Soft Power Crisis in 2024
2005
What is soft power?
Soft power definition is the capacity to influence other nations through the use of persuasion and attraction rather than coercion or force. Soft power relies on culture, arts, and science. In the diplomatic field, soft power is built via, among others, education diplomacy, science diplomacy, public diplomacy, and digital diplomacy.
Hard power vs soft power
Hard power refers to the use of coercion, military or economic force to influence the behavior of another state. Soft power is the ability to shape the preferences of others through the use of culture, values, and ideas. Soft power attempts to influence indirectly by creating a desire for the power holder’s goals, whereas hard power relies on coercion and military power to achieve its objectives.
How does the USA use soft power? The USA has been using ‘soft power’ to achieve foreign policy objectives in support of military and economic powers. The USA uses soft power for persuasion, influence, and promoting its values and ideals. Soft power has allowed the USA to expand its influence and shape the behaviour of other countries without resorting to military force or economic coercion. For example, the USA has used soft power to get other countries to adopt policies like sanctions and diplomatic isolation against rogue states.
Diplomatic instruments of soft power?
Soft power resources are used in numerous contexts of international relations and world politics.
E-diplomacy is an important tool of soft power. It includes using websites, blogs, and social media to shape public opinion and influence global conversations. During the Arab Spring, the importance of social media led to the use of Twitter and Facebook diplomacy. You can learn more about the use of social media and other online tools to increase soft power.
Cultural diplomacy is an important way to connect with different groups and help people understand the values and culture of a country. Cultural diplomacy includes the organisation of festivals and exhibitions, the exchange of artists, and support for film and other art projects. Cultural diplomacy is part of the broader umbrella concept of public diplomacy.
Education diplomacy is becoming more important as countries use educational exchanges and scholarships to build relationships, international prestige, and their overall soft power. This includes providing opportunities to study abroad, as well as educational programs and exchanges to improve diplomatic relations and international cooperation. Typically, students and academics participating in educational exchange programmes develop a positive image and bond.
Public diplomacy is used to connect with people all over the world and spread a good image. Public diplomacy is an important part of soft power which is used as an umbrella concept for cultural diplomacy, educational exchanges, and media outreach. Through public diplomacy, countries foster relationships, promote their foreign policy objectives, and increase their influence in the international arena.
Sports diplomacy is becoming an important part of soft power. It has a wide range of aspects. The hosting of events such as the FIFA World Cup improved Qatar’s public image. The relevance of major sports events for soft power is the reason why countries lobby heavily to host the Olympics, the World Cup, and other sporting events. The second important aspect is success in sports. Argentina’s victory in Qatar has increased the visibility and prestige of the country.
Economic diplomacy is also used to increase soft power. After the Second World War ‘Marshall Plan’ was used to develop the economy of the European Union. However, ‘Marshall Plan’ also shaped European culture and societal priorities. China’s Belt and Road Initiative is another example of something that affects more than just economic and infrastructure projects.
National practices of developing and using soft power?
What is India’s soft power?
India makes a lot of movies, music, books, and other forms of art that are enjoyed all over the world. This has increased India’s cultural influence in a big way.
India has also been using yoga diplomacy as a tool for cultural exchange and international cooperation. The flagship activity is International Yoga Day.
How does China use soft power?
China uses soft power to influence other countries and promote its interests by appealing to their interests, values, and priorities. It does this through various activities, such as providing international development aid, sponsoring cultural events and sports competitions, and investing in media outlets to promote its views. China also uses soft power to shape global discourse and increase its influence by developing relationships with other countries and organizations, such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. It also uses soft power to promote its own economic, technological, and political agenda.
What is Qatar’s soft power?
Qatar is a small country and a soft superpower. For a long time, Qatar has used its wealth strategically to develop a wide range of soft power tools. The most recent was the organisation of the highly successful 2022 FIFA World Cup, which put Qatar very high on the soft power ranking. But, it was not an isolated initiative. Qatar’s Al-Jazeera television has become one of the most influential global news channels, with programs in all major languages. Qatar also has numerous educational diplomacy initiatives. It promotes excellence in education through special awards from the Qatar Foundation. The leading universities in the world have campuses in Qatar’s Educational City and Science and Technology Park. Qatar Airways is a part of Qatar’s image and its soft power as a whole. All of these parts of soft power have been built up over a long time, making Qatar first a leader in the region and, more recently, a leader in soft power on the global level.
