US ‘soft power’ not the global criterion

 

The first major power on top the global tower,
The US boasts a scholar, the father of “soft power.”
It has become a singular standard,
By which all are judged.
One direction,
In which all are nudged.
Many voices answer,
Upon hearing the call.
And one single size,
Cannot fit all.
Soft power comes,
In many different forms,
Not just the American style,
Though it is the norm.

 

(Cartoon by Gou Ben; Poem by Long Yuan)

---

 

In 1990, Joseph Nye, an American political scientist at Harvard University, first proposed the concept of “soft power.” A buzzword around the world ever since, the concept has exerted influence far beyond the scope of politics and international relations, becoming ubiquitous in diplomacy, culture and art, as well as in the military and science and technology, symbols of “hard power.”

No doubt, it is of academic significance to review and reflect upon the evolution of soft power in the past 25 years.

Nye put forward the concept as the Cold War was drawing to an end in response to the theory of “American decline” widespread in Western academia in the 1980s. He attempted to refute the decline theory, holding that though the US has declined in hard power, such as economic and military strength, its soft power did not decline.
 

Moreover, Nye often criticized soft power of other countries. In particular, he conducted a comparative study among Japan, China, Russia and the EU. He was firmly convinced of the overwhelming superiority of American soft power, and automatically evaluated that of other nations based on the American standard.
 

However, Nye’s idea can be a double-edged sword for the US. While persuasively refuting the argument that the US was in decline, he admitted the structural defects of American power, which many American and European scholars of international relations are well aware of. And ironically, 25 years later, American soft power has declined, which Nye did not expect.
 

After the Cold War, the US entered a post-hegemonic era instead of a unipolar world in which the American people had become complacent. It has become less willing and able to provide international public goods. In contrast to European and emerging countries, which actively engage in reforms, the US opposes changes to existing international systems and global multilateral frameworks. For instance, the US is less interested in the WTO while showing special preference to trading blocs aimed at disrupting the world economy, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is targeted at China.
 

All nations around the world have soft power, but to a different extent and in different ways. Nye’s view did inspire many nations, including China, to emphasize and develop soft power. China introduced the American concept because it was aware of its disadvantage in soft power, especially in international influence, and of the urgency and necessity to develop soft power. On the contrary, when the concept was proposed in the US, American people thought their soft power was superior, inexhaustible and appealing to other countries.
 

Nye’s views have received much criticism in the US and other countries. Critics have examined the soft power theory from different perspectives. They argued that soft power and hard power cannot be completely separated because there’s no clear boundary. In addition, soft power, easily influenced by subjective and ideological factors, is hard to measure.
 

As a Chinese scholar, I think three points need to be noted. First, soft power may overstate the advantage of a nation and cover up its real problems and underlying issues in particular while emphasizing the intangible attractiveness of the nation. For this reason, soft power is widely used in public diplomacy, which, however, adds fraudulence to public diplomacy that originally lacked credibility due to the purpose of publicity.
 

Second, the worldwide spread of the concept has rendered the soft power theory itself into a bulwark of American soft power, which I call the “soft power” of soft power.
 

Third, for 25 years, Nye has believed that soft power of the US is far ahead that of other nations and brought into being a myth of American soft power.
 

Nonetheless, American soft power is not and should not be a standard for the world. And it is essential to conduct comparative research on soft power of all countries across the globe and develop a global standard.

 

Pang Zhongying is a professor from the School of Asia-Pacific Studies at Sun Yat-Sen University.