The Pivot to Asia in American Foreign Policy: An Analysis of the Soft Power Dimension

Since the Obama administration introduced the "Pivot to Asia" in 2011, the United States has shifted its general strategic orientation toward a focus on the Asia-Pacific, aiming to counter the growth of China's power. This foreign policy strategy is three-pronged: a focus on promoting democracy and institutions (the exercise of soft power), economic integration, and strategic cooperation. These components have evolved over the decade since Obama first introduced the strategic shift. Both the Obama and Trump administrations embraced these aspects, albeit with their own interpretations, and scholars and observers disagree over the policy’s success thus far. With President Biden approaching the final year of his first term, it is now possible to conduct a more complete analysis of how these three themes have carried over and their level of success. Using a mixed methods approach, combining descriptive statistics, case studies, and discourse analysis, this paper presents the argument that the US is failing to exercise its soft power to its greatest extent, providing evidence that the soft power diplomacy component of the "Pivot to Asia" has failed to achieve its intended impact on the global stage.