phd dissertation on soft power

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Published: 14 May 2019

Soft-power, culturalism and developing economies: the case of Global Ibsen

Sabiha Huq 1

Palgrave Communications volume 5 , Article number: 48 ( 2019 ) Cite this article

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Development studies
Politics and international relations
Theatre and performance studies

This paper on soft-power connected with culturalism vis-à-vis Henrik Ibsen, draws its essence from the term ‘soft power’ coined and defined by Joseph S Nye Jr. and read in contiguity with ‘culturalism’ that Arjun Appadurai connotes as “identity politics mobilised at the level of the nation-state”. On these terms, the present author perceives ‘soft power’ as a force that affects or is expected to affect not just few specially endowed individuals in any given society; rather as one that works upon the mindscapes of the commoner, or in the collective unconscious. The quintessential social critic that inheres Ibsen the playwright, is here looked upon as such a reservoir of soft-power, whose dramatic oeuvre and its subsequent global reception have ignited ideas of social reform and thus have become part of Norwegian culturalism and soft power. While the Norwegian Government has funded projects and encouraged institutional collaborations in this connection, individuals too have taken up vital roles in establishing intercultural links using Ibsen as their ambassador. At present Ibsen is part of cultural exchange between Norway and many developing countries of Asia and Africa. What happens to the targeted receivers of such soft power is a valid question and this paper explores soft power from the perspective of the third world marginalised subject position. Dwelling upon specific channels of Norwegian soft-power that have proven world-wide currency, and the indefatigable ways in which Ibsen has been a major tool in such soft diplomacy, this paper attempts to analyse how Ibsen the dramatist has eventually become a significant part of Norwegian culturalism as soft power whose outreach is aimed at the egalitarian ideal, hence imbued with enormous potential to function as a strong influence in intercultural affairs.

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Introduction

Basically drawn from the concept of ‘soft power’ coined by Joseph S Nye Jr. who defines power as “the ability to influence the behaviour of others to get the outcome one wants” (Nye, 2004 , p. 2), this paper aims to draw scholarly attention to the fact that Ibsenian textualities have by and large been used in Norwegian government’s foreign policy for its revelatory contexts of humanitarian perspectives and human rights. While most statist forces conceive of power in terms of hard power—that is, the power of force or coercion, Nye argues that today’s world needs soft power, which he defines as “… the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments” (p. 10). He claims that the origins of soft power lie in a country’s culture, political ideals and policies (p. 10). Therefore, when a country’s policies are seen as legitimate by others, its soft power and thereby, acceptance, are enhanced. For numerous reasons that have evolved in a globalised ‘one world’ order, the need today is ever more for soft power as opposed to all forms of coercive hard power. Factors like unipolarity in international polity, global capitalism, consumerist culture, debates over identity, nationality and nationalism, migrancy and exile, assimilations and ruptures, have cumulatively affected not just individuals but also national and global societies. Bracketed together, these have made hard power increasingly prone to redundancy, while soft power has emerged as a viable option by default.

Theoretical framework

It might logically be questioned how and why the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen fits into such comprehension of soft power. Here one needs to relate with the essence of culturalism, of which a major author of any culture is an integral part. Florian Znaniecki comments in his book Cultural Reality : “Our whole world, without any exceptions, is permeated with culture” (Znaniecki, 1919 , p. 16). Culturalism is indeed a better and more specific replacement for naturalism and idealism, which have the attendant perils of generalisation. Each individual perceives the world through her/his own cultural construct, and this does not ipso facto change by external forces. “Therefore to the savage his magical technique seems as successful as scientific technique seems to the modern engineer” (p. 17), opines Znaniecki, but at the same time he gives an account of historical development of culture that has perforce necessitated value and action. The savage would gradually learn to use scientific technique, given the fact that he experiences the machine in reality and eventually, is convinced of its value. The change that occurs in this cultural exchange between the modern engineer’s culture that inspires and influences the savage, and the savage’s culture that trusts and thereby legitimises the acceptance of the modern engineer’s culture indicates a trend of cultural evolution through which development occurs. Thus culturalism and soft power are two sides of the same coin. The problem with culture, as Appadurai writes, is that it has been viewed as “a matter of one or other kind of pastness” (Appadurai, 2004 , p. 60), while development is generally seen in terms of the future. Importantly however, Appadurai admits that most approaches to culture “do not ignore the future” but they “smuggle it in indirectly, when they speak of norms, beliefs, and values as being central to cultures, conceived as specific and multiple designs of social life” (ibid, 60-61). Nye becomes important in this connection for three reasons, as he writes, (i) “Seduction is always more effective than coercion, and many values like democracy, human rights and individual opportunities are deeply seductive” (p. 10), (ii) “Power always depends on the context in which relationship exists” (p. 10), and (iii) a country’s culture, when it is attractive to others, becomes a part of the soft power (p. 11). Therefore, it is assumed that culturalism as a driving force and soft power as its motivational agency work on an individual if they are cohesive.

One can identify three key dimensions in every serious understanding of culture identified by Appadurai, that go on to create the bases behind the acceptance of Ibsen as a valuable instrument of Norwegian soft power: “relationality (between norms, values, and beliefs); dissensus within some framework of consensus (especially in regard to the marginal, the poor, gender relations, and power relations more generally); and weak boundaries (perennially visible in process of migration, trade and warfare now writ large on globalising cultural traffic)” (Appadurai, 2004 ). Ibsen has been the strongest ambassador of Norway’s culture as he is a reservoir of norms and values that represent Norway to the world outside, where similar values and norms are either present, or the absence of which is strongly felt. Today Norway is one of those countries that top the humanitarian activities indexes, which in turn has given this country its distinctive identity. Gender equality, which is the strongest social and political agenda in Norway, is something that Ibsen advocated in his own country, and his play A Doll’s House spread across Europe and subsequently the whole world the message of women’s claim of equal rights. Environmental pollution and lack of democratic values in state polity—maladies against which Ibsen advocates, are also serious concerns in the global scene. These issues were being addressed through staging Ibsen in Norway and elsewhere and today Norway stands as on the top ranking countries that have achieved targets in eradicating such maladies.

The Indian statesman Shashi Tharoor rightly comments that, “Increasingly, countries are judged by the soft-power elements they project on to the global consciousness” (p. 282); and Norway, as Ibsen’s homeland, is regarded as a country with potential soft-power. Several conscious attempts to employ Ibsen as part of soft-power are evidenced since the inception of the practice of cultural diplomacy across the globe, all of which have contributed to create awareness on crucial issues like women’s emancipation, gender equity, capitalist unipolarity, globalisation, rise of religious fundamentalism, and the like. Interestingly, as Ibsen travel history evinces, he has been taken to those parts of the world that had preordained situations regarding the issues mentioned above, in which situations an author of his ilk was always in public demand, whether consciously voiced or subconsciously missed. What matters in soft diplomacy is attracting people and affecting people’s opinions, and Ibsen as a pioneer of individual freedom and human rights easily becomes a seductive tool of influencing opinion to the extent of his thoughts being appropriated, as has been witnessed in the last two hundred years.

Ibsenism as culturalism

Though Ibsen comes from one of the most developed economies of the world, he is so very unlike representations of first world popular culture like Hollywood films, MacDonald’s, Coca Cola, or such other icons that have gained heady popularity worldwide. As part of global mass culture these are in no way negligible, but the pervasive influence of Ibsen on humanitarian issues has a much deeper and far reaching consequences. He writes about social infrastructure, explores the limits of social boundary, interrogates social practices, and his characters revolt against inequalities and injustice in ways that cut across geographical limits to reach out to the marginalised in different spectrums of life. The contexts that lend themselves to the appropriation of Ibsen in different cultures are much more cogent, and the values he upholds embrace greater universal currency than the temporal attractions or coercions of globalisation the examples of which are already given and which are in effect transitory. Ibsen works as a developing stimulus for the countries involved in any cultural exchange through him. Nye mentions Norway’s supremacy in using soft power in economic aid or peacemaking. He writes that “in the past two decades Norway has taken a hand in peace talks in the Philippines, the Balkans, Colombia, Guatemala, Sri Lanka, and the Middle East. Norwegians say this grows out of their Lutheran missionary heritage, but at the same time the posture of peacemaker identifies Norway with values shared by other nations that enhance Norway’s soft power” (Nye, 2004 , p. 10) Footnote 1 . Ibsen could be mentioned with equal emphasis as he has become the pre-text of Norway’s cultural aid programmes (with specific sociopolitical targets within their purview) in countries with developing economies.

The two directions of the globe that Ibsen’s work has majorly travelled to—the western countries and the rest of the world, have had multiple social contexts but a definitive single line of sociopolitical achievements in view. Why Ibsen travelled and to what effect is clearly mentioned by Erika Fischer–Lichte in her ‘Introduction’ to Global Ibsen , where she writes that Ibsen conquered the theatres of Europe, North America, Australia and parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America by the first half of the 20 th century. Ibsen’s plays created heated debates over aesthetic, cultural, social and political issues. Fischer–Lichte writes, “It is not by chance that the great demand for Ibsen’s plays coincided with processes of modernisation taking place in these cultures – processes to which the plays contributed and in which they played an important role” (Fischer-Lichte, 2011 , p. 1). In a recent study Narve Fulsås and Tore Rem, (Fulsås and Rem, 2018 ) have shown how Ibsen conquered the page and stage in Europe. In England especially after the publication of a few books (including Bernard Shaw’s The Quintessence of Ibsenism ) and A Doll’s House performed at The Novelty theatre in 1889 with Janet Achurch as Nora, Ibsen had his breakthrough. While the books on Ibsen connected him with democracy, socialism, etc., the performance connected him with women’s rights. Edmund Gosse, William Archer, Bernard Shaw were keen on establishing Ibsen as a social reformer in the 1920s while after a few years M. C. Bradbrook, Brian Westerdale Down, John Richard Northam and P.F.D. Tennant read Ibsen in the light of New Criticism—both groups of writers established Ibsen as one of the major dramatists of the English speaking world. Marvin Carlson’s remarks resonate Fischer–Lichte, “It is surely not coincidental that the two periods of Ibsen’s greatest popularity on the American stage, the opening years of the twentieth century and the 1960s and 1970s, were also the years of America’s most active feminist movements (Fischer-Lichte, 2011 , p. 42).” In this connection Frode Helland writes,

Ibsen’s first international, or European, breakthrough was made possible with plays that had strong political topicality— Pillars of Society (1877) and A Doll’s House (1879) influenced the political debate in major European countries and it is an interesting fact that these aspects are still strong in practice. Be it in Africa, Europe, the Americas or Asia, his plays are staged by artists who find them relevant here and now. This relevance and the concrete theatrical expression it leads to, however, can only be characterised as extremely diverse, in every aspect. (Helland, 2015 , p. 5)

Jacqueline Martin writes how A Doll’s House was received by the Australian audience in 1889 with Janet Achurch in the lead role and how the reception changed with the modes of Australian feminist movements after a hundred years, “as the situation for women in general has been questioned in Australia in the twentieth century, so too has A Doll’s House found new relevance and been met with greater acceptance” (Martin, 2011 , p. 61).

