全球化背景下，国际教育作为一项提升经济竞争力、文化影响力和国际领导力的重要战略，在促进国家发展与维护国家安全方面发挥着越来越重要的作用。冷战结束后，为应对日益增强的全球化趋势，美国颁布了一系列与国际教育相关的政策，经历了机遇和挑战并存的国际教育政策变迁历程。在“后冷战”时代的政策变迁历程中，美国善于把握发展机遇、克服发展挑战，在国际教育领域取得了丰富的实践经验和成果，成为国际教育的发展中心和领导者。近些年来，我国始终强调要提升教育对外开放水平。但由于起步较晚、经验不足，因此国际教育发展效果未能完全达到预期。研究美国在“后冷战”时代的国际教育政策变迁历程，对我国克服政策变迁历程中的问题、提升教育国际化水平、制定符合国情的政策具有一定的参考意义。

基于此，本文选取“间断－平衡”理论，按照历史线索对“后冷战”时代的美国国际教育政策变迁历程展开研究，旨在阐明政策变迁经历的阶段、不同阶段呈现的变迁特征、不同变迁特征出现的原因及其对国际教育发展的影响。通过对美国国际教育政策进行梳理，本文认为美国在“后冷战”时代的国际教育政策变迁经历了平衡期与间断期交替出现的三个阶段：政策平衡期（1991－2000）；政策间断期（2001－2004）；政策新平衡期（2005－至今）。

通过对各个发展阶段的政策目标和内容进行梳理、分析和比较，本文归纳并验证了政策在变迁的不同阶段所呈现的渐进平衡和剧烈间断的特征。同时，研究发现，在美国国际教育政策变迁的过程中，政策主体营造的正面政策图景、政策参与者对政策的一致性意见和社会公众的支持性态度共同维护了政策垄断的状态，为其平衡变迁创造了良好的条件。而以“9·11”事件为导火索的焦点事件、媒体舆论对国际教育内容的负面宣传、以总统为代表的宏观政治系统对国际教育问题的强势介入以及政策参与者的反对意见则是颠覆了原本正面的政策图景和稳定的政策议定场所，导致政策发生剧变，陷入短暂的间断变迁过程。最后，研究发现，在间断状态下变迁的政策会影响美国正常的学术交流活动、阻碍教育国际化进程。而在平衡状态下变迁的政策则能够提升美国国际教育的吸引力和竞争力，促进其教育产业的快速发展。

In the context of globalization, International Education plays an increasingly important role in promoting national development and maintaining national security as an important strategy for enhancing economic competitiveness, cultural influence and international leadership. After the end of the Cold War, in order to cope with the growing trend of internationalization, the U.S. has introduced a series of international education-related laws and regulations, and has undergone a process of international education policy changes with both opportunities and challenges. In the post-Cold War era, the U.S. has been able to seize opportunities and overcome challenges, and has achieved rich practical experience and results in the field of international education, becoming the center and leader of international education. In recent years, China has always emphasized the need to improve the level of education opening to the outside world. However, due to its late start and lack of experience, the effect of international education development has not fully met expectations. Studying the process of international education policy changes in the U.S. in the post-Cold War era is of reference significance for China to overcome the problems in the process of policy changes, improve the level of internationalization of education, and formulate policies that meet the national conditions.

Based on this, this paper selects the "Punctuated Equilibrium Theory" and conducts research on the change process of American international education policy in the post-Cold War era according to historical clues, aiming to clarify the stages of policy changes, the characteristics of changes at different stages, the reasons for the different changes, and the impact on the development of international education. Through a review of U.S. international education policies, this paper concludes that the changes in U.S. international education policies in the post-Cold War era have gone through three phases: the equilibrium period (1991-2000); the discontinuity-period (2001-2004); the new equilibrium period (2005-present).

Through a vertical review of the policy objectives and contents of each development stage, as well as a horizontal analysis and comparison, this paper summarizes and verifies the basic characteristics of gradual balance and dramatic interruption in the process of policy change. Besides, it is found that in the process of international education policy change in the United States, the positive policy images created by policy subjects, the consensus of policy participants and the supportive attitude of the public jointly maintain the policy monopoly and create favorable conditions for its balanced change. However, the focal point of the “9`11” incident, the negative publicity of the media and public opinion on the international education, the strong intervention of the macro-political system represented by the president on international education issues, and the opposing opinions of the policy participants overturned the original positive policy image and the stable policy venue, resulting in the policy dramatic changes and a brief discontinuity process. Finally, the study found that policies that changed in an intermittent state affected normal academic exchange activities in the United States and hindered the internationalization of education. In contrast, policies that change in equilibrium can enhance the attractiveness and competitiveness of U.S. international education and promote the rapid development of its education industry.