http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/printStoryId.aspx?StoryId=2431A selective influence
Moreover, some U.S. practices are very attractive to other countries: honest regulation of drugs, as by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); transparent securities laws and practices that limit fraudulent dealing, monitored actively by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). U.S.-made standards are sometimes hard to avoid, as in the rules governing the Internet itself.
But other U.S. standards and practices — from pounds and feet (rather than the metric system) to capital punishment and the right to bear arms — have encountered puzzlement, or even outright hostility in other nations.
In conclusion, soft power is a reality, but it does not accrue to the United States in all areas of activity — nor is the United States the only country to possess it. Under any circumstance, globalization is much more than just Americanization — and the world as well as the United States itself benefit from this reality. |