It is to be noted that Ibsen was part of theatre practice in these countries that were in no way financially dependent on Norway’s support. In some Asian countries Ibsen travelled as precursor of a new theatre form, but simultaneously he was identified as a foreign playwright through whom critical social issues could be sorted out. For example, in China he became part of spoken drama, as well as part of the traditional opera forms and at the same time he was the most important and most discussed Western author in the 1920s and 1930s who was frequently used and adapted by major figures of the May 4th Movement. Chinese intellectuals like Lu Xun and Hu Shi regarded Ibsen as a figure they could employ to liberate China from its feudal heritage. They used Ibsen to promote democracy, human rights and women’s liberation. Kwok-Kan Tam in his book Ibsen in China: 1908 – 1997 has divided Ibsen’s reception in China in four phases Footnote 2 and has shown how Ibsen continued to appeal to the Chinese readers and audience throughout the century. He connects Ibsen with Chinese literary revolution, May Fourth Movement, emergence of romanticism, wartime China, Chinese socialism and beyond. He writes:

From the beginning, the modern Chinese theatre was social and political theatre. Although there were no distinctively formed Ibsenite groups in China, there were dramatists, such as Hong Shen and Tian Han, who openly professed themselves “Chinese Ibsens.” […] In fact, one of the major reasons for introducing Ibsen to China was that the messages derived from his plays constituted a powerful attack on the conventional moral institutions in China. […] Although in the late 1920s and early 1930s some Chinese critics called for a reconsideration of Ibsen from the perspective of art, still the general tendency was to moralise him, which, however was supported by the practical view that Ibsen’s drama was useful for social reform in China. (Tam 2001 , pp. 12–13)

Nie Zhenzhao adds to this by listing a number of Chinese scholars who have greatly influenced Ibsen Studies in China. He writes that Ibsen is one of those literary figures who “possess great influence on and attractions to Chinese intellectuals” (Zhenzhao, 2006 , p. 26). According to him, since the 1980s Ibsen has earned “a new generation of Chinese readers, and become one of the most significant writers for scholars to study” (p. 26). Sheila Melvin rightly comments that Ibsen became a household name in the early 20th century in the creation of a new Chinese culture (Melvin, 2006 , p. 15).

However, Ibsen’s contribution to theatres in weaker economies has been even more significant. In African and Asian countries where theatre hardly gets government patronage, Ibsen created opportunities for theatre practitioners. Referring to the first Ibsen performance in Africa (of A Doll’s House directed by Charles Charrington and Janet Achurch in the lead role) Helland writes that the history of Ibsen in Africa is connected to Western colonialism. He pointedly states,

The richer countries of the world use a small, but increasing, part of their wealth on so-called soft diplomacy or soft-power, often by supporting culture in poor countries. In the Norwegian case this means that a theatre can get much needed economic support to stage an Ibsen play. This is not in any way a practice that I am against or critical of in principle; I find it only fair and reasonable that Western countries should try to support cultural sectors in countries where they have contributed to produce the general poverty in question. But it has to be done in ways that do not add insult to injury, by being able to negotiate the specificities of place and local context. (Helland, 2016 , p. 26)

Helland’s apprehension and his suggestions are valid as most colonial Western cultures used hard power along with soft power in promoting their culture to the colonies. However, dissemination of Norwegian culture through Ibsen’s texts did not happen through coercion; rather it was always connected with soft power. Most remarkably, in these weaker economies too, Ibsen did not remain a foreigner. His texts were always related to local issues and developmental programmes. In Bengal in colonial India the first production of A Doll’s House happened to be the one directed by Charrington and Achruch in the lead role in 1891, but this neither had any immediate impact on the Bengali intelligentsia (Ahsanuzzaman, 2009 , p. 70) nor was it in the theatres for a long time. According to Ahmed Ahsanuzzaman the Bengali intelligentsia discovered Ibsen only in the1950s when “the key issues woven into the fabric of Ibsen’s plays were also the issues that were changing the Bengali culture. It was this social reality that paved the way for the staging of Ibsen in Bengali theatre (Ahsanuzzaman, 2009 , p. 70).

The same may have happened in Africa as there is no trace of any significant Ibsen play after Charrington’s A Doll’s House , till the newly formed independent states identified the issues connected with the processes of modernisation and welcomed Norwegian soft diplomacy to intervene amidst them. In Zimbabwe, for example, Ibsen became part of the New Horizon Theatre Company presided by Robert Mshengu Kavanagh (Robert McLaren) that treat environment issues, women and children’s rights, future of Africa, etc. as central themes of its teamwork. They have hence received Norwegian financial assistance to produce two Ibsen plays.

In Bangladesh, the Centre for Asian Theatre arranged several international Ibsen conferences with the help of the Norwegian embassy in Dhaka since it commenced operations in 1997. This was a high time for radical questionings of and consequent changes in the status of women in Bangladesh. This was also a time for inclusion of Ibsen in the syllabi of most of the English departments of the existing public universities in the country, as shown elsewhere by the present author (Huq, 2009 ). In 2009 there was a huge theatre festival in which marginal theatre groups were given financial assistance to produce plays on sociopolitical issues. It is therefore evident that whenever Ibsen travelled to any part of the globe, there was either the woman question or the question of industrial pollution or bankrupt politics in public debate that gave the plays relevance.

According to Nye, the sources of a country’s soft power rest primarily on three resources among which one is its culture (in places where it is attractive to others). Norwegian culture includes its prime literary resources, of which Ibsen is an integral part. On the other hand, Norway’s political values (when it lives up to them at home and abroad, according to Nye) include the universal humanitarian values of which Ibsen is a representative in infinite ways. Ibsen focused on, for example, “bourgeois family life and values, industrial pollution and corporate cover-up” (Fischer-Lichte, 2011 , p. 1), democracy and people’s rights, bankrupt political views and consequences, all of which are problems faced universally. When a country’s culture “includes universal values and its policies promote values and interests that others share, it increases the probability of obtaining its desired outcomes because of the relationships of attraction and duty that it creates. Narrow values and parochial cultures are less likely to produce soft power” (Nye, 2004 , p. 11). Therefore, Ibsen has become a major cultural resource and resonance for Norway, and has become part of Norwegian developmental goals in respect of human resource development on a global scale.

A discussion of strategic planning is undoubtedly necessary as “Converting resources into realised power in the sense of obtaining desired outcomes requires well-designed strategies and skilful leadership” (Nye, 2004 , p. 3). Ibsen is now an integral component of Norway’s foreign policies, and this paper stresses upon the fact that Ibsen has, to a great extent, legitimised Norway’s moral authority over developing countries (Nye, 2004 , p. 3). The claim is strengthened by a few examples drawn from activities that have happened and are still happening across the globe.

The first example will be drawn from the scholarship schemes created for the Faculty of Humanities, University of Oslo for the overseas students of Centre for Ibsen Studies during the last years of the earlier millennium. Centre for Ibsen Studies was established in 1991 and started functioning in 1993. Opening up a postgraduate study and attracting university students to it is obviously part of farsighted human resource development plan of a country. In that respect, Ibsen Studies is obviously part of Norwegian human resource development planning, not just on a professional axis but also from the perspective of disseminating an ideology that propagates egalitarian values. Studying Ibsen is different from studying any other subject, because Ibsen promotes through implicational praxes certain values like gender equality, empowerment of women, ensuring the rights of common people, combating superstition and prejudices, critiquing bankruptcy politics that become transmittable through Ibsen Studies. Significantly, this area of connecting Ibsen with global issues became a feasible option for international students as it came to be offered in English. Moreover, deserving and meritorious scholars from developing countries have had ample scope of applying for scholarship schemes under Norwegian Government’s foreign aid programmes like NORAD/NOMA/Quota Footnote 3 that are readily accessible. This way, academic exchange has been a proven means of extending soft power for Norway, wherein Ibsen becomes the vehicle of cultural interface.

The offering of Ibsen Studies as a discipline in itself at a time when gender awareness and women’s empowerment was a burning issue in less developed and post-colonial countries has contributed its might to creating interest in Ibsen and enhancing his visibility in many parts of the third world. For example, many Bangladeshi universities included Ibsen in their syllabi in the 1990s, as argued by Sabiha Huq in her MPhil dissertation (Huq, 2009 ). It would be simplistic to look upon the simultaneous fact of Ibsen being taught in a third world country and inclusion of Ibsen Studies as a discipline in a Norwegian University as coincidental, for that is how ideas travel in the true spirit of the global. The connections are evident in the rising gender equality measures taken simultaneously in the developed and the developing countries, sharing of values and dictating of actions.

One may topically refer to the British Council or American Cultural Center, or even the Confucius Institute or the Goethe Institute which are, respectively, the Chinese and German cultural centres per se. The nomenclatures of these professional bodies are equivalent to the Ibsen Centre in that the institutions function as global centres for cultural and educational exchanges of the particular countries. The British Council, that claims to be the oldest cultural relations organisation, was started in 1934 and opened its first overseas office in 1938, just before the cessation of Britain’s colony in undivided India. The organisation’s history witnesses the fact that in the 1930s when the world was facing instability and extreme ideologies were raging across Europe, the British Government thought it wise to operate an organisation through which Britain’s soft goals of foreign policy that were perforce replacing its colonial interests would continue to be transmitted outside the UK. In 1940 the organisation’s Royal Charter set forth its mission of ‘promoting a wider knowledge of [the UK] and the English language abroad and developing closer cultural relations between [the UK] and other countries’ (British Council, 2018 ).