What is the EU’s soft power?
The European Union (EU) is frequently described as a major player in “soft power,” or the use of non-military tools to influence the behaviour of other countries. This situation has been changing with the Ukraine War when EU has been supporting more and more military assistance.
EU’s soft power is exercised through a commitment to core values, including democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. In addition, the EU’s soft power has also been associated with peace, stability, the environment, and other global public goods.
The EU has a strong institutional infrastructure with instruments such as development aid that include health, education, and poverty reduction. In the educational realm, the EU supports research projects and exchange programs like Erasmus Plus. In the cultural realm, the EU supports film, music, and literature programs and events.
Review of the book ‘Soft Power’ by Joseph Nye
If power means the ability to get (or influence directly) the outcomes one wants’ from others (mainly by coercion or inducements) then soft power is ‘the ability to shape the preferences of others’. If ‘the others’ want the same thing because we share the same worldview, outlook and culture, we can enlist their power in achieving ‘our’ goal.
Examples of ‘soft power’ are the number of foreign students enrolled in the U.S., the extent of academic exchanges, the worldwide consumption of American media products – America as the beacon of modernity with its values of openness, mobility, individualism, pluralism, voluntarism, and freedom. Culture – both in its ‘high brow’ and popular forms – and sports. An ‘attractive’ foreign policy takes pride of place. He quotes approvingly former Defence Secretary Robert McNamara: “If we can’t persuade nations with comparable values of the merit of our cause, we’d better re-examine our reasoning.”
The concept of ‘soft power’ as developed by Nye is akin to that of mana among the Maoris. The authority of the chief is augmented by his successes in war. He increases his mana by marriages, feasts and displays of power. His mana is diminished by overt humiliation, or loss in war or negotiation – the Chinese might call it ‘losing face’. Napoleon’s secret weapon was the aura of invincibility that froze his opponent’s hearts and minds. Modern words would be ‘political capital’ – the ability of a leader to rally the electorate around his political goals. Image and ‘public relations’ are everyday terms for ‘soft power’. In the business world one would use the term ‘goodwill’.
There is no doubt that image can be a very powerful tool – witness the fortunes that rock singers obtain for just about anything they might release. Or the mark-ups that brand names command for what is essentially a generic product. In an international negotiation a country would have to make concessions to achieve its goals – it would be a matter of give and take. The great advantage of using ‘soft power’ is that it ‘does not cost anything’. Using ‘soft power’ a country need not make concessions: it simply gets its way – softly.
The use of soft power
Accumulation of ‘soft power’ is in any case costly, difficult, and time consuming. Solid reputations are only made over years. ’Soft power’ has its drawbacks, though: it constrains as much as it enhances power. ‘Honour’ a term much used by governments of yore – dictated unpalatable political choices by excluding e.g. the possibility of compromise. As many an actor knows, furthermore, image is very constraining. The public expects behaviour in conformity with the image – sudden deviance may lead to severe loss of image. Coherence too, however, may be treacherous – solidity may be perceived as boring. The key factor is the availability of an alternative. There may be a smouldering dissatisfaction with the situation but no overt revolt against it. As soon as people have a choice, they may exercise it.
Like a river, says Nye, a country’s image has many sources. Only a few are under direct government control and amenable to deliberate enhancement. Whether states should enhance their image – spend to strengthen their ‘soft power’ – is an issue debated in the book, without clear outcome. In an ideal world ‘soft power’ would accumulate automatically through good and convincing deeds – anything else is ‘propaganda’. Visions of crude manipulation by Nazis or Soviets come to mind. But convincing others of one’s worth might need some pro-active doing. And in any case as any post-modernist intellectual might cynically interject – there is no truth, just opinions. So what’s wrong with pushing a favourable opinion?
Many countries have ‘soft power’ to a different extent – Nye reminds us. Their origins are different, but they work in the same way as ‘soft power’ of the US. These forces may be competitive (e.g. France and U.S.) or supportive of each other (as the duo Bush-Blair has shown).
