More For Less: Protecting America's Security Interests Through Soft Power Programs

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dc.contributor.advisorStout, Marken_US
dc.contributor.authorMcGrath, Amy M.en_US
dc.contributor.committeeMemberAbbas, Rameezen_US
dc.contributor.committeeMemberO'Byrne, Sarahen_US
dc.contributor.committeeMemberStraus, Jacob R.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2015-02-11T04:16:28Z
dc.date.available2015-02-11T04:16:28Z
dc.date.created2014-05en_US
dc.date.issued2014-05-06en_US
dc.date.submittedMay 2014en_US
dc.description.abstractThe U.S. Department of Defense is engaged in budget cutbacks that will have significant future implications for many defense programs. At the same time, emerging global threats require investment in diverse mechanisms for national defense over the long-term. Within this context, it is important to highlight the effectiveness of less traditional softer approaches to security in comparison to their cost as many of them may best be accomplished by the country’s hard power agency. This thesis explores three different soft power programs either funded and/or managed by the U.S. Military or Department of Defense: educating foreign military officers, deploying U.S. Navy medical ships on proactive humanitarian missions, and funding biological scientific engagement to counter the use of biological weapons of mass destruction. Each chapter analyzes the primary question of the individual program’s substance in comparison to its cost. The thesis acknowledges the difficulties of assessing the less quantifiable concept of soft power but seeks to make a qualitative assessment of each program’s relative value. This assessment is done by applying generated metrics shaped by reviewing literature applicable to each program’s goals to case studies of countries where each program has been implemented. Conclusions on the three programs’ current soft power influence is determined on the basis of existing data as applied to these expressed metrics. Additionally, based on evidence of the measurable metrics, each chapter draws a conclusion about its program’s indeterminable value in the future. Overall, this thesis contends that although modest and somewhat imprecise, measurable increases to U.S. soft power due to these programs can be shown. Furthermore, their relative low costs, along with their potential benefits to American and global security in an uncertain future, make them well worth their investment.en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://jhir.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/37260
dc.languageen
dc.publisherJohns Hopkins University
dc.subjectDefense soft poweren_US
dc.subjectmilitary educationen_US
dc.subjecthumanitarian operationsen_US
dc.subjectbiological engagementen_US
dc.titleMore For Less: Protecting America's Security Interests Through Soft Power Programsen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialtexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentGovernment Programen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineGlobal Security Studiesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorJohns Hopkins Universityen_US
thesis.degree.grantorAdvanced Academic Programsen_US
thesis.degree.levelMastersen_US
thesis.degree.nameM.A.en_US
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