Soft power: Power of attraction or confusion?

Abstract

Despite its popularity soft power remains power of confusion. The paper examines the concept, with a special focus on the nature and sources of soft power. Nye"s notion of soft power is largely ethnocentric and based on the assumption that there is a link between attractiveness and the ability to influence others in international relations. This poses two problems: Firstly, a country has many different actors. Some of them like the attraction and others don"t. Whether the attraction will lead to the ability to influence the policy of the target country depends on which groups in that country find it attractive and how much control they have on policymaking. Secondly, policymaking at the state level is far more complicated than at the personal level; and has different dynamics that emphasise the rational considerations. This leaves little room for emotional elements thus significantly reducing the effect of soft power. Given the nature of soft power being uncontrollable and unpredictable, it would be impossible to wield soft power in any organised and coordinated fashion as Nye suggested. Furthermore, the relationship between two countries is shaped by many complex factors. It is ultimately decided by the geopolitics and strategic interests of nations, in which soft power may play only a limited role. The paper also discusses the link between soft power and nation branding as both concepts are concerned with a nation"s influence on the world stage. Public diplomacy is a subset of nation branding that focuses on the political brand of a nation; whereas nation branding is about how a nation as whole to reshape the international opinions. A successful nation branding campaign will help create a more favourable and lasting image among the international audience thus further enhancing a country"s soft power.

Of Mechanisms and Myths: Conceptualising States’ “Soft Power” Strategies through Sports Mega-Events

“…Indeed, despite its growing significance, many have strongly criticized Nye's work. 48 Through these authors' attempts to unpick, understand and extend soft power theoretically, Nye's original concept has been, and, more importantly, continues to be, questioned on four specific levels: first, many have raised concerns over what soft power actually is, and, more specifically, whether it is merely another buzzword for conceptualizing that of nation branding and/or place marketing; 49 second, many have suggested that Nye fails to deliver a clear description of how one actually acquires 'soft power' or forms of attraction, leading to the concept becoming highly confusing and problematic to work with; 50 third, due to Nye's reliance on discussions of the West, many equate soft power as being either too structural or Western-centric; 51 and finally, some have argued that greater academic attention is needed in identifying and highlighting the potential pitfalls for any state that attempts to acquire soft power forms. 52 In responding to the first criticism above, Nye himself -along with others -has been quick to remind us that soft power should not merely be considered another term for place marketing/nation branding.…”

Toward quantifying soft power: the impact of the proliferation of information technology on governance in the Middle East

“…When the main ethnic group in a nation holds a negative view of another nation, soft power tactics are unsuccessful even when the nations are ethnically linked. In relation to the importance of reputation, Fan (2008) explains that soft power effectiveness is determined by the perception of the population in the target country and therefore, soft power policies and initiatives must be tailored to ethnic, religious and cultural preferences of targeted populations.…”

Nation Branding and Russian Foreign Policy

“…These are: political brand, economic brand and cultural brand. [21] Any country of a larger size and longevity of existence usually has an existing brand. This is the result of people having heard about them, and possessing certain images, associations and opinions.…”

“…"The relevance and ultimate effectiveness of soft power depends on the perception and response of its target audience". [47] There has been a great deal of discussion in Russia concerning soft power and public diplomacy, how these concepts currently relate and how to develop the potential further. One of the debates has been to look at the United States and see if there is anything that can be learned and applied for Russia.…”

“…[62] Currently, Russia is somewhat locked between the past images and the current ones. The negative brands of the Soviet past prove to be very sticky images, associations and stereotypes to shake, before any tangible progress in rehabilitating the national brand can be made.…”