Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics

by Joseph S. Nye Jr.

Book Overview

Joseph Nye coined the term "soft power" in the late 1980s. It is now used frequently--and often incorrectly--by political leaders, editorial writers, and academics around the world. So what is soft power? Soft power lies in the ability to attract and persuade. Whereas hard power--the ability to coerce--grows out of a country's military or economic might, soft power arises from the attractiveness of a country's culture, political ideals, and policies...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1586483064
• ISBN13: 9781586483067
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.61 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Great book!

Great book! There is no question that military power is important for every country, but the "soft power" and diplomacy are perhaps as important in today's globalized and inter-connected world. While Joseph Nye focuses on the United States in his book, diplomats and politicians around the world can learn a great deal about "smart" international relations, diplomacy, politics, and global legitimacy and credibility from "Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics."

An Excellent Introduction

As a beginning student of international relations, I found this book to be of great assistance. Professor Nye accurately and honestly critiques the Bush Administration's actions on the world stage and the theories behind them. In a social and political milieu that has been dominated by neoconservatism for much of the past six years, it was refreshing to read a different point of view so ardently put forth. After reading this book, one can clearly see the danger that America faces if we continue down the path of unilateralism and continue to unabashedly embrace the concept of an "American empire." As this book argues with excellent clarity, we must return to the combination of hard and soft power that constructed and cemented the international alliances which defeated communism and prepared much of Eastern Europe for democracy.

A call for co-option, not just coercion...

Nye's contributions to international politics have a rich legacy - including the introduction of "complex interdependence" (Power and Interdependence, with Robert Keohane) in the 1970s, the optimistic perspective on U.S. prospects in the world (Bound to Lead, 1990) while others wrote Japan as Number One and The Rise and Fall of Great Powers, and the post-September 11 call for multilateralism rather than imperialism (Paradox of American Power, 2002). "Winning the Peace" (Robert Orr, 2004) requires success in establishing security, governance and political participation, social and economic well-being, and justice and reconciliation. Nye reminds us that these necessary tasks are more possible with soft power than with diplomatic, economic and military coercion. To Nye, soft power is the ability to get what you want through attraction, particularly to a country's culture, ideals and policies, rather than through coercion or purchase. The most effective foreign policy will use "smart power" - the right balance of (hard) command power and (soft) co-optive power. The discussion illuminates the high cost the United States pays (in Iraq and elsewhere) for relying, by choice or by lack of options, on hard power. Questions for undergrads might include: (1) why does soft power matter if U.S.'s hard power is so much greater than any other country, (2) when and why did the decline of the U.S.'s soft power really begin, (3) does soft power matter against ideological extremists, (4) can we compare "soft power" in international affairs to domestic elections, (5) is there a relationship between the U.S. loss of soft power and the global spread of democracy since 1974, and (6) what other countries, organizations, etc. have global or wide "soft power"? For shorter assignments, see Nye's "The Decline of America's Soft Power" in Foreign Affairs, May-June 2004.

Introduction to the Definition of and Uses for "Soft" Power

We all know what "hard" power is: You can make someone do whatever you want them to do . . . either by coercion or by intimidation backed up by the potential for coercion. What is "soft" power? That's the subject that Kennedy School dean Joseph S. Nye, Jr. explores in this interesting book. Dean Nye originally coined the term "soft power" so he's a good person to develop the concept. He sees government power coming from three sources: Military power; economic power; and soft power. Military power is all bout coercion, deterrence and protection through threats and force. Government pursues this path through war, coercive diplomacy, and alliances. Economic power is the carrot and the stick enforced through payments and sanctions. Payments take the form of aid and bribes, and sanctions can be anything from boycotts to interdictions. Soft power looks at the other hand from the gloved fist: Attraction and agenda setting. Countries use their values, culture, policies and institutions to make inroads as applied through various forms of diplomacy.These themes are explored in the context of the Cold War, the policies of the Clinton and two Bush administrations, and the war on terror. In making his arguments, Dean Nye addresses philosophical arguments made by conservative and neo-conservative thinkers who favor the fist in all situations (including unilateral action), and provides examples of what has and has not worked. Dean Nye's basic point is that a country should use both its hard and its soft power to obtain the best results. He analyzes what this means for the major countries in the world in specifics (the choices for Finland are a lot different than for the United States or Japan).Of particular relevance for the current moment is the data he provides on the costly erosion in soft power that the war on terror and the invasion of Iraq have created for the United States. People still like the United States outside of the U.S. but most of them don't trust us any more . . . and they like us a lot less than they did two years ago. They often don't feel that we ever consider their interests. The problem is most severe in the Muslim world. Dean Nye points out that these problems are as bad as they were at the worst of the Vietnam quagmire, but that we can recover. He argues persuasively for reinstating more people-to-people contacts, operating from democratic principles in dealing with all other countries, developing alliances and consensus before taking military and economic action, and sharing all parts of our culture with the citizens of other countries through "open" exchanges. Those who are appalled by the Iraq war will be very attracted by this book. It provides concrete suggestions to the alternative of just working with the United Nations when problems arise and hoping that all will be well. Those who think we did the right thing with our invasion will hate this book a lot.Regardless of your stance on Iraq, I hope that both