Soft power

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Soft power (also known as soft power in German ) is a political science term coined by Joseph Nye , which describes the exercise of political power (especially influencing international relations) on the basis of cultural attractiveness, ideology and also with the help of international institutions . The central characteristic of soft power is the exercise of power by influencing the goals of political actors without using (economic) incentives or (military) threats.

Conceptualization

Joseph Nye

According to Joseph S. Nye, the common understanding of power is a conscious, actively taken action, which is expressed in particular in control and commands. Joseph S. Nye writes: “The skeptics who want to define power only as deliberate acts of command and control are ignoring the second, or structural, face of power - the ability to get the outcomes you want without having to force people to change their behavior through threats or payments ". The ability to induce other actors to develop the same political will and consequently to pursue the same goals as a state itself would not be rated as powerful if the term power was interpreted more narrowly .

Soft power is developed by Nye as a delimitation and as a contrast to hard power , which requires economic and military strength and is based on (economic) incentives or (military) threats. In addition to hard power , it is described as a further, indirect way of exercising political power and is based on the ability (political actors) to influence the political preferences of other actors. This ability to influence and shape political preferences is, according to Nye's conceptualization, and in contrast to the exercise of power on the basis of economic and military incentives and threats, closely tied to intangible values . It is important that these values ​​develop an attractive effect or are shared. Resources of soft power are therefore values that produce such attraction.

Nye points out three primary sources of state soft power: culture, political values, and foreign policy. Jürgen Hartmann identified religion and language as important sources of soft power from time immemorial, in modern times also science and technology. On this basis, soft power represents the ability of political actors, which in the international context mostly means states , to induce other actors to develop the same political will and consequently to pursue the same goals as oneself. Nye's concept is accordingly soft power has always been a key element of political leadership. According to Nye, the interaction of soft and hard power can be both mutually reinforcing and mutually impairing.

Nye describes the ability of an actor to successfully combine soft power and hard power as smart power .

Concept history

Nye introduced the term soft power in his 1990 monograph Bound to lead: the changing nature of American power and developed it further in his 2004 book Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics . In the political science sub-area of international relations in particular , the term is now established, mostly referring to the definition given by Nye. The term is also increasingly used in press coverage.

Germany

According to Herfried Münkler, Germany, as a medium power, is more dependent on the use of soft power than a major , world or superpower . Georg Schütte advises Germany to focus more on its soft power . For example, Germany has an important resource in education , but it does not make it sufficiently usable in a soft power policy . Schütte therefore advocates more closely interlinking German science policy with economic, development and foreign policy, also in order to compensate for the lead that other countries have already achieved.

European Union

The European Union is the result of peaceful unification processes in the course of multiple enlargements and continuous European integration . European values and the creation of a common European identity contribute to the soft power of the EU . Her story is considered in part to be her greatest source of soft power . The EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012 for its six decades of efforts to achieve peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights .

A key aspect of soft power is diplomacy .

In its capacity as an institution whose existence is based on soft power , the EU is sometimes assigned a mediating role as a peacemaker in international conflicts. However, it is mostly individual states that play a mediating role in international conflicts. The EU will u. a. Active as a resource provider for financial support for development work after the end of the crisis.

Soft Power Survey

The international news and lifestyle magazine Monocle prepares a soft power survey every year . For 2012, Germany came in third behind the United Kingdom (1st place) and the United States (2nd place). The Soft Power Survey published at the end of 2013 then listed Germany in first place. In 2014, Germany took second place ahead of the United Kingdom and behind the United States.

literature

  • Joseph S. Nye: Soft Power. In: Foreign Policy. (1990), 80 (3), 153-171 ( PDF file ).
  • Joseph S. Nye: Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power. Basic Books, New York 1990.
  • Joseph S. Nye: The Paradox of American Power. Why the world's only superpower needs allies. European Publishing House, Hamburg 2003.
  • Joseph S. Nye: Soft Power. The means to success in world politics. New York, PublicAffairs 2004.
  • Joseph S. Nye: The Powers to Lead. Oxford University Press, New York 2008.
  • Andreas Goldthau, Nick Sitter: Soft power with a hard edge: EU policy tools and energy security , Review of International Political Economy, Volume 22 (2015), No. 5 ( English )
  • Hendrik W. Ohnesorge: Soft Power: The Forces of Attraction in International Relations. Cham et al. a .: Springer International, 2020.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Stanly R. Sloan and Heiko Borchert: Hard Power and Soft Power: A Plea for a New Transatlantic Treaty. In: Thomas Jäger , Alexander Höse, Kai Oppermann (ed.): Transatlantic Relations: Security - Economy - Public. VS Verlag 2005, p. 523 f.
  2. ↑ http://www.bpb.de/nachhaben/lexika/177268/soft-power
  3. ↑ a b c d Joseph S. Nye: Soft Power. The means to success in world politics, New York, PublicAffairs 2004, p. 11.
  4. ↑ see: Joseph S. Nye: Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power. Basic Books 1990, p. 31ff.
  5. ↑ a b see: Joseph S. Nye: The Benefits of Soft Power. 2004. Retrieved June 7, 2009
  6. ^ Jürgen Hartmann: International Relations. VS Verlag 2009, p. 63.
  7. ↑ see: Alexander Höse: Selling America: The Public Diplomacy of the USA before the Iraq War 2003. In Thomas Jäger and Henrike Viehrig (ed): The American government against the world public? VS Verlag 2008, p. 81.
  8. ↑ Geraldo Zaharan and Leonardo Ramos: From hegemony to soft power: implications of a conceptual change. In Inderjeet Parmar and Michael Cox (eds): Soft power and US foreign policy: theoretical, historical and contemporary perspectives. Routledge, New York 2010, p. 25.
  9. ^ "Soft Power" Google News Archive Search , accessed June 7, 2009.
  10. ^ Huberta von Voss-Wittig: Soft Power . In: Current term (No. 45/06 of November 3, 2006), Scientific Services of the German Bundestag, PDF file in the bundestag.de portal , accessed on November 17, 2013
  11. ↑ Carl Bildt: Europe must keep its 'soft power'. Opinion piece. Center for European Reform; Financial Times, June 1, 2005, accessed May 12, 2018 .
  12. ^ The EU and soft power. Center for European Studies, University of South Carolina and Chapel Hill, accessed May 12, 2018 .
  13. ↑ a b V. Ivanchenko, D. Khromakov, A. Margoev, K. Sukhoverkhov: Power in International Politics: Does the World Go Hard? (PDF) In: University Consortium Annual Conference. October 2017, accessed on May 13, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Robert Kagen, quoted from: Erkki Tuomioja: The Role of Soft Power in EU Common Foreign Policy. (PDF) In: International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy. July 30, 2009, accessed May 12, 2018 .
  15. ^ International Peace Mediation: A New Crossroads for the European Union. (PDF) EU Crisis Management Papers Series. Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), Brussels Office; International Security Information Service, Europe (ISIS Europe), accessed May 12, 2018 . P. 7.
  16. ↑ Soft Power Survey - 2012 , video (2013, 7:31 min) in the monocle.com portal , accessed on November 17, 2013
  17. ↑ Germany tops world 'soft power' rankings . Article from November 21, 2013 in the local.de portal , accessed on December 19, 2013
  18. ↑ Soft Power Survey 2014/15 , video in the monocle.com portal , accessed on February 8, 2015