Soft Power
Discover soft power — the ability to influence others through attraction rather than coercion, from Hollywood to K-pop to democratic values.
Soft power — a concept coined by political scientist Joseph Nye in 1990 — is the ability to shape the preferences and behavior of others through attraction rather than coercion or payment. While hard power relies on military force and economic sanctions, soft power operates through culture, values, institutions, and policies that others find appealing. It is the power to get others to want what you want.
The United States has historically been the world's leading soft power. Hollywood films, popular music, universities, democratic values, and consumer culture have attracted admiration and emulation worldwide. The Marshall Plan's generosity after World War II built lasting goodwill. But soft power is not an American monopoly: Britain's BBC, Japan's anime and gaming culture, South Korea's K-pop and dramas, and the European Union's model of peaceful integration all represent significant soft power assets.
Soft power has limitations. It is slow, diffuse, and difficult to direct precisely. Cultural attraction does not automatically translate into political influence. And soft power can be undermined by actions that contradict a nation's professed values — American soft power suffered from Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and Iraq just as Soviet soft power was damaged by invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Yet in a world where information flows freely and publics influence foreign policy, the ability to attract and persuade rather than compel remains a crucial dimension of international power.