Last week we talked about the theories of power. What we didn't talk about was the difference between Soft Power and Hard Power and how these are related.
Linked here is a BBC international poll that suggests because of America's role in Iraq is not only unpopular, but its soft power -- its ability to influence people in other countries by the force of example and by the perceived legitimacy of its policies - is weakening.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6288933.stm
Also linked here is a seven-part series from the Teaching Comprative Government & Politics blog spot of Ken Wedding, one of the chief readers at the AP exam. He has a number of posts that defines the term and analyzes what people see on in the world in our comparative countries.
http://compgovpol.blogspot.com/
Read the BBC article and comparative posts and then ask yourself, is America still a Superpower? And, is our Hard Power (military involvement) weakening our Soft Power?
2 comments:
Our hard power is definitly weakening the soft power of the United States. Many countries around the world view the US as the bully that will use/threaten military power if things do not go in their favor. One of the recent examples of this is the support of the Fatah party in Palestine.
I also think that the US hides/ignores many things that should be important in foreign affairs. The US is a very close ally to Pakistan even though it is a military "dictatorship" under Musharaff. Many of the terrorists are hiding in the western portion of Pakistan because the government does not have the capacity to tend to them. Instead of using our hard power in these regions, we used it in Iraq, where there were no hardcore terrorists under the old regime. As a result, the hard power undermines the soft power.
The soft power of the United States is being weakened by our country's use of hard power. In its military confrontations, the US (trying to maintain its status as a superpower) is using coercive tactics that often times portray it as a malevolent country. The United States should be focusing on using its soft power, which is a safer and more conciliatory method of dealing in foreign affairs during the current age of advancements in science and technology. Foreign countries will respect and perhaps listen to the United States more if we demonstrate the ability to influence the world through fairness and without flaunting our military might. Even if our ulterior motives are purely selfish, we should still avoid coming across as a nation that forces and bullies others into obeying us. The impression that America is abusing its hard power undermines our credibility, and thus, our ability to effectively use peaceful tactics--soft power.
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