Soft Power By Joseph Nye

President George Bush’s letter to President Saddam Hussein is a convincing segment intended to persuade Hussein to remove his forces from Kuwait before conflict ensues. Some critical readers believe that Bush does not provide a rational argument, but this paper is taking the standpoint that Bush not only is rational, but cogent. President George Bush is able to effectively convey his forceful message to President Saddam Hussein, expressing that Iraq must leave Kuwait through the use of establishing credibility, strength, repetition, and persuasive appeals by explaining that the world will not tolerate war and violence any longer.

Hard power and soft power are important factors when it comes to our nation and its role throughout the world. The differences between hard and soft power offer people a better insight when it comes to political power in our nation. Hard power deals with the aspect of changing the actions of others through things such as coercion; whereas, soft power deals with attraction and shaping what others want from a different perspective (Smith-Windsor, 52). These versions of power are crucial when it comes to the theory of international relations. A hypothesis that alliances are founded on calculations of national interest and do not withstand a conflict of those interests is christened “theory” in the current language of political science (Aron,

People believe war can help the development of mankind and country. Stated by Emile Zola in her book The Origin of the First World War, “It is only warlike nations which have prospered; a nation dies as soon as it disarms. War is the school of discipline, sacrifice and courage” (Document 1). Zola’s point is very true. After years of war, the winning country can always gain some sort of profit.

As defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary, power is the “possession of control, authority, or influence over others”. Power is frankly quite powerful when held in the hands of one person. It can cause a divide amongst families, countries, or even society for that matter. What really lies behind the true meaning of power is how it affects people, either negatively or positively. This ultimately causes people to feel differently depending on what is put into place by the one who holds the authority. Power can always be corrupt in many types of ways, but it can be more harmful to some than others and therefore does not affect everyone equally.

In the chapter “Foreign Policy” in the book, “The Politics of Power” by Ira Katznelson, Mark Kesselman, and Alan Draper, describes in detail of the events leading to America’s great level of dominance. Throughout the chapter, a few key points were made. The main three points that were observed in this chapter consisted of America’s influence and global expansion, the transition into the globalization era, and environmental problems. From the beginning of the exploration era, to the globalization ear, foreign policy never escaped existence. The use of foreign policy continued into the beginning of World War II, after the war, and through present day. Between each date in history, foreign policy increasingly has played a major role in the turning tides within each event. The importance of foreign policy instructed the world into what it is today and has continued to do so. The relationship pertaining to the United States and its foreign policies have aimlessly been altered through good and bad times. At its birth, America’s international involvement began. Through time, its foreign policy has gained great interest and provided immense dominant reputation. Within the ordinance of America’s global dominance, speculation estimates that no nation truly is dominant as other problems counter true dominance. These problems consist of global warming, human rights, and ecological crisis. These problems will challenge nations in the future to answer the question: “What nation is truly

The debate on American power is a complex, yet interesting argument. This essay will discuss and define power through American military and economic aspects. These are key elements that define how much power a nation holds, as military and economic superiority allows a state to intimidate, persuade, and facilitate its own agenda. Both Cox and Williams have argued the debate on US power, and therefore their work features in this essay. I will discuss both articles in depth before coming to the conclusion that American power is in decline, and has been since 1991 at the end of the Cold War.

In “Tyranny of Choice,” Barry Schwartz brings to the table the topic of choice. The common believe is the more choices, equals more freedom. Under that assumption we are living in the best times then. Everything in the world has multiple options to choose from. The choices range from what type of gum you want, to the best life insurance policy for your family. Schwartz uses the modern university for his example, he likens it to an intellectual shopping mall: “Individual customers are free to ‘purchase’ whatever bundles of knowledge they want”. Some universities let incoming freshmen sit in on classes briefly to test them out, the way one would try on clothes at a store. On the surfaces this seems amazing, how could someone not be happy having the freedom to choose what fits them best. Schwartz argues that more choices in life limits our freedom. This happens by the choices taking up more of our time, in turn causing more stress and decreased happiness.

Nye elaborates the three distinct sources of soft power: culture, political values and foreign policies; and also hypothesizes the limitation of soft power. Moreover, he interprets the altering role of military power and an interaction between hard and soft power. The confronting situation he mentioned that a balance between military and soft power is playing an important role is terrorism reinforced by global information age. Finally, he classifies today’s power in an international information era into three aspects: military power, economic power and soft power; and again he maintains the growing existence of soft power. He presumes that America will be no longer the great nation, and Asia will take place. Also, non-government institutions and groups will possess their own borderless soft power; therefore, political game in near future will depend on multiple routes of communication that define problems and diffused cultures and ideas which relate to global prevailing

In regards to international relations, power is influence and control one state has over another. Often times, state power is an indication of economic and military strength. According to Joseph Nye, the concept of using economic and military forces to coerce other political bodies is known as hard power. In contrast,

The balance of power theory is viewed as critical policy in the handling of international relations. To fully comprehend how the balance

Power is a fundamental concept in any conflict. The nature of that power can depend

The first paradigm of international relations is the theory of Realism. Realism is focused on ideas of self-interest and the balance of power. Realism is also divided into two categories, classical realism and neo-realism. Famous political theorist, Hans Morgenthau was a classical realist who believed that national interest was based on three elements, balance of power, military force, and self interest (Kleinberg 2010, 32). He uses four levels of analysis to evaluate the power of a state. The first is that power and influence are not always the same thing. Influence means the ability to affect the decision of those who have the power to control outcomes and power is the ability to determine outcomes. An example of influence and power

In the early 1990s, Joseph Nye’s book Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature Of American Power ignited a huge discussion among society of the need to transition from America’s traditional use of hard power to something more benign which he termed soft power. Before looking at the two branches of power, we first define power as the ability to do something or act in a certain way. As Nye had pointed out, nations can wield power in two forms, soft and hard power. Soft power, as coined by Nye (1990) is defined as “the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than through coercion.” In contrast, hard power is seen as the use of military might or economic sanctions to coerce others into

Morganthau (Cited in Haas,1953, pp.445) argues that the Balance of power can be viewed as either a description of any state of international politics in relation to power distribution or a policy or action intending to distribute power. From this framework we can use the balance of power to both understand static moments in history to observe where power lies at that moment in time and to look at how states themselves actively implement foreign policy for their own power related interests whether that be looking to balance the set of scales or to tip them

Joseph Nye offers an alternative theory for the construct of State power. He created a system in which State power is broken into two parts; “hard power” and “soft power.” “Hard power” consists of the traditional, tangible aspects of power namely, military and economic power. “Soft power” is the key distinguishing dynamic of Nye’s work from other theories. “Soft power” consists of all other facets of power, such as ideology, foreign policy, culture, stability, prosperity, and membership in international organizations (Bound to Lead 130 and Paradox xi, 8). The modern world is becoming more interconnected and interdependent with one another, hence depending less on “sticks and carrots” and more on “soft power.” The missing link within perceived State power is the role morality plays in actual power. This study will show that “soft power” is implicitly, and at rare times explicitly, founded in moral values.