社会联盟与美国自由国际主义战略衰落的逻辑(1968～1989)

Social Coalition and the Logic of the Decline of American Liberal Internationalism,1968～1989

20世纪60年代末,美国的对外战略经历了冷战时期最为重大的一次转型。在此前的20多年里,由"冷战共识"推动塑造的自由国际主义曾成为美国历届政府一以贯之的战略选择。然而此后,随着民主、共和两党在外交政策上开始产生日趋深化的分歧,自由国际主义逐渐走向了衰落。显然,无论是传统的国际关系现实主义理论,还是美国特有的意识形态和政治制度,都无法就此种转型给出令人信服的解释,因为冷战后期的国际体系结构以及美国国内的意识形态和政治制度,均未发生任何实质性改变。研究表明,自由国际主义衰落的逻辑植根于此前塑造美国国内"冷战共识"的"东北部—南部"主导性社会联盟因利益冲突产生了内部分裂,这就导致两党在美国对外战略问题上的认知差异与日俱增,进而使得相应的国内政治过程从"党派合作"逐步发展为"合作—制衡"。最终,这一趋势为冷战后围绕美国对外战略制定而形成的"政治极化"格局埋下了伏笔。

Starting from 1945,liberal internationalism which was supported by the two major parties,had been America's Cold War strategic choice.However,in the late 1960s,American grand strategy began to undergo the most important transformation during the whole Cold War era.Democrats and Republicans gradually disagreed with each other on most foreign policies,bringing about the decline of liberal internationalism.Given the unchanged bipolar international system as well as U.S.domestic political system or ideology,we could hardly explain this vital transformation through either system-centered approach or state-centered approach.However,this decline can be understandable when taking into consideration America's domestic social factors,with social coalition as the core variable.This study illustrates that the logic of decline of American liberal internationalism during the second half of the Cold War can be found in the collapse of a Northeast-South dominating social coalition,which was the driving force to the rise of liberal internationalism.Consequently,political elites representing the interests of each coalition could no longer reach fundamental consensus on many foreign policy issues,making U.S.political process transformed from bipartisan cooperation to checks and balances.Finally,this trend paved the way for political polarization in the U.S.politics after the end of the Cold War.