SOFT POWER

A concept attributed to American thinker Joseph Nye from early 2000s

1. Introduction

• It became a lens to define post Cold War politics
• Generally defined as the ability to get what you want through attraction or persuasion rather than coercion or payment
• According to Joseph Nye, successful states need both hard and soft power – the ability to coerce others as well as the ability to shape long term attitudes and preferences.

2. Analysis

• USA Projects its soft power through its companies, foundations, universities churches and other institutions of civil society.
• However there are few limits of its soft power – for example, Societies accept USA’s values but not necessarily its Foreign Policy decisions i.e. Iraq, Regime Change Policy, Vietnam etc.
• Joseph Nye argues and gives message to USA that its national security hinges as much as on winning hearts and minds as it does on winning wars
• According to Nye, culture, values, and images are soft tools of foreign policy

3. Analysis from 1998 to 2010
4. Freedom House Magazine and Wall Street Journal noted that number of democracies grew from 100 to 150 and free markets from 40 to 100.
5. Arab Spring Could not contribute to democracies
6. Globalization outpaced the capacities of sovereign states with reference to sovereign governance
7. Soft power turf – USA and Europe experienced inflation, rising inequalities, unstable growth, populism, etc. post 2008-09 story
8. USA – a Moral Nation of arrogant “Hyper Super Power” – Post 9/11
9. Unilateralism of USA – Iraq War 2003
10. Use of Social Media by west to bring about political change in Eastern Europe. However, when Russia did the same during US Elections, it was views as subversion
11. Trade Sanctions and punitive measures to punish states by USA – e.g. China, Iran, Syria, Russia, etc.
12. Conclusion

Even Nye accepted that soft power is an extension of hard power. Era of Soft power has given way to era of hard power. 

CASE STUDY OF INDIA

India’s success story can be traced back to the 1990s when Indian finance ministry, the Reserve Bank and the Planning commission formed a joint strategy to feel their presence in the corporate map of the world.

• Their big businesses like Tata, Mahindra, Birla and Reliance developed strong linkages with the world
• These Indian multinationals at home supported Indian academic institutions to bring them at par with the world’s best institutions e.g. India’s IIT, NIT, Bangalore Institute of Technology
• As a result, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai
• Promotion of Indian Culture – Bollywood