In India the organisation commenced its journey right after the independence of India in 1948. Whether this was in spirit a neocolonial continuation of the colonial spirit writ large in Macaulay’s ‘Minutes of Education’ Footnote 4 is a proposition that can spark much debate; but it has with time, definitely contributed to the influence of English education that the colonial administrators began much before. Promotion of English learning programmes, as well as different cultural exchange programmes never let India or the other Commonwealth countries go off the cultural control of England over the years. Today the British Council not only promotes its own culture to the huge community in India, but also promotes advancement by creating opportunities for the young population to expand their knowledge and movement in terms of employment. The same has happened in Bangladesh and Pakistan, two other offshoots of the Partition of India by Britain’s two-nation theory. At a deeper level, Britain has retained its cultural dominance in the subcontinent even years after its failure to hold the subcontinent under its political control, and this is unabated even after seven decades of partitioning it off. One needs to distinguish between the neocolonial aspect of the so-called social and moral uplift programs of developing nations and the true enhancement of human rights policies through such cultural dominance, in order to weigh and ensure the maximum privilege one can get out of it. Even if the British Council may be an evolved form of a colonial hangover, the Ibsen Centre can in its own right exist as an enhancer of the legacy of modernism. The British Council and the Goethe Institute were established by their respective governments but Ibsen Centre is not a governmental body. It was established by the University of Oslo; though it is fully financed by the Norwegian authorities it enjoys full autonomy when it comes to its priorities, which in effect increases soft power as Nye’s argument goes. As a nation with a Lutheran heritage Footnote 5 , if the endorsement of the Norwegians’ claim mentioned in Nye be a stated fact of policy, this can doubly enhance the country’s soft power.

Ibsen Centre houses the secretariat of the International Ibsen committee, which arranges the International Ibsen Conferences. Such grand scale Ibsen Conferences date back to 1965 which took place in Oslo. Since then fourteen International Conferences have been held in different countries. Hundreds of participants from different cultures have come together at these conferences, and Ibsen has become a hub of causal connect for international cooperation and exchange of values. This is obviously an achievement on a global perspective. Nonetheless, where do these conferences take the academia from different countries is a valid question, as the researchers could gather more frequently had there been regional Ibsen sub-centres to follow up on the activities and demands of international Ibsen scholars.

Ibsen Centre also conceptualises and executes different international projects under its aegis. ‘Ibsen between Cultures’, ‘Ibsen in Translation’, ‘Ibsen Stage’—are some such projects undertaken by the Centre’s distinguished faculty and international communities are formed within the parameters of these projects. Sharing of values and collaboration between the developed and developing happens in the process, and it is obviously a contribution that bolsters diplomatic strategies by striving to foster cultural engagements. Though not on a massive scale, such projects on Ibsen have thus enriched Norwegian soft power, and have the potential to do much more.

We live in a world where exchange of values happen through international cooperation and a country may have policies regarding international or bilateral projects, which are part of its soft power. Norwegian Government has funded such projects through the Research Council of Norway. There have been quite a number of individual projects on Ibsen that were funded through the research council, the outcomes of which are innovative doctoral dissertations from different universities of Norway. This Paper selects as samples only the larger projects that were provided to individuals and organisations of different countries, and have played their part in extending the diplomatic goals of Norway.

International Ibsen Festival, Ibsen Awards Programme and Nora’s Sisters are some of the projects that Norwegian government has taken up over the years. International Ibsen Festival is an initiative of the National theatre and is carried out on corporate sponsorship, though remarkably enough, the major contribution for the 2006 Festival to commemorate Ibsen’s death centenary came from the Ministry of Culture (Holledge et al., 2016 , p. 96). Even today subsidies come through the annual budget of the theatre. Theatre groups from all over the world participate in the festivals. An invitation to the festival raises the status of the concerned theatre repertory regionally, as its touring increases after the participation in the festival (Holledge et al., 2016 , p. 99).

Ibsen Awards Programme is also sponsored by Norwegian government and through the scholarships, projects on adaptation of Ibsen plays are funded. Young artists, theatre directors and translators are encouraged through the scheme. This is an effective mechanism to promote Norwegian culture via Ibsen. There have been several translations and performances of Ibsen in Norway and elsewhere in the world under this programme.

Nora’s Sisters, a project of Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the Department for Culture, Public Diplomacy and Protocol is the most significant in terms of soft diplomacy. The project report justifies the title of the project on the following lines:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has taken the initiative to a series of seminars, to be organised by Norwegian embassies abroad. The aim of the project is to use Ibsen’s work as a starting point and source of inspiration for debates and discussions related to gender equality and gender roles in contemporary society in different countries and cultural contexts. Inspired by Nora, the main female character in Ibsen’s play “The Doll’s House”, the project is called “Nora’s Sisters”. (Decision Brief, 2006 a, 2006 b, 2006 c)

The project clearly mentions that Ibsen is the raison d’être for ‘Nora’s Sisters’ and “Experience has shown that Ibsen is a good platform for promoting one of the five pillars of Norwegian foreign policy–namely gender equality” (Annual Report 2007 , p. 4). Jonas Gahr Støre, Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Erik Solheim, Norwegian Minister of International Development in 2006 write in their joint foreword to the ‘Nora’s Sisters’ brochure that Ibsen raised fundamental questions about human relationships and social conditions. The author never showed women and men how to lead their lives. “He proposed neither changes to government policy nor specific measures. As a result each new generation of women in every country, whether developed or developing, can consider the questions Ibsen raises in their own context” (Nora’s Sisters Brochure, 2006 a, 2006 b, 2006 c, pp. 6–7). They also write that Norwegian foreign policy and development cooperation focus on prompting gender equality, and they believed that Ibsen’s plays can play an important part in the government’s efforts through the issues they raise. They finally expressed their hope that through the ‘Nora’s Sisters’ seminars there will be an opportunity to raise public awareness.

Hanna Andrea Kraugerud argues whether Ibsen is really the best tool for promoting democracy, justice and women’s rights. She suggests that it would be better to leave such sociopolitical issues on the human rights organisations. But in the same paper she argues that if Ibsen had to be relevant in countries like Norway, where divorce is readily available and women participate in the labour market, there must be new readings of Ibsen. She rejects the idea of “consolidating an Ibsenian feminism which left the original play long ago, and is now living its own politically correct life in a stereotyped information brochure” (Nora’s Sisters Brochure, 2006 a, 2006 b, 2006 c, p. 13). Thereby, she accepts that there has been a gradual change in the Norwegian way of life since Ibsen’s days and perhaps the Norwegians have attained the humanitarian standards that Ibsen demanded. According to her, if the countries with lower developmental indices had to achieve the same standards, Ibsen should be read and no innovation should be asked for to understand him. From a South Asian subject position, the present author disagrees with this view in some respects, for a financially dependent ‘Nora’ in Bangladesh, India or Pakistan still cannot possibly walk out of the house and marriage even though one has been familiarised with Ibsen. For example, the noted Bengali thespian Sambhu Mitra adapted A Doll’s House as Putul Khela in Kolkata where he made Bulu, the Bengali counterpart of Nora, leave her husband. The production was staged in Kolkata theatres for more than thirty years with mixed volatile responses, but as oppression of wives has stopped neither in West Bengal nor in India at large, it is evident that the play has not been able to effect revolutionary social change. Yet ends do not always justify the means, and ‘ends’ in themselves are often qualified. The questioning of the pervasive ground realities of patriarchy is always work in progress; hence Ibsen remains a dramatist whose works should be made known for creating awareness against multi-pronged ills of society.

Nora’s Sisters held seminars in New York, the USA (2006), Oslo, Norway (2006), Cairo, Egypt (2006), Korea, Mozambique, Malawi, Tel Aviv, Israel (2007), Spain, Hungary, Russia, Vietnam, Brazil, New Delhi and Pune, India (2006 and 2008), Beijing, China (2007), Ramallah, Palestine (2008) and France (2012). Wherever it was arranged, the focus was on international development through disseminating the ideologies of Ibsen.

On 2nd November 2006, in New Delhi, HRH Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon commented at the opening seminar of Nora’s Sisters that Nora’s moral questions transcend gender and those are asked every day in the real world. He believed that the seminar would create an opportunity to discuss Ibsen in the context of India’s long and varied history and multicultural society, and would initiate debates. One may ask if it is possible to read Ibsen in India where sometimes the basic notion of gender equality is missing on both sides of the divide. To extend the cue from Mitra’s adaptation mentioned earlier, it is a matter of social concern that on the one hand India does not take legal cognisance of marital rape; on the other, Indian Penal Codes 498 and 498A Footnote 6 remain heavily skewed and run the risk of imprisoning a husband on charges leveled but yet to be proven. As such, cultural connections made through such performances of Ibsen can induce much necessary thought in terms of proactive action towards balanced legislations. As the Crown Prince anticipated, readings and re-readings of Ibsen could go a long way in stirring healthy debates, through which many issues could be discussed in the public domain. Thus Ibsen may be employed to have some effect on the large Indian society as regards moral values and healthier understandings of gender equations.

The following year Nora’s Sisters seminar was arranged at Peking University which was popularly called a seminar on women’s rights, and the then Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg addressed women’s education as a development indicator. For all the brouhaha surrounding this Asian giant economy, Chinese society still suffers from many social ills, and as was evident through the proceedings of the seminar (Nora’s Sisters, 2007 ), Ibsen could initiate debates and challenges in a pertinent context.

In 2008 the seminar was arranged in Ramallah and the Norwegian MP, Ms. Inga Marte Thorkildsen in her speech focused on ‘Women in Politics in Norway’ and related to her personal experience of serving a second term in Parliament at the age of thirty one. Relevant parts of her delivery are excerpted here for enunciation:

I would like to start by saying a little bit about the current situation in Palestine. As a Norwegian, born into freedom and wealth, it feels enormously important to come here. More than ever, the outside world needs to see with its own eyes what you experience as a consequence of the occupation. It’s upsetting and I wish the international community would respond in a different way than they do now. […] And I really hope that women and youth will be allowed to take important positions in the political and civil system, because true democracy comes from representation of all parts of a society.

