Chapter Fourteen
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vigorous. In the 1980s, on the basis of Japan's economic miracle and the
consolidation of the European Economic Community and its growing
international influence, the “theory of America’s decline” was
demonstrated by many American and European scholars from different
aspects. After the “9/11” terrorist attacks in 2001, the US launched the
wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but they did not attain the desired effect. Its
global military front was stretched further, and the “two wars” fought on
the grounds of counter-terrorism, although supported by its allies and
partners, were costly and unpopular domestically, and the “theory of
America’s decline” rose again. America’s soft and hard power were hit
hard by the 2008 financial crisis, which has had an extremely far-reaching
negative impact on America’s power, while the rise of emerging countries
(China, India, Brazil, etc.) was given more attention by America. Thus, the
“theory of America’s decline” caused a temporary clamour in American
public opinion once more.
In the past five years, or since the financial crisis in 2008, America has
been in the midst of one of the toughest periods in its history; its power
and influence in the world has declined, and its ability to control the world
as a sole super power on the international stage is not what it was twenty
years ago. Years of warfare with Islamic radicals after the “9/11” terrorist
attacks, the sequential rise of “emerging countries,” a pile of knackered
debt–all of this is recounting the “domestic trouble and foreign invasion”
situation that America is confronted with. Will 21st-century America be on
the wane, or rejuvenate from its distress?
Being inundated with the “theory of America’s decline,” Professor
Joseph Nye–prominent international political scholar, father of the “soft
power” theory, and former dean of the Kennedy School of Government at
Harvard University–has responded forcefully. This paper aims to analyze
how Nye could refute the “theory of America’s decline” by constructing a
“soft power” theory, as well as expressing our opinions about the “theory
of America’s decline,” rather than summarizing his theory.
The Significance of “Soft Power”
During recent years, America’s soft power has been hit hard, and its
international image, “American model” attraction, and ability to manage
international affairs, etc. turned out to be a flash in the pan. Then, Nye
repeatedly stressed the significance of restoring America’s “soft power.” In
his article “The Decline of America's Soft Power,” published in the journal