Nye chides the current U.S. administration for wantonly or foolishly destroying the country’s image abroad. The brutal use of hard power may yield results but no dividends in ‘soft power’. ‘Shock and awe’ might cower Iraq’s resistance, but spawn resistance to American leadership worldwide. In the end, power is exercised either through force or legitimacy. A regime that has lost his legitimacy can survive through terror for a while, but in the end it will be toppled as it is seen to have ‘lost the mandate from Heaven’. While this lesson is applicable within a state, extrapolation is possible. There is an international legitimacy of sorts – as when the U.S. led the free world in its fight gainst totalitarianism.
So what else is new? Little, I’m afraid. The book is a rather tortured and repetitive exposition of plain old truths – states have images; rulers have always been keen to enhance their image and they have not recoiled from doing so deliberately and often deviously. Reputations of states and leaders can be made, and destroyed also, as Napoleon discovered to his chagrin in 1812. Calling image ‘soft power’ does not really add to our ability to understand the issues
Review by Aldo Matteucci
You may also be interested in
On the proper use of violence: reflections on the fall of the Soviet Union
Professor Andre Liebich approaches the potential and limits of persuasion through the analysis of the use of coercion in political life. Two concepts – persuasion and coercion – are usually seen in binary way, as Dr Vella indicates in his article Persuasion is winning over by argument; coercion is subjecting by compulsion. Prof.
The origins – where is the connection between persuasion and rhetoric?
As ancient rhetoricians believed that language was a potent force for persuasion, they insisted that their students develop copia in all spheres of their art. Copia denotes an abundant and ready supply of language in any situation that arises. Why did ancient teachers of rhetoric insist on this practice? Well, they knew that training their students in different rhetorical arts prepared them for the multitude of communicative and persuasive possibilities that exist in language.
Diplomatic Persuasion: An Under-Investigated Process
The under-investigation in diplomatic studies of processes of persuasion in explaining diplomatic outcomes needs to be addressed in the interests of better scholarly explanations and diplomatic practice. Although such processes are implicit in nearly all concepts and practice of diplomacy, neither scholars nor practitioners explicitly investigate them. Yet other related fields of study and disciplines examine persuasion and demonstrate its explanatory value.
Persuading and resisting persuasion
Dr Alex Sceberras Trigona stresses that not only persuasion but also resisting persuasion is highly important for small states, which tend to be seen as the ‘diplomatic prey’ of great powers. He analyses three examples of successful persuasion from Maltese diplomatic history. First were the negotiations on Maltese neutrality, which required a lot of persuasion of two major Cold War powers and numerous regional players in the Mediterranean.
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" explores the principles of influence and persuasion, delving into why people say yes to requests. Through research and examples, it sheds light on the factors that influence decision-making and offers insights on how to navigate these tactics in everyday interactions. Understanding these principles can help individuals become more aware of subtle persuasion techniques and make more informed choices in various situations.
Persuasion, trust, and personal credibility
Ambassador Kishan Rana indicates the cultivation of relations and the credibility of diplomats as the basis for persuasion in diplomacy. He provides an initial taxonomy of the type of relations that diplomats should cultivate. When it comes to credibility, Ambassador Rana presents the main ways of developing and maintaining credibility in diplomatic relations. The more credible the diplomat, the more likely it is that their persuasion with local interlocutors will be successful.
Persuasion through negotiation at the Congress of Vienna 1814-1815
Dr Paul Meerts discusses persuasion in the context of the Vienna Congress (1814–1815), one of the most successful diplomatic events in history. The Vienna Congress created long-lasting peace and set the basic rules of multilateral diplomacy and protocol. Dr Meerts’s paper focuses on how the Vienna Congress addressed one of the main challenges of any negotiations: the more actors you have around the table, the less effective those negotiations are.
Cornerstones of Persuasion: Inclusion and Empathy
Genuine, honest persuasion cannot be rhetoric, cannot be show, and cannot be theatrics. It has to be something that you genuinely believe in, and people sense this. I can say from my experience that whenever you try to put on a show, people can pay you lip service. Whenever, you try to impress them with fantastic words they might be impressed for a moment, but then they will call your bluff when the true test comes.
American Negotiating Behaviour: Wheeler-Dealers, Legal Eagles, Bullies, and Preachers
The message discusses various negotiating behaviors commonly observed in Americans, categorizing them as wheeler-dealers, legal eagles, bullies, and preachers.
Honey & Vinegar: Incentives, Sanctions & Foreign Policy
Buttressed by input from scholars, diplomats, and observers with an intimate knowledge of U.S. foreign policy, Honey and Vinegar examines "engagement"—strategies that primarily involve the use of positive incentives.