[…] It fills me with pride to be part of a global movement for women´s rights. It’s really special to know that at the same time as Norwegian women and men celebrate and demonstrate on this very day, people in Palestine do the same. And in different parts of the world, millions of people engage in a world-wide struggle for women’s human rights.

[…] We must fight for the right to be seen as human beings, not as dolls without intellectual capacity, subjectivity and freedom of choice. Nora’s sisters must unite. (Nora’s Sisters, 2008 )

The Norwegian MP’s emotional reaction to the backward position of the Palestinian women shows how Ibsen has enormous potential to produce soft power. Holledge, et al. write:

Even though it was never stated explicitly in the policy documents relating to Nora’s Sisters, over half of the seminars took place in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), among them significant sites of recent violent conflict: Palestine, Banda Aceh, and Uganda. The format of the seminars placed Norway as the country not only asking the questions but also living the answers. Norway was represented as a legislative utopia in the fight for gender equality. (Holledge, et al. 2016 , p. 102)

Ibsen as part of Norway’s soft power is, therefore, irresistible, if seen from this doubly marginalised women’s perspective. However, the fact is that Ibsen never remained imprisoned in the moral utopias of a feminist literary or theatre tradition. His global outreach has happened in numerous formats, the effects of which defy practical quantifiability.

Another project that has vital importance in this discussion is ‘Ibsen between Cultures’. Led by Professor Frode Helland of the Centre for Ibsen Studies and comprised of a group of international scholars, its goal was to “reach an understanding of Ibsen’s function as a global dramatist. As the ‘Project Description’ envisaged, the focus therefore was on understanding how an Ibsen play was evaluated, how the value of the plays showed alterity, constantly being shifted, transferred and appropriated when localised in new cultural contexts. The project offered Doctoral positions to two international students; and the advertisement mentioned the University of Oslo’s goal of recruiting more women to academic positions, and thereby encouraged women to apply. Furthermore, the University of Oslo also has had a goal of recruiting more immigrants in academic positions, and immigrants too were encouraged to apply. It has hence been on record that hundred percent of the project’s doctoral positions were given to non-Norwegians. This is an extraordinary use of Ibsen within culturalism and beyond. With an intention to scrutinise “the part played by Norwegian authorities and Norwegian policies in the dissemination of Ibsen throughout the world” (Helland, 2016 , p. 19) as “Norwegian authorities promote Ibsen as part of their ‘soft diplomacy’” (Helland, 2016 , p. 19). This way the project itself played a pivotal role in promoting Norwegian ‘soft power’. American, Australian, Chinese, Indian, Bangladeshi scholars and theatre practitioners were involved in the project and thus it was a great site for international cooperation that pervaded levels of economies and cultures. The dissertations produced by the researchers appointed in the project (one Bangladeshi male and one Chinese female), keeping theatre practices as their key points, discussed how Ibsen became an agent of women’s liberation in India and China, respectively. The far reaching effect of this project is that these researchers are working at their respective work places where the dissemination of their research is producing far reaching influences on their students. For example, Ahmed Ahsanuzzaman, the Bangladeshi researcher who teaches at Khulna University in Bangladesh, has supervised a number of female students who acknowledge in their theses that their outlooks have been groomed through the Ibsen’s texts and they have inculcated to a large extent the faculty of independent thinking.

‘Ibsen in Translation’ is another project that was initiated by Frode Helland, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Norway, NORLA, and the Centre for Ibsen Studies. The project which has been completed lately has produced a total of 96 translations. It is remarkable that the translators are all women except one, which is obviously a key indicator of the project’s policy regarding the gender perspective. The key area to watch out for once this project culminates is how revelatory each Ibsen text turns out to be when simultaneously viewed in different cultures. Such cultural negotiations in real time using Ibsen as a global paradigm are indeed a unique venture of soft power. It can be expected that these translations will engage in a dialogue with their readers and will share the idealism and political vision that Ibsen produced in these plays, with each having their own ‘glocal’ contexts ingrained in the emergent texts.

Pursuant to the fall of the older ideologies like tolerant nationalism and Marxism, the world has become prey to fundamentalism and fascism. Uneven globalisation has caused an imbalance of military and political power and there is a constant threat of rising terrorism. Ibsen, it is held, can have a role to play in the present scenario. The example of India can again be given here. Beni Prasad informs us that from 1928 onwards, the Russian five-year plans attracted much attention and received warm approval in India:

The plans seemed to point the right way to the liquidation of poverty and the attainment of an up-to-date economy. The economic depression which began in 1929 hit India hard, turned the mind to fundamental reorganisation, and enhanced the admiration for Russia, which alone was untouched by the depression and which alone had abolished unemployment. (Prasad, 1944 , p. 51)

It was so because of Mahatma Gandhi’s enormous sympathy with and understanding of the peasant masses that constitutes almost ninety percent of the Indian population. But since the 1980s after the fall of the Soviet bloc and the rise of neo-liberal economy in India, there has been a paradigm shift in political ideologies as well. Religious fundamentalism grew in India and riots took place in many places of the country whose secular fabric has always been hailed. Rustom Bharucha adapted Ibsen’s Peer Gynt in 1995 to show how Ibsen may constitute an ideological framework for the distracted Indian nation (Huq, 2014 ). The event of the demolition of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya in 1992 was his focus. As democratic ideals cannot be injected from outside, Bharucha had to Indianise Ibsen. He staged the play in Mysore, a city that is away from the capital and had witnessed important political upheavals over centuries. He tried to achieve two things: to show that Indian states are to be given equal attention to resist the cultural hegemony of the centre. On the other hand, he wanted the audience to feel that Indian cultural identity was being challenged by the neoliberal economy and globalisation.

Another significant individual effort in this regard is that of Kamaluddin Nilu, a theatre director from Bangladesh. He staged several major Ibsen plays in Bangladesh, and each time he produced a play, he could connect it with the contemporary development situation in the country. For example, he produced Ghosts and A Doll’s House , respectively, in 1996 and in 2001when there were heated debates regarding gender equality (Huq, 2009 ). Nilu produced Brand in 2004 when religious fundamentalism was strongly visible in the country (Ahsanuzzaman, 2009 ). In 2000 Nilu produced Peer Gynt that had the much vaunted millennium development goals at its background (Huq, 2014 ).

However, the question is whether efforts of such individual nature can make substantial inroads towards addressing local cultures in societies where basic standards of living are yet often compromised. There is actually no scale to measure the impact of soft power whether on vertical or on horizontal planes. However, it is evidenced through these events that some individuals are intimately connected with spreading Ibsen as a liberator even in the age of mindless globalisation, and Bharucha of course is one of them. It also evidences that Ibsen’s success lies as much in his being used as Norway’s “soft power” as in the recipient countries’ desire for “cultural internationalisation” in which individuals play their roles. This Paper thus comes also with a clarion call for more of united efforts to promote Ibsenian ideologies throughout the subcontinent, in order to achieve visible effects. An extension of the Centre for Ibsen Studies could be a possible agency for promoting such humanitarian values both from academic and activist perspectives across the region.

Ibsen has been a successful dramatist all over the world for two kinds of interpretation, according to Kwok-Kan Tam– Marxist-socialist and aesthetic-formalist (Tam, 2001 ). For these two interpretations Ibsen became popular in both the East and West. Tam writes:

It is true that Ibsen became both popular and controversial in his life time mainly for the disputes he raised in his plays. However, as society changed and the political and social issues—such as women’s rights, freedom of speech, syphilis, and water pollution—depicted in Ibsen’s plays were no longer as acute as they previously were, Ibsen’s social ideas and themes gradually lost their explosive appeal to the audience. (Tam, 2001 , p. 2)

However, with the emergence of New Criticism technical, innovations in drama by Ibsen have made the world rediscover Ibsen, and today he is “mainly a dramatist, not a social critic” (Tam, 2001 , p. 3). Nonetheless, it does not mean that Ibsen’s sociopolitical appeal is lost once and for all, as new interpretations of his plays along the political lines that are arriving in the world theatre scene as is evidenced in the case of New Horizon Theatre Company in Zimbabwe. The global promotion of Ibsen was peaked in 2006 in relation to the centennial commemoration of Ibsen’s death, and it ignited new ways of receiving Ibsen’s message by different audiences. The catering of these receptions was done by the Centre for Ibsen Studies. Unfortunately, early in 2018 a move was afoot to disband the Centre for Ibsen Studies, the first step towards this end being the curtailment of its annual budget. Through e-mails, letters and open comments in the media, citizens not only from Norway but also from many Asian and African countries who were groomed culturally and honed professionally at the Centre, responded immediately in protest. While such responsive activism at preserving what many perceive as a centre of global humanitarian ideology came as a relief, the very move did leave deeper questions lurking in the mind. As a negative possibility it hit hard not only as an act of self-effacement of what is broadly perceived as a Norwegian cultural identity, but pervasively as a tangible threat to the phenomenal and ever-relevant Ibsen scholarship across continents. Such emotive response both from the alumni of the Centre and of general believers in the cult of Ibsenism can be rationalised if one perceives the implications of Ibsen studies on developing/under developed economies with regard to their societal mindsets and ever widening contours of cultural matrices.

This paper has tried to register the Norwegian efforts to use Ibsen as part of soft diplomacy and the reception of such efforts in target countries. Ibsen as a dramatist enjoys great influence outside of Norway and his image has been used in ideological assimilation of the developed and the developing. Tam’s analysis of the “complex relations in the politics of reception” (Tam, 2001 , p. 3) of Ibsen in China has been observed to evaluate how and why Ibsen has the potential to create ‘the velvet hegemon’ (Nye, 2003 , p. 74). It is evidenced that Ibsen’s original ideas were the first and foremost reasons for people’s interest in him that have made him one of the most successful political reformers of our time. Conversely, the cultural and social contexts of the receiving cultures made them respond differently to his plays. There have been two distinctively different streams of Ibsen reception since the 1920s: one view aestheticised Ibsen and the other politicised him. Both the Marxist-socialist and the aesthetic-formalist views made Ibsen an adorable dramatist among his readers and audiences in the West (representing Western Europe and North America) and Soviet Russia. Edmund Gosse, William Archer, James Huneker and Bernard Shaw treated Ibsen as a social reformer who upheld ideas such as iconoclasm, individualism, and feminism. Even before the existence of the Centre for Ibsen Studies there were such active individuals who held a high regard for Ibsen’s political values such as democracy and human rights. At present some of the issues have lost their currency, especially in the developed world. Yet, there are countries where issues such as democracy, human and gender rights are burning, for which Ibsen’s political views are of great importance. On the other hand, there are perhaps even more individuals in today’s theatre world who hold Ibsen’s dramaturgy high on their list of priorities. The UK has been the main transmitter of Ibsen through the English translations of his plays and as it seems from the existing documents, as He Chengzou comments rightly that Ibsen had a larger impact on China than anywhere else in the world (Melvin, 2006 , p. 15). Today the non-government agencies, as well as individual scholars are playing significant roles in promoting Ibsen.

