U.S. socialization and influence on the youths of Southeast Asia In the 21st century, the dominant countries try to influence the developing countries and people with globalization, not with colonization.That is why they avoid military intervention around the world and instead, they compete for their political power through soft skills and diplomacy. In Southeast Asia(SEA), the U.S. and China play as the main actors to influence their social and political norms and values to the youths and government with multiple forms. In this proposal, I will mainly discuss how the U.S. is winning their socialization on the youths of the SEA countries by supplying aids and opportunities. According to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies ("Assessing U.S. and Chinese Influence," 2023.), the available polling indicates that the United States enjoys more soft power and popularity than China across most of the region. In the Southeast Asian countries, the U.S. invisibly makes socialization on youths and community leaders by offering plenty of exchange programs and scholarships annually. The U.S. government well understood that the soft power value of open exchange of ideas and the ability of such exchanges can overcome more obstacles than the hard power show of force (Snow, 2008, pp.206). The most influential exchange program of the U.S. among the youths of SEA countries is called Young Southeast Asian Leadership Initiative (YSEALI) exchange program. These programs aim to train the leadership and norms and values of America to the young leaders and adult leaders around the SEA countries. According to the U.S. Mission to ASEAN's "Fact Sheet" (2020), there are more than 5,000 alumni of YSEALI programs, and nearly 150,000 young people belong to the YSEALI Network.By analyzing these data, the achievement and the investment of the socialization mission of the U.S. on the youths can be clearly seen. After participating in these exchange programs, the alumni have to spread the norms and values which they had learnt from America as civic engagement missions in their respective communities. The most surprising thing is that most of the program alumni are more likely to be loyal to the U.S. government than to their own government. Beside, the U.S. built a lot of American spaces for youths known as American Centers and YSEALI centers around the SEA countries under the title of Cultural Affairs Unit to influence and socialize about the ideology and norms of America and to manipulate the influence of China. On the other hand, this kind of educational access is beneficial for the youths from poor countries where the education access and rights are highly oppressed. When those young leaders as well as alumni influenced by American ideology and government are getting older and they become the national leaders in their respective countries, they might become the puppet government of the U.S. to counter the growing power of China in SEA regions and in global politics. By studying this socializing and social influence of the U.S., we can get the visibility of how the youths are being brainwashed and socialized under the power competition of the world’s dominant countries. Htet Wai Yan Linn 01/11/2023. References -Snow, N. (2008). International Exchanges and the U.S. Image. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 616, 198–222. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25098001 -U.S. Department of State. (n.d.). Fact Sheet: Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI). U.S. Mission to ASEAN. https://asean.usmission.gov/fact-sheet-young-southeast-asian-leaders-initiative-yseali/ -Center for Strategic and International Studies. (n.d.). Assessing U.S. and Chinese Influence in Southeast Asia. https://www.csis.org/analysis/assessing-us-and-chinese-influence-southeast-asia
