Soft Power: the Means to Success in World Politics

Recently I have read the following book. Its main points are:

Book title: Nye, Joseph, Jr. 2004. Soft Power: the Means to Success in World Politics. New York: Public Affairs.

- ch. 3 – the US has enormous soft-power resource. But the US is not alone. Others, both countries and non-state actors also possess soft power that can be used to help or hinder the US’s achievement of its preferred outcomes.(73)(non-state actor – NGO)

- the decade-long economic slowdown of the 1990s tarnished Japan’s reputation for economic prowess, but it did not erase the nation’s soft power resources.(86)But there are also limits to Japan’s soft-power. Japan has never full come to terms with its record of foreign aggression in the 1930s.(87)

- ch. 4 – military power is to threat and fight. Economic power is used similarly. Soft power is more difficult to wield, many resources are outside the control of government, and their effect depends on acceptance by the receiving audience. (99)

- shaping public opinion becomes even more important where authoritarian governments have been replaced by new democracies. Even when foreign leaders are friendly, their leeway may be limited if their public and parliaments have a negative image of the US and its policies. (105)

- there are 3 dimensions of public diplomacy. The first and most immediate dimension is daily communications. Government tells the press on how to carry out a decision. The second dimension is strategic communication much like an advertising campaign. For example, the British tourist authority was busily advertising British tradition, ceremony and history. The third dimension of public diplomacy is the development of lasting relationships with key individual over many years through scholarships, exchanges, training, seminars, conferences, and access to media channel.(107-9)

-it is important to remember that the same words and images that are  most successful to domestic audience may have negative effects on a foreign audience.(112)

- rigid censorship is not always the answer. An aspect of soft power that the Pentagon got right in the second Gulf war has been the embedding of reporters with forward military units. This limited Saddam Hussein’s ability to create international outrage by claiming that American was deliberately killing civilians. (116)

- democracy is more than voting. It could lead to “one man, one vote, once” if done hastily. Since the autocratic regimes in the Middle East have destroyed their liberal opposition, racial Islamist often represents the only alternative dissent in many countries. (120)

- ch. 5 – anti-Americanism has increased in the past few years. A widespread and fashionable view is that the US is a classically imperialist power. (127) In the US skeptics about soft power believe that popularity is ephemeral (i.e. people are forgetful) and should not be a guide for foreign policy in any cases. The US can act without the world’s applause. We are so strong that we can do as we wish. (128)

-power depends on context. We see that in the global information age, power is distributed among countries in a pattern that resembles a complex three-dimensional chess game. On the top chess board of political-military issue, US is in the lead; on the economic board, in the middle, the US is not a hegemony or an empire. On the bottom chessboard of transnational relations, power is chaotically dispersed. (136-7)

- many transnational issues such as climate change, international crime and terrorism cannot be resolved by military force alone. Representing the dark side of globalization, these issues were inherently multi-lateral and require cooperation for their solution. Soft power is particular important in dealing with these issues. (137)