It is to be noted that while some developing and underdeveloped countries in Asia and Africa are beneficiaries of Ibsen as Norwegian soft power, many opt to remain outside of it. What makes them resistant to Ibsen studies can be a new issue for further research. What impact Ibsen has created or can create in the global capitalist world is yet another problem to deal with. Despite these it is to be acknowledged that The Centre for Ibsen Studies has been a veritable platform for grassroots level networking among such academicians and theatre practitioners, for which its destiny and ambits of functioning as a hub of Norwegian cultural exchange and soft power should remain beyond question. Rather, it is the need of the hour to expand its physical existence beyond Norwegian boundaries, and to initiate diplomatic-academic channels through which this country’s national/cultural heritage can expand through regional sub-centres to assume more proactive roles in ‘other’ worlds where Ibsenism continues to unfurl newer and necessary meanings.

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Founded in 1891 at Bergen as Det Norske Lutherske Kinamisjonsforbund (the Norwegian Lutheran Federation for Mission in China) and subsequently headquartered at Oslo since 1913, it is a cluster of independent organisations within the Lutheran Church of Norway. It is not so much its traditional and conservative work within Norway that is the focus in this paper; the present author rather perceives its overseas focus that combines traditional missionary activities with an onus on developmental projects that directly pertain to the augmenting of human resources. Prior to the Communist take-over of China in 1949, the Lutheran Mission had worked for over sixty years during which time it commissioned about 240 missionaries as reported on its official website. Subsequently, it has had a large presence in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Hongkong, Taiwan, and Japan. It later spread also to Peru, Bolivia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mali, and Mongolia. Such missions included the setting up of educational institutions, vocational training centres, along with theological seminaries – in other words, the onus was on community development factoring in local realities. This makes the Lutheran heritage distinctly different from British colonial pursuits.

1908–1927, 1928–1948, 1949–1976, 1977–present (2001, p. 12).

The Quota programme for the underdeveloped and developing countries were discontinued from the academic year 2016–2017.

Macaulay’s Minute of 1835: In view of the raging controversies between the Orientalists and the Anglicists in 19th century colonial India over the aims of British educational policy, the type of education to be imparted, the medium thereof et al., Thomas Babington Macaulay’s Minute on Education, written on 2nd February 1835 and promulgated by Lord William Bentinck in March 1835, has always been of pivotal importance. Macaulay was convinced that the subjects needed to be ‘educated’ and even more convinced that no Eastern language would suffice to do that; hence it had to be English, which in his words “…stands preeminent even among the languages of the West”. Not just this, he further stated, “In India, English is the language spoken by the ruling class. It is the language spoken by the higher class of natives at the seats of Government. It is likely to become the language of commerce throughout the seas of the East….” While the pragmatic content of Macaulay’s Minutes cannot be disputed, there is definitely much to debate from a culturalist standpoint as far as the determinate suppression of indigenous languages is concerned. Source: http://home.iitk.ac.in/~hcverma/Article/Macaulay-Minutes.pdf .

This argument stands on Nye’s account even though Norwegian scholars do not support the statement.

It is an undeniable fact that gender imbalance amounting to persecution of women in different spheres of life remains an abiding problem in South Asian societies and amounts in some degree even to a subaltern status by way of internal colonisation by patriarchy. That said, it is however worthwhile in an age of Masculinity Studies to cast a look at Articles 498 and 498A of the Indian Penal Code. While the former considers only men as being guilty of adultery and hence liable to prosecution; the latter, in itself a law to ensure safety of women in their matrimonial homes, has virtually proven itself draconian in that it made for arrests simply on the basis of complaints filed by ‘affected’ women. It is on record that the Supreme Court of India has voiced concerns over such uncalled for arrests, and has had to take measures against pre-arrest and anticipatory bail provisions. Drives to reduce gender disparity and ensure a more egalitarian inclusive society must take cognisance of both sides of the coin. Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/supreme-court-takes-note-of-misuse-of-section-498a-makes-it-bailable/articleshow/65805285.cms .

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Does U.S. Soft Power Translate into Foreign Countries' Support for U.S. Foreign Policies?

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Power is a central concept in the study of international relations. This dissertation explores soft power as a facet of power which is seen as increasingly important. Joseph Nye’s concept of soft power has caught the attention of policymakers, scholars, and political pundits for the last thirty years. Scholarly studies of soft power most often focus on measures of public opinion toward a power-wielder and draw conclusions about a state’s level of soft power from that opinion. However, scholarship linking public opinion to target state policy decisions is mixed. This dissertation examines soft power influence by focusing on the elite discourse and the foreign policy decisions of states that are the target of soft power influence. Beginning with Nye’s conception that soft power is an attractive force that influences state policy decisions and its level of support for another state’s policies, this dissertation examines whether U.S. soft power was part of key policymakers’ decision calculus in four cases. Using within-case congruence and process-tracing methods, soft power is tested against two plausible alternate explanations – balancing and state identity. Data from the publicly available discourse of key foreign policymakers in France and Germany indicate that U.S. soft power does not account for those states’ policy decisions to support U.S.-led policy interventions in Kosovo in 1999, or against ISIS in 2014. Concerns associated with the distinctive French and German identities best explain their policymakers’ choices regarding the crisis in Kosovo. France’s decision to intervene against ISIS was driven by balancing concerns, while Germany’s decision in this case was driven by a combination of balancing and state identity. The results of this dissertation are suggestive regarding the potential of soft power influence and its implications on U.S. foreign policymaking, and further point to the difficulties in testing the underspecified concept of soft power.

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Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Soft power strategies in us foreign policy: assessing the impact of citizen diplomacy on foreign states' behavior.

Stephen Macharia Magu , Old Dominion University

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Summer 2013

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Dissertation

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Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Political Science & Geography

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Graduate Program in International Studies

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David Earnest

Committee Member

Glen Sussman

Heidi Schlipphacke

This dissertation empirically demonstrates that the isolated effects of citizen diplomacy correlate positively with foreign policy behavior as a non-military, foreign policy strategic option. The dissertation also finds that soft power, of which citizen diplomacy is a key component, is a viable foreign policy strategy. The findings are important to the academy and to the foreign policy-making process for states in search of effective, non-military strategies that leverage foreign state needs and attributes to achieve their foreign policy goals. Using a mixed methods approach, the dissertation investigates the correlation between Peace Corps Volunteers (citizen diplomat) placement and congruent voting with the US at the UN General Assembly. The question of interest is, do citizen diplomat recipient countries vote more with the US at the UN General Assembly? Is there a difference in countries' voting patterns on key votes than on all votes, and what are the implications of congruent voting behavior for US foreign policy?

I develop several hypotheses and test for the effects of citizen diplomacy through four models: the omnibus, factors of bilateral attraction, host country variables and temporal and regional effects models. Using data from two sources, first, Voeten and Strehnev and second, Dreher, Strum and Vreeland, I find that in twelve of the sixteen models, citizen diplomacy is positively correlated with congruent voting with the US at the UN General Assembly. Countries vote more with the US at the UN on key votes than they do on all UN General Assembly votes (observed in seven of eight models). The level of democracy is positively correlated with congruent voting in four of eight models and also positively signed. The level of globalization, GDP per capita and region are important explanans for voting in congruence with the US at the UN General Assembly. As expected, failed states vote less in congruence with the US at the UN.

These findings are augmented by case studies based on three qualitative models. The issue linkages model finds that the US links citizen diplomacy to its national security interests. The interpersonal model finds that citizen diplomats affect foreign policy through individuals and elites. The foreign policy approach finds that citizen diplomats have contributed to building and changing national infrastructure and development and thereby countries' foreign policy trajectory. The dissertation concludes that citizen diplomacy matters: there is a positive and strong correlation between citizen diplomacy and foreign policy behavior of recipient states towards the US. As a soft-power strategy, citizen diplomacy is a viable foreign policy option.

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Magu, Stephen M.. "Soft Power Strategies in US Foreign Policy: Assessing the Impact of Citizen Diplomacy on Foreign States' Behavior" (2013). Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Dissertation, Political Science & Geography, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/e917-dr45 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/gpis_etds/66

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Hendrik W. Ohnesorge, Soft Power: The Forces of Attraction in International Relations , Cham: Springer, xxi + 307 pp., 88.39 € (hardcover), ISBN 978-3-030-29921-7

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Published: 15 June 2021
Volume 7 , pages 595–598, ( 2022 )

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This current book entitled, Soft Power: The Forces of Attraction in International Relations by Hendrik W. Ohnesorge, Managing Assistant and Research Fellow at the Center for Global Studies/Chair in International Relations at the University of Bonn (Germany) is a new addition to the literature on the study of soft power. The book, originating from a doctoral dissertation, provides a detailed examination of the concept of soft power both from theoretical and empirical perspectives. It seeks ‘to elucidate and elaborate on the concept of soft power in international relations’ (p.1).

In total, the book has five chapters. In chapter 1, the author illustrates the concept of soft power, its current state of research and importance of the study in light of the existent research gap. The author raises a number of pertinent questions, including: What is soft power and how does it take effect in international relations? How can the concept of soft power be operationalized and made more resilient? How can the impact of soft power in international relations be empirically studied?

Chapter two discusses the definitions, origins, contexts, workings and measures of soft power. The end of the Cold War, American declinism, economic liberalization, growing global democratization, globalization, the dawn of the information age, and new challenges to established International Relations theories have contributed to the triumphal march of the concept of soft power. The notion of smart power, referring to a combination of hard and soft power resources, has been broadly explained. Indeed, a rich body of scholarship on the notion of soft power has developed over the last several decades, but much remains to be done. To this end, Ohnesorge notes, ‘The concept of soft power is still plagued by a high degree of vagueness and imprecision, calling for a thorough (re-)examination’ (p.72).

