John Wallace first blog post

John Wallace 

2/3/2022


Soft Power: A rising phenomenon or an ineffective alternative to hard power?  


In the past twenty years, the world has become more interconnected than anyone could have possibly imagined. The large-scale perforation of smartphones and internet services across the world has pushed humanity to a new point of connectivity, a trend that certainly shows no signs of stopping. 

With this interconnectivity, however, one must ask how it will begin to affect the status quo of international politics. For us to understand this, we need to look into the concept of soft power and how its effectiveness will only increase with globalization. 


Soft power can work as an extension of a state's character and values, silently nudging people in their favor in the ever-expanding court of public opinion. For many nations in this day and age, war and other examples of hard power have lost their luster in the face of institutions such as the United Nations. With the rise of the internet comes a new way for governments to spread their ideas in the name of national self-interest; one need only to look at a simple website such as YouTube or Twitter to see soft power in action. State-controlled media outlets are not an uncommon sight as they spread the news to the masses, commonly used to shed their respective states in a better light. 

An excellent example of soft power being used through social media would be the large Cuban protests in 2021. These protests were in response to a myriad of problems, namely the continued repression of civil liberties and mishandling of the COVID-19 epidemic. Using social media, protestors took to the streets with many of them playing American songs in defiance of the government. Using soft power and its overall national values, the United States has become synonymous with freedom of speech and democracy. Which serves to increase its standing on the world stage while also spreading its influence in similarly authoritarian governments.  


As the world continues its trend of globalization, the world must begin to consider the ever-increasing effectiveness of soft power. Perhaps the world can take a step away from the usual coercionary based tactics prevalent in “hard power”, tactics that commonly promote animosity between nations. 

However, this does not come without its drawbacks. Soft power does not yield immediate results like its more heavy-handed cousin, yet its fruits are infinitely more appetizing in the long run. Soft power is also much more unpredictable, with the internet and globalization as a whole being extremely chaotic and near anarchic at times; which is quite similar to the world of international politics. 

One must ask, will the world begin to pivot towards kindness, understanding, and shared values? Or will it continue to breed a culture of coercion and exploitation for those at the top of the political food chain; even as the alternative grows more lucrative with each passing day. 


Comments

  1. Brooke WallaceFebruary 8, 2022 at 10:46 AM

    Your post brings up a very interesting point, John! I definitely agree that as the world is turning to hard power and overlooking the power of soft power on influence. Do you think that it is even possible to adopt more of a balance between the two or will hard power always triumph no matter how hard we try to shift toward kindness and understanding (because it is what soft power has been built on and hard to break status quo)? Soft power will definitely become more and more effective as the world continues in its trend of globalization. Although I realize that there are many benefits of soft power in such an interconnected world, I feel as though many countries are reluctant to adopt more of a soft power approach; India, for example, has embraced and accepted other cultures (creating a clash) and is starting to forget their own values. Cultural identity can get lost as a result of globalization and a focus on soft power. I think they also feel like they do not stand a chance against other countries using hard power when that is just the opposite. At ithehat the world is going now with coercion, exploitation and pushing our own agendas, it seems like it will become a culture of coercion unless we learn to accept each other's differences and not be so set in our own ways/agendas. Less can definitely be more.

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    Replies
    1. Brooke WallaceFebruary 8, 2022 at 10:48 AM

      **at the rate that the world is going now with coercion, it seems like it will become a culture unless.... Less can definitely be more; A similar example would be staying silent during a heated argument, which leads to better conflict resolution.

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    2. John WallaceFebruary 8, 2022 at 2:02 PM

      I believe that soft power is on track to be on equal footing with hard power as long as the world continues its trend of globalization. But It will never fully replace the hard power due to its inability to provide quick results in a short timeframe. However, Soft power does seem to be a dramatically better option in the long term. Hard power has the tendency to cause conflict later down the line. An example would be European empires using hard power to maintain their colonial holdings, but in doing so, they exacerbated ethnic tensions which lead to numerous conflicts continuing to this day.

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