The Evolution of U.S.-Philippine and U.S.-Thai Relationships under the Domestic Effects of Alliances
The United States has continued to strengthen its global alliance system to maintain hegemony.However,in Southeast Asia,there are obvious differences in the development trend between the U.S.-Phil-ippine alliance and the U.S.-Thai alliance.Focusing on the interaction between alliance relations and the domestic politics of small members,this paper proposes that changes in alliance relations affect the domestic politics of small members,and ultimately backfire on alliance relations through two mechanisms namely the"tying effect"and the"decoupling effect".Specifically,the strong and long-term alliance cooperation drives its domestic security interest groups to develop within the small member in support of the alliance,and this force hinders the country's attempts to pursue policies contrary to the alliance.It will make it diffi-cult for the country to act outside of the alliance,thus constituting the alliance's"tying effect".In con-trast,when the alliance relationship is distant for a long period of time,the small member may develop eco-nomic relations with a great third-party power.It fosters an economic interest group friendly to the third-par-ty power within its own country,imposing obstacles to strengthening cooperation with the small member in order to suppress the third-party power.It will make it difficult for the former to realize the cooperation with-in the alliance according to the expectation,which constitutes the decoupling effect of the alliance.The Philippine government's difficulty in breaking away from the U.S.-Philippine alliance and the difficulty of the US in drawing Thailand into its regional strategic dispositions reflect the course of the two effects.The study on the domestic effects of alliances expands the theory of alliances,and also sheds light on the devel-opment of China's periphery diplomacy in developing its relations with Southeast Asian countries.
万方数据
维普