Chapter three offers a new taxonomy of power, and accordingly develops a conceptual paradigm for the analysis of the notion of soft power. The soft power consist of four subunits: resources, instruments, reception and outcomes. These four subunits has distinctive components and each component is composed of several key indicators. The main components are culture, values, policies, personalities, public diplomacy, personal diplomacy, attraction, apathy, repulsion, compliance, neutrality and opposition. These terms are thoroughly defined and explained in this chapter. To illustrate, the author has applied the proposed paradigm to analyze the soft power of the Roman Empire . Thus, the taxonomy of the author’s soft power scheme is capable to capture its innovative mechanisms when applied to an empirical example.

Chapter four deals with the underlying issues relating to the approaches of ontology, epistemology and methodology. The interplay of ontology, epistemology, and methodology for the study of soft power along with an exploration of the approaches and methods- positivism, realism, interpretivism, qualitative and quantitative methods- are well treated. The relative merits and drawbacks of these approaches are analyzed in this chapter. The author has analyzed the comparative-historical approach to study the notion of soft power for a few reasons. First, the comparative historical approach is interdisciplinary. Second, with its defining characteristics of causal analysis, focus on processes, systematic comparison, and also taking into account respective contexts, the approach ‘fits in perfectly with the requirements imposed by the study of soft power in international relations’ (p.249). Third, any study of soft power in international relations has to draw on a broad a spectrum of sources. The comparative-historical analysis frequently draws on both primary and secondary sources.

Chapter five offers some concluding remarks on the notion of soft power by providing an anatomy of the taxonomy developed and framework proposed in the previous chapters. The overall framework could be executed in further empirical study of soft power, because of its high degree of its applicability and flexibility. Introducing a comprehensive taxonomy of soft power, thus, the book offers an innovative and substantiated perspective on a pivotal phenomenon in today’s international relations.

However, the rise of regional powers is a decisive factor in determining the nature of a new world order, especially after the global outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic. For instances, China and India both are consequently trying to enhance their spheres of influence forcing the states in the Asian region to align with either of them in a binary framework of regionalism (Bhatta 2019 ). The broad opportunity for soft power influence for China is clear by means of the creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (LaForgia 2017 ). Also, the establishment of Confucius Institutes since 2004 to promote the understanding of Chinese language and culture is a striking example of how the Chinese government promotes soft power through cultural means. While China promoted the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for people-to-people contacts and better conveyed the message of a progressive China by building a network of Confucius Institutes, increasing the number of foreign students studying in China, enhancing tourism, extending generous economic assistance, and participating in peace keeping missions; in India, religious tolerance, thriving civil society, and cultural activities are the main areas for soft power strategy (Shah et al. 2017 ). The peaceful rise/peaceful development policy in Chinese grand strategy has sought to integrate Chinese hard power and soft power to create a soft rise for China (Yiwei 2008 ). China has had mixed success with its soft power strategy. In 2007, Chinese President Hu Jintao told the 17th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party that they needed to invest more in soft power, and this continued under President Xi Jinping. Yet, China ‘lags behind the United States in overall attractiveness in most parts of the world, including Asia’ (Nye 2021 , p. 205). In Africa, only South Africa and Nigeria consistently display the regional power feature of an Afrocentric foreign policy posture woven around sufficient material preponderance and strong soft power influence (Ogunnubi 2019 ). In terms of territory, resource and population, Nigeria is a large country in Africa. Given the perceived leadership vacuum in Africa, Nigeria is critical for understanding regional power dynamics in Africa (Ogunnubi 2020a ). Nuclear diplomacy in South Africa is an example of soft power development. This diplomacy has evolved through two parallel stages of norm promotion and niche construction aimed at establishing multilateral structures on nuclear disarmament, and peaceful use of nuclear energy in the global nuclear industry (Ogunnubi 2020b ). Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, vaccine diplomacy has been used effectively as political tool of soft power. Future research projects may focus on these tools and instruments of soft power in a more systematic and integrative manner.

Overall, the book is highly recommended as it is thought-provoking, well-researched and a good production. For those researching international relations, political science, development and governance studies, the volume offers useful information and insights.

Bhatta, C.D. 2019. Emerging powers, soft power, and future of regional cooperation in South Asia. Asian Journal of Political Science 27 (1): 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/02185377.2018.1557062 .

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Nye, J. 1990. Soft power. Foreign Policy 80: 153–171.

Nye, J. 2017. Soft power: the origins and political progress of a concept. Palgrave Communications . https://doi.org/10.1057/palcomms.2017.8 .

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Ogunnubi, O. 2019. The ideational value of soft power and the foreign policy of African regional powers. Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies 46 (3): 289–310. https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2019.1641982 .

Ogunnubi, O. 2020a. Soft power: Nigeria’s emerging startegy in Africa’s geopolitics. In Power politics in Africa: Nigeria and South Africa in comparative perspective , ed. O. Ogunnubi and S. Oyewole, 203–228. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

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Yiwei, W. 2008. Public diplomacy and the rise of Chinese soft power. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 616 (1): 257–273.

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Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Dr. M. Adil Khan , a professor of Development Practice at the University of Queensland, Australia & Former Chief, Socio-Economic Governance and Management Branch, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, New York, USA for providing his suggestions and comments on the earlier draft of this work.

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this book review.

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Shahriar, S. Hendrik W. Ohnesorge, Soft Power: The Forces of Attraction in International Relations , Cham: Springer, xxi + 307 pp., 88.39 € (hardcover), ISBN 978-3-030-29921-7. Chin. Polit. Sci. Rev. 7 , 595–598 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41111-021-00182-5

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Issue Date : December 2022

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s41111-021-00182-5

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Kalfas, Martin Daniel. "Chinese Soft Power Promotion in the United States: 2005-2014." Wright State University / OhioLINK, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1472244955.

Chong, Chia Siong Alan. "Foreign policy in global information space : actualising soft power." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2002. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/1667/.

Eyen, Joseph Bertka. "Soft Power Played on the Hardwood: United States Diplomacy through Basketball." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2015. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/pitzer_theses/86.

Jaitner, Margarita. "Exercising Power in Social Media : A Study of Hard and Soft Power in the Context of Russian Elections 2011--‐2012." Thesis, Försvarshögskolan, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-2893.

Meyer, Marius. "An exploration of the role of soft power in hegemony: the USA and China." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/2391.

Andreas, Instebø Jamne. "Can Sectarianism Explain Soft Power Support in ProxyConflicts?" Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för freds- och konfliktforskning, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-446104.

Kersten, Jan. "Soft Power und Militär : eine Untersuchung zum Afghanistan-Einsatz der Bundeswehr." Universität Potsdam, 2013. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2013/6698/.

Ljungman, Jakob. "A discrediting trade : A study of the relation between propaganda and soft power." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-314692.

Feizi, Hiva. "Discourse, Affinity and Attraction| A Case Study of Iran's Soft Power Strategy in Afghanistan." Thesis, University of South Florida, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10787971.

This dissertation is a case study of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s approach to soft power with a focus on Iran’s use of soft power in Afghanistan. This dissertation is unique as it a delves into the diverse conceptual prescriptions on soft power, especially from a non-Western perspective. Studies of soft power in the current International Relations discipline ignore the implicit widespread liberal democratic bias in the current understanding of the concept. This dissertation argues that there are certain ontological assumptions lying deep within the soft power model first proposed by Joseph Nye (1990) that make it difficult to use as a model for studying non-Western states. This stems from Nye’s consideration that sources of attraction, essential in wielding soft power, as universal and equivalent to Western liberal values. Nye does not consider how the sources of attraction that he identifies are biased towards a Western notion of values, culture, policies and institutions. This has led to a disregard of the use of soft power by non-Western states. Thus, the aim of this study is to address the western-centric limitation of Nye’s concept by offering a reconceptualization that can be applied in studying the soft power of states that do not necessarily adhere to the same universal norms.

By applying Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse analysis framework, this dissertation examines Iran’s soft power strategy in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2017, in order to enhance its influence. Iran’s soft power application relies on what that the author calls ‘affinity’, whereby audience-oriented and localized resources of attraction are identified in the target population and are subsequently discursively cultivated. Attraction build through the ‘affinity’ process is different than Western states’ use of attraction and application of soft power.

This dissertation highlights how Iran has created an affinity node centered on a ‘ sense of brotherhood ’ with its Afghanistan audience. It also shows that the strength of this narrative is in Iran’s ability to create an emotional connection that is embedded in commonalities between the two countries’ in terms of culture, historical legacy, and common language. The analysis presented shows the affinity node of brotherhood appears in over 20 speeches and statements targeted at the Afghan population by the Iranian supreme leader and successive Iranian presidents in recent decades. The notion of brotherhood provides Iran the emotional linkage, the affinity node, to connect with its Afghan audience.

The affinity that Iran establishes with Afghanistan allows Iran to articulate its foreign policy objectives by showing how Iranian influence benefits the Afghan population and appeals to existing Afghan values. In addition, this dissertation finds that Iran devotes considerable resources to the development of these discourses in Afghanistan through the various institutions that in charge of Iran’s public diplomacy activities. The focus of these activities is mainly in the realm of culture, education, and language, leveraging the common ties between Iran and their Afghan audience.

Lastly, the findings of this study indicate that Iran’s approach to soft power is strategically calculated. Iran makes explicit use of soft power that is different from the original notion of soft power as it was formulated by Nye. Iran’s actions show that sources of attraction do not have to be universal, attraction is contextual in its appeal, based on each target audience and can be constructed through discourses. Thus, as Laclau and Mouffe (1985) would say, Iran’s articulation of an antagonistic discourse challenges the hegemonic discourses that are associated with the Western evaluation of soft power.

Sandevärn, Johan. "Hard Ice, Soft Politics : EU:s och USA:s utrikespolitik i den arktiska regionen." Thesis, Växjö University, School of Social Sciences, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:vxu:diva-6825.