Reflections on Persuasion in Diplomacy by Ambassador Joseph Cassar
In our families, in our jobs, in our political dynamic at a national level, we always try to persuade others, first and foremost. Since, diplomacy is part of the global human existence, it is natural that persuasion is an essential part and an essential tool of diplomacy … as much it is in your family life, in my family life, when you try to sort out trouble within your family, between your brothers and sisters, between your children and between your grandchildren at my age.
Why Persuasion? Reflections after 50 years of practising, teaching and studying diplomacy
From the faraway days when representatives of fighting tribes tried to arrange for a truce, thereby risking their head, to the often derided endless discussions within present day international frameworks, the common aim of diplomacy has remained persuasion. The better a diplomat is at persuading, the more successful he will be in furthering the cause he represents.
Persuasion: bad practices and … others
Persuasion is a very relative concept. Like beauty, persuasion is the eye of the beholder. Admittedly, persuasion does not exist in the absence of results. One can say that persuasion can be defined as such, if and only if it is effective and reaches its goals. If we accept this prerequisite, we may find persuasion where we least expect it.
Framing an argument
Dr Biljana Scott’s article on framing an argument introduces the linguistic and rhetoric aspects of persuasion. The way in which we frame an issue largely determines how that issue will be understood and acted upon. By dissecting Obama’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech of December 2010, Dr Scott illustrates the main techniques for framing an argument.
Persuasive Communication
The message provides insights and tips on Persuasive Communication. It emphasizes the importance of being clear, concise, and confident in communication to influence others effectively. It also highlights the significance of understanding the audience and tailoring the message to their needs and preferences. Overall, the message aims to help individuals improve their persuasive communication skills for better outcomes in various interactions.
Persuasion
In "Persuasion", the protagonist, Anne Elliot, faces societal pressures and second chances as she navigates love and relationships. This classic novel by Jane Austen explores themes of social class, family dynamics, and the consequences of past decisions on one's future. Anne's character development and resilience in the face of adversity are central to the story, making it a timeless tale of love, perseverance, and personal growth.
Persuasion as the step towards convergence in negotiations
Ambassador Victor Camilleri argues that the essence of diplomacy is a search for a point of convergence. Persuasion is one of the methods through which a point of convergence can be reached. He gives central relevance in diplomacy to the firm grasp of the essential points of negotiation, including assessment of balance of force. This article analyses persuasion in multilateral diplomacy through a case study the Maltese initiative on the ‘Common heritage of mankind’.
Theories of persuasion and psychology: the power of situations
Throughout its history, humankind has been motivated to war, terrorism, ethnic cleansing, genocide, racist hysteria, religious intolerance and extremism, mass suicide and many other forms of irrational and pathological behaviour. The problem arises as Milan Kundera defines it, when we ask that terrible anthropological question – ‘What are people capable of’?
Soft Power Crisis in 2024
Soft power will enter a crisis in 2024, as dialogue spaces contract around the logic of "us" and "them." The function of public and digital diplomacy will be impacted. This page retrospectively examines Joseph Nye's seminal notion of 'soft power' and its subsequent development spanning nearly two decades.
Persuasion, the Essence of Diplomacy
This journey through persuasion in diplomacy was initiated by Professor Kappeler’s long experience in both practicing diplomacy and in training diplomats.
Persuasion: importance of trust, relevance for small states, and limitations of computers
Dr George Vella, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malta, argues that persuasion is central not only to diplomacy but also to society in general. He highlights three aspects of persuasion. First is the high importance of trust for persuasion: trust creates the context in which persuasion can be used.
Persuasion as a social phenomenon
Aldo Matteucci explores the relevance of social context for persuasion. Since persuasion leads to change, we should look into the mechanisms of change in society. Change is a social phenomenon. Change occurs when the intentionalities of individuals transmute into ‘collective intentionalities’. In this process, enablers play a key role.
Persuasion in sociology of diplomacy
Dr Milan Jazbec, a practitioner and researcher in diplomacy, positions a discussion on persuasion in the sociology of diplomacy. Social context determines both diplomacy and persuasion. Dr Jazbec makes a distinction between pressure and persuasion. In a rather counter-intuitive view to dominant discourse, he argues that genuine persuasion cannot be public. As soon as it becomes public, it immediately becomes pressure.
