The new prudential foreign policy of the United States: Pacific Vision of ?Smart Power?

In this study, the effects of the United States? new prudential foreign policy "Smart Power" on Asia-Pacific region during Barrack Hussein Obama's presidency will be examined. The "smart power" concept combines the instruments and means of soft power diplomacy of the United States? new approach towards foreign policy and the traditional hard power tools of armed forces together with liberal norms. In this frame, it is expected that President Obama would continue to maintain his Asia-Pacific-oriented foreign policy and hegemonic power-oriented policies in his second term which had been developed during his first presidency between January 2009 and November 2012.Key Words: Smart Power, Soft Power, Hard Power, Asia-Pacific, China, US Foreign Policy, Obama Doctrine.The main objective of this thesis is to throughly explain ?Smart Power? and why and how United States has been using or would be able to use it in the Asia-Pacific region which is getting more important for the United States as a consequence of changing world conditions. In this respect, the political, economic and diplomatic relations in the Asia-Pacific region which had increasingly transformed into sophisticated and dependent relations will be analyzed. The reactions of the United States and the measures taken against the rising profile of China, the most important actor of the Asia Pacific Region will also be examined. Consequently; the importance of countries like Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, South Korea, Japan, Sri Lanka, India, Australia, Vietnam and The Philippines in the formulation of the new prudential foreign policy and the regional policies of the United States will be assessed in relation to the concept of ?smart power?.