SOFT POWER AS A CHARACTERISTIC FEATURE OF THE POLITICAL INFLUENCE OF A GREAT POWER IN THE CONDITIONS OF A MULTIPOLAR WORLD IN THE LATIN AMERICAN REGION
Authors: Tkach Oleg , Tkach Anatoly 
Published: August 2018

Formulation of the problem: The constituents of the soft power concept within the realization of the smart power strategy by political actors. The special attention is paid to the influence on modern political processes by the global events. The constituents of the soft power concept within the realization of the smart power strategy by political actors.
Purpose of the research: External U.S. Relations with Latin America and the Caribbean under the Barack Obama Administration.
Research methods: The following research methods were used to address the issues set in the article: general scientific methods — descriptive, hermeneutic-political, systemic, structural-functional, comparative, institutional-comparative; general logical methods — empirical, statistical, prognostic modeling and analysis; special methods of political science. The preference was given to the method of political-system analysis, by which the common and distinctive characteristics of the basic components of soft power strategies were identified, reflecting existing political, public, information and other challenges for international relations and global development. For empirical research, the factual basis was used, which was compiled by an expert survey of Ukrainian specialists-political scientists. Practical and systematic methods were used to analyze the system of relations in the Caribbean region from four perspectives: the United States — the Caribbean, the United States — reginal poriegn policy influence, as well as relations between the Caribbean countries. Functional and general historiographical methods were also used. Methods of analysis and synthesis allowed exploring the features of the U.S. foreign policy in the Caribbean. In order to implement these methods, such methodological techniques as analogy, comparison, generalization and extrapolation were used. When detecting inertia signs in the U.S. foreign policy at the global and regional levels, diachronic analysis was used. The method for analyzing the situation (studying documents, comparing, etc. ) was used to study international and political processes in the Caribbean region, exploratory methods (in particular, content analysis) for the analysis of high-level documents and speeches, which in turn helped identify and outline the trends in foreign policy of the countries of the region.
The special attention is paid to the influence on modern political processes by the global events. In modern terms «soft power» should be considered the focus of global socio-political, economic and cultural processes. They form a new, radically different from the past, the system of world politics, where classical hierarchical model of relations between political actors giving way to networks. As part of the current international policy becomes «soft power» — complex instruments resolve foreign policy problems using the capabilities of civil society, information and communication, humanitarian and other alternative methods of classical diplomacy and technology. The author analyzed and identified the peculiarities and trends of the Security Dimension of LAC Foreign Policy under the influence of operating conditions of the LAC security environment at national, regional and international levels. The relevance of the topic is determined by the need of comprehensive scientific-practical analysis of the Security Dimension of LAC Foreign Policy because of the fundamental meaning of the term «security». The author used the term «security dimension of foreign policy» to mean the set of objectives, tools and actions, distributed within the system of LAC foreign policy for the purpose of detecting, preventing and neutralizing of security threats. To achieve these purposes the author has set the following tasks:analyzing conceptual and theoretical approaches of the Security Dimension of LAC Foreign Policy; determining the state and factors of transformation of the LAC’s security environment; analyzing the U.S. and influences on LAC’s security policy; defining the role of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy for LAC; examining LAC’s multilateral security cooperation within the framework and multilateral coalitions. For the first time in the international political science there is a comprehensive research of the Security Dimension of LAC Foreign Policy, the peculiarities of the LAC’s security environment as well as the level of dependence of LAC foreign policy strategy on the security issues. It is substantiated and proved that LAC y was transformed from importer to exporter of security. Being a growing geo-economic and security player, it has the status of «reluctant leader» of Europe. LAC foreign policy strategy is characterized by situatedness, emphasis on «soft power» and willingness to take on more responsibility in the international relations, especially in the security sphere due to the growing threats in security environment of country. There is an improvement in theoretical approaches to researching security dimension of the LAC foreign policy and peculiarities of the LAC security policy within international organizations as well as international coalitions. The results of the thesis may have scientific interest and being used in further researches of experts on LAC foreign and security policy, LAC-Ukrainian relations as well as on European and international security. Some provisions of the thesis have applied research interest and can be used by public authorities of LAC in the process of formation of foreign and security policy strategy. Research of the basic «soft power» strategies of the USA and LAC, their cause-effect relations with the practice of the foreign and security policy under conditions of defining international impacts potential and their effectiveness in the international relations. The integral political and systems research of the evolution of the «soft power» concepts in the international relations was conducted. It is pointed to the fact that nowadays the «soft power» strategy is transformed into the «wise power» strategy as the priority factor of the foreign and security policy. The article is based on the theoretical and methodological researches of the scientific problem, the generalization of the foreign and domestic political scientists’ points of view and the fact resources such as strategic documents on the issues of the national security and foreign policy of the world’s leading political actors, analytical, scientific and research centers groundwork, official speeches of the US and LAC leaders.