Hillary Clinton said before the United Nations resolution in Sofia on Feb. 4 there is a brutal civil war upon Syria, and now she is doing all she can to stop it.  Conflict in Syria has heightened — right after Clinton confirmed her retirement.
The current Secretary of State announced that she would be a one-term Secretary of State on Jan. 26 at a Department of State Town Hall meeting. She said “It would probably be a good idea to just find out how tired I am.”  
In the past four years, the United State’s international relations has made a complete turn around from the Bush Administration. A lot of that credit can be attributed to Clinton. As she steps down, it is important for students to learn from her Syrian negotiations. Her method of soft power — using dialogues instead of war — should always be a quality in a Secretary of State.
The Syrian people have been uprising against their suppressive dictator, Bashar Al-Assad, since March. The Associated Press reported that Assad has claimed thousands of lives with his crackdown over the past 11 years, and at least 23 deaths occurred on Feb. 3 alone. Speaking in Sofia on Feb. 4, Clinton warned the international community that they must take action against Syria’s dictator.  Despite this warning, Russia and China still vetoed the United Nations’ proposed resolution which would have prompted Al-Assad to leave his position of power. Clinton called Russia and China’s decision a tragedy.
As things have worsened in Syria, Clinton has stayed strong and remained involved in stopping the atrocities.  However, she uses a different approach than past Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice.  Clinton fears fighting guns with guns causes more human loss and a decrease in public democracy. After a meeting with President Obama, the two decided that the United States would be the “democratic friends of Syria.” This means that as of now, they are not providing rebels with guns but with humanitarian aid instead.
While Clinton heads this initiative, she continues to try to convince Russia and China to agree upon the UN’s resolution. One of her tactics has been to shame both countries into believing they did the wrong thing. Robert Wright, a senior editor of The Atlantic, originally claimed he was not a fan of Clinton’s tactics, but changed his mind, saying shaming Russia may have done some good because now “Russia’s foreign minister says he’ll work to start negotiations between the Syrian government and the opposition.” Clinton needed no use of force to get what the US wanted. The right set of words can make a world of difference.
Another project of Clinton’s in Syria is keeping relations strong with its surrounding nations. On Feb. 4, she said, after the UN resolution was rejected “We will work with the friends of a democratic Syria around the world to support the oppositions’s peaceful political plans for change.” Currently, Clinton has created closer relations with Turkey and its Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in an attempt to pressure Syria’s dictator Al-Assad to step down using an Arab proposal for peacekeeping. Instead of creating more enemies and making this problem about ideologies, it is nice to see the United States taking a strong diplomatic role that has a better chance of being backed by the rest of the world.
With Clinton stepping down next term, it is important to let the President know we like this soft power. Many international issues that have arisen during Obama’s term have not had a huge effect on students. This is because the US has taken a new stand — soft power. We cannot revert to the ways of war — the war in Iraq and the troops in Afghanistan did not bring democracy to the people living in those countries. In many instances, this approach caused more harm than good to their communities. As college students — and particularly political communication majors — we should make sure that our congressional representatives and president know that we expect strong soft power and cultural understanding skills from the next secretary of state, and we will accept no less.

Velez can be reached at Kerry_Velez@emerson.edu.