note: Samuel R. Berger, "The Foreign Policy Agenda of the Second $ TERM", Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., 1997. As an important measure in the process of global strategic adjustment in the United States after the Cold War, the strategic concept of "shaping-reaction-preparation" was put forward. It is not only a powerful supplement to the "strategy of participating in expansion", but also means that the global strategy of the United States has been transformed in this specific historical stage after the Cold War, and it will be more flexible, diverse and offensive with an eye to 2 1 century.
2. Strengthen participation in regional affairs and further expand the global strategic advantage of the United States. At the western end of Eurasia, we will step up the transformation and renewal of NATO, vigorously promote NATO's eastward expansion, and strive to build a "United and democratic Europe that cooperates with the United States to maintain peace and prosperity." At the turn of the century, the major steps taken by the United States in major regions have far-reaching strategic considerations, that is, to control Europe and Asia by implementing the two-ocean strategy of keeping the east and the west in step; By strengthening its presence on the edge of Europe and Asia, mastering the oil resources in the Middle East and cooperating with its two-ocean strategy, it forms a strategic containment and restriction on Europe and Russia. The "eastward expansion", "westward expansion" and "northward expansion" echo from afar, which is an important strategic step for the United States to strengthen the dominant position of Eurasia. In addition, the United States continues to strengthen its influence in Latin America and Africa. In recent years, the United States has changed its tendency of ignoring these two regions at the beginning of the Cold War and obviously increased its diplomatic efforts in Latin America and Africa. Clinton visited many times during his second term.
3. Actively manage relations between major powers and strengthen the prevention and containment of "potential opponents". Facing the accelerated development of multi-polarization in the world, the United States pays more attention to the management of relations between major powers in order to maintain its dominant position. In view of the enhancement of the EU's own strength and its active pursuit of becoming an independent pole in the world, the United States intends to make some concessions on some issues in order to maintain the US-Europe alliance. The United States also pays attention to easing the contradiction between the United States and Japan and strengthening security cooperation with Japan. 1September, 1998, the formulation of the Guidelines for Defense Cooperation between the United States and Japan marked a new stage of military cooperation between the two countries. The United States also proposed for the first time that Russia and China may become global rivals of the United States around 20 15. This shows that the judgment of the United States on Russia and China is getting more and more severe, and the efforts to prevent and contain the two countries have obviously increased.
4. Actively promote new interventionism and "gunboat policy". During the Cold War, the United States regarded anti-communism as the theoretical basis of its security strategy and the reason for foreign intervention. In recent years, the United States has vigorously advocated such fallacies as "humanitarian disaster", "human rights are above sovereignty" and "national sovereignty is limited", constantly seeking legal basis for new interventionism. In order to promote neo-interventionism, the United States relies more on military power. Defense Secretary Cohen said: "The national security policy of the United States is not only to deal with the changing environment, but also to shape this environment in a way that is in line with our interests." (Note: "Cohen said that the focus of American security policy will shift from responding to the end of the Cold War to shaping a new era", Xinhua News Agency, Washington, 1997, 65438+1October 22, English. According to the statistics of the United States, from 1990 to 1997, the US military used troops abroad 42 times, with an average annual frequency twice that of the Cold War. After 1998, the United States directly used force against foreign countries for three times in less than a year.
5. More contempt for the role of the United Nations. The United Nations is the largest intergovernmental organization in the world today and has universal authority in safeguarding world peace and promoting economic development. At the beginning of the end of the Cold War, the United States paid more attention to the role of the United Nations, but in recent years it has bypassed the United Nations and stepped up its domineering pursuit of western values. 1998 12 The United States bypassed the United Nations and joined forces with Britain to attack Iraq in an attempt to weaken the role of the United Nations in solving the regional crisis. In particular, in March 1999, NATO launched an air strike against Yugoslavia. It was the United States that bypassed the Security Council and manipulated NATO to go its own way, reaching into the traditional sphere of influence of another permanent member. The United States even claimed to reconsider the role, operation and decision-making procedures of the UN Security Council. The pragmatic attitude of the United States towards the United Nations has seriously weakened the authority of the United Nations and set a bad precedent in the international community.
In American history, with the great changes in the international strategic pattern, most of the global strategic adjustments were made after the war. After the cold war, the global strategic adjustment started by the Bush administration and accelerated by the Clinton administration was carried out in a peaceful environment. The transition period between the old and new international strategic patterns will be very long, with great uncertainty and complexity, and the strategic objectives, guiding principles and policy ideas put forward by the Bush and Clinton administrations are constantly changing. Generally speaking, this adjustment involves a wide range, a large range and a far-reaching impact. This is a comprehensive and overall adjustment, which is unprecedented in postwar American history. During the Bush administration, it was a great change from the cold war to the post-cold war. The international situation is changeable, various contradictions are complicated, and the old and new patterns collide fiercely. Although the "beyond containment strategy" was put forward, it still had a transitional color and did not completely abandon the strategic concept of the Cold War. During the Clinton administration, the trend of multipolarization accelerated, the relations between major powers were deeply adjusted, and the outline of the international strategic pattern began to appear. The global strategy of the United States has gradually completed the transformation from "cold war type" to "post-cold war type" and established the basic framework of global strategy facing the new century. This transformation basically started with 1993' s "expansion strategy" and 1994' s "participation expansion strategy" and ended with 1997' s new strategic concept of "shaping-reacting-preparing". The global strategy of the United States facing the new century has become the biggest diplomatic legacy left by the Clinton administration to the Bush administration, and the Bush administration's global strategy will develop on the basis of this legacy.
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