The polar ice in the Arctic is melting resulting in new opportunities for the Arctic states to extracting vital resources and to find new shorter transport routes. Two of the largest actors who both presently have published polices towards the Arctic region is the EU and the US. This work firstly aims to offer a descriptive view of the EU and the US’ polices towards the Arctic region. Secondly, investigate the documents quantitatively and qualitatively to show weather the EU and US policies are featured by ‘hard power’ or ‘soft power’ by the research of Joseph S. Nye Jr. to find out if Robert Kagan’s hypotheses that the EU mainly use ‘soft power’ and that the US mainly use ‘hard power’. The findings showed that Kagan in this case was right about the EU and the use of ‘soft power’ but that the US mainly uses ‘soft power’ politics in their Arctic policy.

Kokkinos, Stephanie Helen. "China in Africa: The use of soft power and its implications for a global peaceful rise." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/20172.

Walker, M. Karen. "Rhetorical work in soft power diplomacy| The U.S.-India 123 Agreement and a relationship transformed." Thesis, University of Maryland, College Park, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3644039.

My dissertation, The Rhetorical Work of Soft Power: The U.S.-India 123 Agreement and a Relationship Transformed , broadens and deepens our understanding of soft power diplomacy as a creation of constitutive rhetoric. I perform a rhetorical critique of discourses generated during three years' debate on the U.S.-India 123 Agreement, a watershed moment in bilateral relations. In Chapter 1, I introduce the frames of reference that guided my research, set my project within the literature stream, and lay foundations for my argument.

In Chapter 2, I explore how soft power discourse facilitated India's diplomatic move from outside to inside the nonproliferation regime. I introduce identification and courtship as constructs to explain soft power attraction, presenting narratives of exceptionalism, deliverance and kinship that emerged from discourse. In Chapter 3, I explain the bilateral movement from estranged to engaged as deepened identification and consubstantiation, the achievement of a permanent union. I trace the development of "democracy," "pluralism," and "creativity" as terms of ideological commitment and mutual obligation. I also present two additional narratives, the sojourner narrative, which reconstituted the Indian Diaspora's political identity, and the convergence narrative, which constituted the United States and India as bilateral partners and transformed the U.S.-India 123 Agreement from an idea about nuclear cooperation into the embodiment of a resilient, enduring, and comprehensive partnership. Each narrative drew in substances of identification that reduced recalcitrance, changed perspectives, overcame estrangement, and motivated concerted action.

Chapter 4 outlines benefits of my research for rhetoricians, soft power proponents, and diplomacy specialists. For rhetoricians, I enrich our limited study of diplomatic discourse and generate insight into dramatistic theory and criticism. For soft power theorists, my project as a whole gives explanatory force to soft power as a creation of constitutive rhetoric. The consequent reinterpretation of the telos, processes, and resources of soft power makes soft power attraction more transparent. For the diplomatic corps, I encourage new ways of conceptualizing and talking about diplomatic aims and achievements. Chapter 4 thus frames longer-term objectives to further develop the rhetoric of diplomacy, to undertake theory-building in soft power diplomacy, and to integrate soft power diplomacy with diplomatic tradecraft.

Marx, Andrew Morne. "Increasing soft power - a case study of South Africa's bid to host the FIFA 2010 World Cup." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/16386.

Fröhling, Nils. "Ryssland i Arktis : – En fallstudie av landets militära och diplomatiska maktutövande från 2007 till 2017." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för statsvetenskap (ST), 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-76994.

Jensen, Andrew. "Bridling the Black Dragon: Chinese Soft Power in the Russian Far East." Thesis, Harvard University, 2015. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:26519856.

Jackman, Nicholas. "Chinese Satellite Diplomacy: China’s Strategic Weapon for Soft and Hard Power Gains." Wright State University / OhioLINK, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1525296399120223.

Esselgren, Rebecca. "Putin's authoritarian state : the consolidation of an authoritarian regime through the use of 'soft powers'." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för statsvetenskap (ST), 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-79442.

Aronsson, Fredrik. "`Hard eller soft power´ - när det gäller att främja demokrati och mänskliga rättigheter?" Thesis, Växjö University, School of Social Sciences, 2008. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:vxu:diva-2097.

The thesis investigates how two of the world’s most powerful international actors, the US and the EU want to promote democracy and human rights. The aim is to compare how the US and the EU work in order to support a democratic development in the world. In order to fulfill the purpose of the thesis a qualitative text analysis was used. Since the aim is to compare the US and the EU I believe this method is beneficial. The questions that are being investigated are about the contributions the US and the EU give to e.g. Saudi Arabia and Russia and if the contributions are mainly characterized by `hard or soft power´. The result showed that in general no conclusion can be drawn when it comes to the characteristics of the contributions. However, in the examples taken from the EU- Russian and the US- Saudi Arabian relationships the contributions are characterized by `soft power´. The other relationships the thesis discusses are instead characterized by `hard power´.

Olsson, Carl Olof. "A new world order? : A methodological approach to the soft and hard power of the European Union." Thesis, Internationella Handelshögskolan, Högskolan i Jönköping, IHH, Statsvetenskap, 2008. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-6810.

Rasulov, John. "Energi som strategisk utrikes- och säkerhetspolitisk resurs : Neorealistisk analys av den ryska energipolitiken mot Ukraina mellan 2004-2014." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för statsvetenskap (ST), 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-69913.

Tullock, Kalika A. "China's Soft Power Offensive in the United States: Cultural Diplomacy, Media Campaigning, and Congressional Lobbying." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2013. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/644.

Glusniewska, Magdalena. "What has the European Union done to approach terrorism - Responses to a growing security challenge." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för statsvetenskap (ST), 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-75026.

Söderberg, Elenor. "Ett bekant hot : En studie av hur Kina konstruerat ett strategiskt narrativ kring Xinjiang." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-443616.

Rosi, Alessia. "Swedish nation branding in crisis : A study on the Swedish nation branding strategy and the migration crisis' impact." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-324214.

Ström, Ludwig. "Fotbolls-VM i Qatar 2022 som ett mjukt maktmedel : En diskursanalys av svensk medierapportering, svenska fotbollsförbundet och FIFA." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Statsvetenskap, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-177734.

Glans, Sebastian. "Har forskningen om internationella relationer någon praktisk betydelse? : En studie om idémakt i utrikespolitik." Thesis, Södertörn University College, School of Social Sciences, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-1268.

The aim of this paper is to get a deeper understanding if research about international relations has any practical meaning. The main focal point is about the importance of the scholar idea soft power, and its meaning on foreign policy actions through expressions. A quantity and quality method is used. The point of the main theory that concerns international relations takes a rationalistic perspective, and expands it to the notion that ides can have an impact on policy outcomes. Three different types of research utilization can be traced to determine in which way an idea is getting implemented. Why certain ideas can be used lies in the foreign policy preferences with the political institutions and its policymakers. In the last ten years, policymaking preferences in the USA, Great Britain and Sweden have shifted due to change of governments, challenges by expanding institutions as the European Union (EU) and terror alerts. Soft power is an upcoming idea that can be traced in the countries policies. In conclusion, the concept is expressed in the political agendas on the margins. For the American and the British policy the importance with the idea seems to be utilized for mediation for the retention and the legitimating of there existing policies regarding hard power. The main purpose with the idea for Sweden seems to be the utilization for guidance to promote EU: s ability to act as a prominent actor in international relations. The idea is, acts and expressed foremost as a positive symbol for the countries, rather than a ground-breaking new idea that changes policies. Due to is variables already exist in the policymaking processes.

Szostek, Joanna M. "Russia in the news of its neighbours : cross border media influence in Ukraine and Belarus." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:ae3ece7b-32ad-41e5-bce7-5f7ddeb28490.

Rogg-Pietz, Arne. "Softpower und Turbulenzen : das Internet im IB-Diskurs." Universität Potsdam, 2005. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/texte_eingeschraenkt_welttrends/2010/4801/.

Emrick, Rebecca. "EU-Morocco Cultural Relations : A Study on Cultural Policies Between the EU and Morocco." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-395514.

Juknevičiūtė, Laima. "Distinct Peculiarities of South Korea's Soft Power Wielding: The Role of the Cinematic Component of the Korean Wave." Master's thesis, Lithuanian Academic Libraries Network (LABT), 2012. http://vddb.laba.lt/obj/LT-eLABa-0001:E.02~2012~D_20120607_142204-35213.

Westerlund, Anna. ""Soft power´s" framsteg på den lokala arenan : En kvalitativ undersökning över hur en svensk kommun arbetar för att bli attrraktiv - fallet Växjö kommun." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för samhällsvetenskaper, SV, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-9988.

Gustafsson, Oskar. "Bilder av Sverige i Italien." Thesis, Växjö University, School of Social Sciences, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-6211.

Title: Images of Sweden in Italy

Number of pages: 5252 (589 including enclosures)

Author: Oskar Gustafsson

Tutor: Martin Nilsson

Course: Political Science C level – Bachelor’s Thesis

Period: Spring term 2010

University: School of Social Sciences

Linnaeus University

Purpose/Aim: The purpose of my research study is to, through the use of political science theories on soft power and marketing theories about nation branding and in comparison to previous studies on the image of Sweden in Italy, gains a better understanding of the image of Sweden in Italy, with special focus on national political institutions and young Italians.

Method: The method of analysis is a combination of qualitative methods: interviews where information about the image of Sweden amongst national political institutions were gathered and a survey where information was gathered about the image of Sweden amongst young Italians.

Main results: On the basis of the results I have gained it can be concluded that a positive and well informed image of Sweden emerges when it comes to cultural and social factors but a more restricted and somewhat negative image come to light when asking national political institutions and young citizens in Italy about their views and knowledge on Swedish domestic and international politics and economics.

Keywords: Soft power, Public Diplomacy, Nation Branding, Images of Sweden, Italy.

Westley, Sebastian. "Repulsion as the Antithesis of Attraction in Soft Power Studies : How Australia's climate change response has elicited a feeling of repulsion in the Pacific islands." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för ekonomisk och industriell utveckling, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-177005.

Loupsans, Delphine. "La place des intérêts et des normes dans l'action humanitaire de l'Union européenne." Phd thesis, Université Montesquieu - Bordeaux IV, 2009. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00402949.

Didvalis, Linas. "Japonijos klimato kaitos politika: trys teorinės prieigos." Master's thesis, Lithuanian Academic Libraries Network (LABT), 2011. http://vddb.laba.lt/obj/LT-eLABa-0001:E.02~2011~D_20110614_111059-15740.

