Author

Sang-yun Ma is Assistant Professor and Dean of the International Exchange Department at Catholic University in Korea. He received his B.A. and M.A. from the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Seoul National University, and received his Ph.D. from Oxford University in England for his research on the US intervention in South Korea’s democratization in the 1960s. His recent research examines US alliance relations during the Bush-Blair period in comparative perspectives. His recent published papers include: From ‘March North’ to Nation-building: Interplay of U.S. Policy and South Korean Politics during the Early 1960s; Conflict between Korea and the U.S. in the Détente Period: Nixon, Carter, and Park Jung-hee (in Korean, co-author); English School’s International Society Theory (in Korean); and Alliance for Self-Reliance: ROK-US Security Relations, 1968-71.

Abstract

The primary purpose of this paper is to examine an alliance policy of the United States under the Obama administration and its future prospects in the 21st century with a historical overview of how U.S. foreign policy and alliance strategy have changed. The historical assessment of continuity and change in U.S. foreign policy, particularly its alliance strategy, provides a window to analyze U.S. diplomacy with a focus on alliance policy in the long term. Employing the two significant variables affecting U.S. alliance strategy, which are the U.S. perceptions of external threats and of relative power, this paper presents a review of traditions in U.S. foreign policy followed by a historical review of U.S. alliance strategy in four periods - the First and Second World Wars, the Cold War, the post-Cold War period in the 1990s, and the ongoing global war on terrorism. The U.S. perception of external threats has undergone major changes for the last few decades, ranging from the spread of totalitarianism and communism as a primary threat in the mid 20th century and incidents of terrorism as imminent threats in the post 9/11 world. Accordingly, the U.S. has been pursuing transformational alliances in a new security environment to collectively respond to transnational threats such as terrorism and nuclear proliferation. In addition, the relative decline of the United States in recent years amid the rise of newly emerging powers, the global financial crisis, and deteriorating stability in Afghanistan and Iraq generated a growing emphasis on the balance between leadership and partnership with other allies by strengthening multilateral cooperation and smart power.

The full text in Korean is available here