美国外交思想与实践

U.S. Diplomacy: Thoughts and Practice

美国是世界上军事实力最强、经济规模最大和政治影响最广的国家,对世界事务有着重要影响。美国外交是产生这种影响的最直接和极为重要的形式。长期以来,美国对华政策对中国国家安全和经济发展的影响很大,所以近代历届中国政府都把对美政策放在十分重要的位置上。中华人民共和国成立后,对美政策也一直是中国政府对外政策中的重要环节。改革开放以来,随着中国对外关系日益扩大,美国外交政策对中国的影响更是有增无减。认识和了解美国的外交政策对于中国制订合理的对外政策具有十分重要的理论和现实意义。

This paper traces the development of US foreign policy. It argues that US foreign policy is a product of simultaneous pursuit of both values and interests. Much has changed in US foreign policy since the founding of the US in 1776. First, isolationism gradually gave way to internationalism as the dominant orientation of US foreign policy as the US became a world power during the first half of the 20th century. Second, US foreign policy has oscillated between multilateralism and unilateralism since then. And third, since the end of the cold war, US foreign policy has become more unilateralist in orientation in part because, as the sole superpower in the world, US interests differ more from those of others than before and the US is in a better position to pursue a unilateralist approach. However, both the US ideological ambitions and its global interests also require the US to seek multilateral cooperation whenever possible.