Yakacikli, Lebriz. "Les relations de la Turquie avec les ex-républiques soviétiques eurasiennes et caucasiennes sous Turgut Özal: une tentative de soft power." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/210525.

Volsky, Alexander. "Tying down the Gullivers : tripartite strategic balancing in unipolar international systems." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:143e926b-3101-4131-b17a-16fa67b51471.

Åström, Angie. "Svensk offentlig diplomati i förändring : En fallstudie om Svenska institutet." Thesis, Södertörns högskola, Institutionen för samhällsvetenskaper, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-17315.

Sasic, Filip. "Russia’s Geopolitics in Southeast Europe: Energy security and pipeline politics." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutet för Rysslands- och Eurasienstudier, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-447910.

Nardone, Lina <1992&gt. "The soft power of big art." Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/14837.

Ballenthin, Sigge. "Indien som internationell makt : En fallstudie om Indiens maktutövning." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för statsvetenskap (ST), 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-90988.

Pernu, Lauriina. "Towards democracy : How can we explain the democratisation process in Myanmar?" Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för statsvetenskap (ST), 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-53012.

Tooch, David. "The Diffusion of Knowledge in Foreign Policy: The Case of Israel’s Technology Transfers as Tools of Diplomacy." FIU Digital Commons, 2017. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3178.

Elman, Kim. ""NI ÄR PROPAGANDA!" : Ett bidrag till det psykologiska försvaret." Thesis, Försvarshögskolan, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-5843.

Michailovskyte, Giedre. "Diversification of Contemporary Diplomacy - the Rise of Dance Diplomacy." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Statsvetenskap, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-119689.

Zivkovic, Zoran. "The Church-State Symphonia Resounding Through Third Rome : The Strive for Transnational Religious Identity and Unity." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för ekonomisk och industriell utveckling, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-166573.

Pallaver, Matteo. "Power and its forms : hard, soft, smart." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2011. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/220/.

Sartor, Enrico <1971&gt. "Soft power and internationalisation: the role of higher education promotion agencies." Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/17366.

Zangoni, Giulia Alessandra <1993&gt. "Soft power cinese in salsa agrodolce: strumenti di marketing cinese in Africa." Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/14694.

Granger, Megan M. "The Beijing Olympics political impact and implications for soft power politics." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Naval Postgraduate School, 2008. http://edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/theses/2008/Dec/08Dec%5FGranger.pdf.

Exploring China’s Soft Power: Manifestations of the Chinese Dream in Contemporary Practices of Cultural Diplomacy

--> Kong, Lingmin (2019) Exploring China’s Soft Power: Manifestations of the Chinese Dream in Contemporary Practices of Cultural Diplomacy. PhD thesis, University of York.

This thesis offers two contributions to the literature on Chinese soft power and practices of cultural diplomacy. Firstly, it clarifies the relationship between soft power and cultural diplomacy, situating 'attraction' and 'persuasion' as important mechanisms through which cultural diplomacy builds soft power. To gain analytic traction over the topic of cultural diplomacy, a three-dimensional framework is introduced that explores manifestations through the spheres of media, education, and cultural exchange. Secondly, the thesis develops a comparative review of Chinese cultural diplomacy with three significant global and regional powers, namely Japan, Russia, and the United States. This comparison explores the correspondence between contemporary practices and the 'Chinese Dream' framework that purportedly guides foreign policy action. Overall, the thesis argues that the practices of China’s cultural diplomacy toward Japan, Russia and the United States broadly correspond with Xi Jinping’s Chinese Dream. Practice and paradigm both demonstrate a broad commitment to more confident leadership and projection of Chinese leadership within international politics. However, instead of adopting a one-size-fits-all approach, both the narratives of the Chinese Dream and the practices of China’s cultural diplomacy vary in different cases depending on the targeted country’s culture, political values, and the unique cultural and diplomatic relations with China. This shows the importance of disaggregated case study analysis to reveal the nuances of Chinese cultural diplomacy.

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CHINA’S SOFT POWER APPLICATION THROUGH EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY IN AFRICA

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Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics (Book Review

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Eluiza Barreto

Rao Ehtesham

Journal of Political Power

Giulio Gallarotti

Dr. Saleh Shahriar

The concept of power is central to the analyses of international relations, politics, society, economy as well as human life. Power could be regarded as the lifeblood of a social and political system. Power is multifaceted and, therefore, is hard to measure in concrete quantitative use of the term. It is of two basic types: hard and soft power. Nearly three decades ago, American political scientist Joseph Nye put forth the idea of soft power, a concept that caught fire and went on to define the post-Cold War era (Nye 1990). He asserts that soft power is the 'ability to affect others by attraction and persuasion rather than just coercion and payment' (Nye 2017, p. 17). A country's soft power comes from its civil society and culture rather than from the government. The conceptual definition of soft power offered by Nye is indeed precise, useful and also impactful. The state apparatus; especially the military, police, para-military, and border forces constitute the core of the hard power. The use of force is conceptually linked to hard power. Soft power and hard power are not mutually exclusive, and that soft power complements hard power. This current book entitled, Soft Power: The Forces of Attraction in International Relations by Hendrik W. Ohnesorge, Managing Assistant and Research Fellow at the Center for Global Studies/Chair in International Relations at the University of Bonn (Germany) is a new addition to the literature on the study of soft power. The book, originating from a doctoral dissertation, provides a detailed examination of the concept of soft power both from theoretical and empirical perspectives. It seeks 'to elucidate and elaborate on the concept of soft power in international relations' (p.1). In total, the book has five chapters. In chapter 1, the author illustrates the concept of soft power, its current state of research and importance of the study in light of the existent research gap. The author raises a number of pertinent questions, including:

Ülviyye Sanılı Aydın

Soft Power in International Relations

Gvantsa Abdaladze

The theoretical framework of Soft Power employed in the textbook is based on the theory by Joseph Nye concerning Soft Power, Hard Power, Smart Power, and Power Diffusion; together with Jessica Ludwig’s and Christopher Walker’s contribution to the creation of the term "Sharp Power” within the frames of this theory, in which, Russian and Chinese Soft Power were singled out as separate segments due to specific mechanisms and severe consequences associated with them. The anatomy of "Sharp Power” is less explored compared to the classic understanding of "Soft Power”. The conclusions made as a result of the analysis of Russian "Sharp Power” are mostly brief (e.g. Cold War methods have been revived) and fragmented (mainly concerning disseminating disinformation). In this textbook, we have attempted to specify elements of the Russian "Sharp Power” and outline three key features: the Soviet propaganda; capabilities and opportunities of dissemination of digital disinformation; and information operations. In addition to the theoretical part, the textbook encompasses the analysis of three cases: examples of Georgia, Ukraine, and Northern Macedonia.

The irrelevance of Soft Power stems not from its theoretical dimension, but from a changing global landscape. The 21st century will be characterized by growing competition among three giants – China, India and the United States. To contend with this triumvirate, nations will create short-termed strategic alliances that will collectively bargain opposite the giants, or force their hands. These alliances will rest on shared interests, not shared values. In a world governed by increased competition, as opposed to cooperation, the practice of Soft Power will become secondary. The benefit of strategic alliances lies in their malleability. Unlike the Cold-War era, nations will not be bound to one giant. On the contrary, nations will collaborate with different giants towards different ends. National power will emanate from a nation’s status as a desirable member in strategic alliances. This desirability may rest on diverse resources ranging from economic stability to technological infrastructure and geographic location. Now is not the age of uni-polarity or bi-polarity. Now is the age of giants. And in this age, power will function differently, as explained in this article.

Steven B Rothman

The power of attraction (soft power), as developed by Joseph Nye, has been increasingly discussed in international relations literature and policy, yet soft power has not been fully utilized because of under‐specified tools and mechanisms by which soft power influences international actors. This article revises the concept of soft power by generating a continuum of power based on the tools useful for implementing different degrees of soft or hard power. In addition, the article describes two mechanisms through which soft power influences international actors, beginning the call for exploration of other such mechanisms. Reconceptualizing soft power in terms of objects that are controlled and utilized by policy‐makers, such as agenda‐setting and framing, provides us with more useful analytical variables to understand international relations and to provide policy recommendations.

University of Milan, PhD thesis

Artem Patalakh

This thesis problematises the bases of soft power, that is, causal mechanisms connecting the agent (A) and the subject (B) of a power relationship. As the literature review reveals, their underspecification by neoliberal IR scholars, the leading proponents of the soft power concept, has caused a great deal of scholarly confusion over such questions as how to clearly differentiate between hard and soft power, how attraction (soft power’s primary mechanism) works and what roles structural and relational forces play in hard/soft power. In an effort to ascertain the bases, I address this issue not from the viewpoint of A’s policies or resources, like do IR neoliberal scholars, but in terms of B’s psychological perception of A. Employing social psychological accounts, I argue that attraction can be produced in three distinct ways, namely 1) through B’s identification with A (“emotional” attraction), 2) via B’s appreciation of A’s competence/knowledge in a particular field (“rational” attraction) and 3) by means of the activation of B’s internalised values which contextually prescribe B to act in A’s favour (“social” attraction). Importantly, depending upon the way attraction is produced, it is peculiar in a number of characteristics, the main of which are power scope, weight and durability. Insights from social psychology also show that unlike soft power, hard power requires not only B’s relevant perception of the A-B relationship (as coercive or rewarding), but also A’s capability to actualise a threat of punishment and/or a promise of reward. I argue this difference can be fairly treated as definitional rather than empirical, which implies that coercion and reward necessarily have both relational and structural dimensions, whereas for attraction, a structural one alone suffices, while a relational one may or may not be present. Having explicated the soft power bases, I illustrate each of them using three “most likely” case studies, namely Serbia’s policies towards Russia (emotional attraction), Kazakhstan’s approach to relations with the EU (rational attraction) and Germany’s policies vis-à-vis Israel (social attraction).

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Soft power (Political science)'

Exploring China’s Soft Power: Manifestations of the Chinese Dream in Contemporary Practices of Cultural Diplomacy

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CHINA’S SOFT POWER APPLICATION THROUGH EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY IN AFRICA

Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics (Book Review

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