Introduction

Introduction
Listen to the radio, read the newspaper, watch television, or even surf the web and watch some videos on YouTube. An American professional football player who is playing in the city of London, England declares that "I couldn't find London on a map if they didn't have the names of the countries"; a contestant for Miss Teen USA makes herself look ridiculous on national television with abundant geographical and grammatical blunders.

As a country, the United States is one of the most powerful in the world, yet our global image is riddled with the appearance that we, as a country, do not know about, or care about, other countries. This is a major problem that is inconsistent with our democratic values because in a democracy, the power of the leader rests upon the support of the followers. If the United States is to truly be a global leader, then it must get the other countries of the world to consent to our leadership. This must be done through both 'soft power' as well as 'hard power'. 'Hard power' is leading through economic and military might, and 'soft power' is getting people to follow you through attracting them and persuading them to adopt your goals. While we trust our national leaders to succeed with 'hard power', the American public can help to attract other countries through 'soft power'. We can become knowledgeable about other countries and other cultures and give off the image that the United States cares about not only its global position, but also cares about the other countries of the world.

Our class has been chosen by the President to research several countries in the world. The purpose of this research is to better prepare the President for their upcoming visits to China, Egypt, and Brazil. The President will need to know about each country's history, its past relationships with the United States, some aspects of its culture (what language[s] they speak, what food to expect to eat there, etc.), and more. It is vital that the President gets this information, because without it they could run into some very sticky situations abroad - this could make the United States lose some of its 'soft power' prestige. Because it is essential that the United States has a good image abroad, you should remember to analyze any history between the U.S. and the other country through the point of view of both the U.S. and the other country. The President knows that if the United States wants to be a world superpower and wants to get the respect of other nations, it must earn that respect and power and this type of information is essential to that task.