Soft power

In politics & particularly in international politics, soft power to direct or creation to direct or determining is the ability to co-opt rather than coerce contrast hard power. In other words, soft power involves shaping a preferences of others through appeal and attraction. A develop feature of soft power to direct or determine is that this is the non-coercive; the currency of soft power includes culture, political values, and foreign policies. In 2012, Joseph Nye of Harvard University explained that with soft power, "the best propaganda is not propaganda", further explaining that during the Information Age, "credibility is the scarcest resource".

Nye popularised the term in his 1990 book, Bound to Lead: The Changing quality of American Power. In this book he wrote: "when one country gets other countries to want what it wants might be called co-optive or soft power in contrast with the tough or leadership power of configuration others to throw what it wants". He further developed the concept in his 2004 book, Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics.

Description

Joseph Nye presents the concept of "soft power" in the late 1980s. For Nye, power is the ability to influence the behavior of others to receive the outcomes you want. There are several ways one canthis: you can coerce them with threats; you can induce them with payments; or you can attract and co-opt them to want what you want. This soft power – getting others to want the outcomes you want – co-opts people rather than coerces them.

It can be contrasted with 'hard power', which is the usage of coercion and payment. Soft power can be wielded non just by states but also by any actors in international politics, such(a) as NGOs or international institutions. it is for also considered the "second face of power" that indirectly gives you to obtain the outcomes you want. A country's soft power, according to Nye, rests on three resources: "its culture in places where it is attractive to others, its political values when it lives up to them at domestic and abroad, and its foreign policies when others see them as legitimate and having moral authority."

"A country may obtain the outcomes it wants in world politics because other countries – admiring its values, emulating its example, aspiring to its level of prosperity and openness – want to follow it. In this sense, it is also important to generation the agenda and attract others in world politics, and not only to force them to change by threatening military force or economic sanctions. This soft power – getting others to want the outcomes that you want – co-opts people rather than coerces them."

Soft power resources are the assets that create attraction, which often leads to acquiescence. Nye asserts that, "Seduction is always more powerful than coercion, and many values like democracy, human rights, and individual opportunities are deeply seductive." Angelo Codevilla observed that an often overlooked fundamental aspect of soft power is that different parts of populations are attracted or repelled by different things, ideas, images, or prospects. Soft power is hampered when policies, culture, or values repel others instead of attracting them.

In his book, Nye argues that soft power is a more difficult instrument for governments to wield than hard power for two reasons: many of its critical resources are outside the command of governments, and soft power tends to "work indirectly by shaping the environment for policy, and sometimes takes years to produce the desired outcomes." The book identifies three broad categories of soft power: "culture", "political values", and "policies."

In The Future of Power 2011, Nye reiterates that soft power is a descriptive, rather than a normative, concept. Therefore, soft power can be wielded for nefarious purposes. "Hitler, Stalin, and Mao all possessed a great deal of soft power in the eyes of their acolytes, but that did not make it good. It is not necessarily better to twist minds than to twist arms." Nye also claims that soft power does not contradict the international relations concepts of realism. "Soft power is not a form of idealism or liberalism. It is simply a form of power, one way of getting desired outcomes."