Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont Pitzer Senior Theses Pitzer Student Scholarship 2015 Soft oP wer Played on the Hardwood: United States Diplomacy through Basketball Joseph Bertka Eyen Pitzer College Recommended Citation Eyen, Joseph Bertka, "Soft oP wer Played on the Hardwood: United States Diplomacy through Basketball" (2015). Pitzer Senior Theses. 86. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/pitzer_theses/86 This Open Access Senior Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Pitzer Student Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pitzer Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. SOFT POWER PLAYED ON THE HARDWOOD United States Diplomacy through Basketball by Joseph B. Eyen Dr. Nigel Boyle, Political Studies, Pitzer College Dr. Geoffrey Herrera, Political Studies, Pitzer College A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Political Studies Pitzer College Claremont, California 4 May 2015 2 ABSTRACT This thesis demonstrates the importance of basketball as a form of soft power and a diplomatic asset to better achieve American foreign policy, which is defined and referred to as basketball diplomacy. Basketball diplomacy is also a lens to observe the evolution of American power from 1893 through present day. Basketball connects and permeates foreign cultures and effectively disseminates American influence unlike any other form of soft power, which is most powerfully illustrated by the United States’ basketball relationship with China. American basketball diplomacy will become stronger and connect with more countries with greater influence, and exist without relevant competition, until the likely rise of China in the indefinite future.