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- shaping public opinion becomes even more important where authoritarian governments have been replaced by new democracies.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)

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.

.

Main points:

- Ch. 2 – the US has many resources that can potentially provide soft power. Not only is the fact that America is the world’s largest economy, but nearly half of the top 500 global companies are American. 62 of the top global brands are American. (33)

- opposition to American policies is not the same as general opposition to the US. The image or attractiveness of a country is composed of foreigner’s attitudes on a variety of levels and types, American policy constitutes only one. (35)

- many intellectuals and critics disdain popular culture because of its crude commercialism. They view pop culture as an anesthetizing and apolitical opiate for the masses. Such disdain is misplaced because popular entertainment often contains subliminal images and messages about individualism, consumer choice and other values that have important political effects. (47) (c/f  pop songs)

- simple items like blue jeans, Coca-Cola, or a cigarette brand acquired an added value that helped younger generations to give expression to an identify of their own. (48)

- Soviet audiences watching films with apolitical themes nonetheless learned that people in the West did not have to stand in long lines to purchase food, did not live in communal apartment, and they owned their own cars. All these invalidated the negative view promulgated by the Soviet media.(49)

- all countries pursue their national interest in foreign policy, but there are choices to be made about how broadly or narrowly we define our national interest. Polices based on broadly inclusive and far-sighted definition of national interest are easier to make attractive to others.]60-61)

-the US, like 19^th century Britain, also has an interest in keeping international markets and global commons, such as the oceans, open to all. To a large extent, international order is a public good. (61)

- the image of the US and its attractiveness to others is a composite of many different ideas and attitudes. It depends in part on culture, in part on domestic policies and values, and in part on the substance, tactics, and style of the US foreign policies.(68)

(to be continued)

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.

Main points:

- Preface – What is soft power? It is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payment. It arise from the attractiveness of a county’s culture, political ideals, and polices.(x) [c/f also one's own good past records]

- the first chapter analysis the changing context of power in international politics, and the reason why soft power is becoming more important than in the past. (xii)

- the second chapter examines the sources of American soft power. American is not the only one with soft power; the third chapter looks at the soft power of other nations and non-state actors. Chapter 4 examines the practical problems of how to wield soft power. The concluding chapter summarizes what it all means for the foreign policy of the US in the aftermath of the Iraq war. (xiii)

- ch. 1 – at the most general level, power means the ability to get the outcome one wants. (1) Power resources cannot be judged without knowing the context. You need to understand what game you are playing and how the value of the cards may be changing (4)

- soft power rests on the ability to shape the preference of others. At the personal level, we are all familiar with the power of attraction and seduction.(5)

-hard and soft power are related because they are two aspects of the ability to achieve one’s purpose. The distinction is one of degree; there are command power and co-optive power. The types of behavior between command and co-option range along a spectrum from coercion to pure attraction. (7) Soft power resources tend to be associated with the co-optive end of the spectrum of behavior, whereas hard-power resource is usually associated with command behavior. (7)

- in international politics, the resource that produce soft power arise in large part form the values an organization or country expresses in its culture, in its internal practice and polices, in the way it handles its relation with others. (8)

- the soft power of a county rests primarily on 3 resources: its culture, its political value, and its foreign policies. Let’s start with culture. Culture is the set of values and practice that create meaning for a society. (11)

- when a country’s culture includes universal values and its policies promote values and interest that others share, it increases the probability of obtaining its desired outcome. (11)

- in a diverse world, all three sources of power –military, economic, and soft – remains relevant, although in different degrees in different relationships. (30)

- the soft power in the information is in part a social and economic by-product rather than solely a result of official government action, nonprofit institution with soft power of their own can complicate and obstruct government efforts. (32)

(to be continued)