Higher Education Diplomacy in Transatlantic Relations: A US Perspective (original) (raw)
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Institutions of higher education have long been instruments of power in international relations and foreign policy analysis. However, much of the established literature defines higher education in terms of soft power too and downplays hard power realities and economic strength. While soft power is an important conceptual lens through which to understand the attractiveness and allure of colleges and universities in the international system, it provides only part of the explanation regarding competition among nation-states in global education. This study asserts that economic resources and wealth largely determine the extent to which nation-states exercise influence with their higher educational institutions. The goal of this study is to provide international relations scholars with a more comprehensive explanation of the role of colleges and universities in international relations. It begins with a review and assessment of the scholarly literature on higher education and international relations. It then analyzes summary descriptive data collected and reported by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, International Monetary Fund, Institute for Government-Moncole Soft Power Index, Times Higher Education World Rankings, Cross-Border Education Research Team, Institute of International Education, and the U.S. Department of State. It concludes that the ability of nation-states to exercise influence in international higher education is dependent on the broader socioeconomic environment as well as the higher education inputs and outputs within each nation-state, making international higher education a competitive arena that should not fall within the exclusive domain of soft power.
Higher education as a soft power in international relations
The publisher hasn't signed any contract with authors, therefore I keep full rights to this text and publish it in open access despite the fact it is watermarked. I consider Edgar Elgar to steal my property when publishing it without any contract with me. ABSTRACT: Contemporary discussion about " soft power " increasingly mentions education , and especially higher education, in the context of international attractiveness of a given country or culture. Neither the driving intuition behind soft power as a concept, nor understanding that education can build influence in international relations and, subsequently, the knowledge how to effectively use it as such a tool, are new. For example, for a classical theorist of power like Niccolò Machiavelli, who has been frequently but not fully accurately associated with the coercive side of political action, the feeling of love (corresponding to what is now associated with attraction) is almost as important as the feeling of fear, both making an actor to do something they would otherwise not do. Therefore, a thorough reading of Machiavelli's Prince reveals a sophisticated interplay and search for a balance between " soft " and " hard " power. Given a long genealogy of this concept, which still remains to be thoroughly studied, I will here use the notion of soft power with the awareness that it is just one of many ways to describe the phenomenon of the power of attraction. Higher education was already a source of soft power in the Middle Ages, when the first universities were created. 2 In Europe numerous Italian institutions, and the Sorbonne in Paris, had a huge impact on the intellectual life of the elites in all parts of the Continent. The mobility of students and scholars has characterized universities since their earliest days. In the Middle Ages, Latin was an almost universal language of scholarship that assured a broad scope of spread of knowledge and methodology of investigation , encompassing the entirety of Western Christianity. Exchange was also maintained with scholars connected with the Byzantine (Greek-speaking) and Arabic cultures. Especially in the early Middle Ages, those cultures were much more advanced in terms of scholarship development than their Western European counterparts, becoming centers from which knowledge diffused towards Europe.
Institutions of higher education have been identified and examined as instruments of power in international relations and foreign policy analysis. However, much of the established literature defines higher education in terms of soft power too and downplays hard power realities and economic strength. While soft power is an important conceptual lens through which to understand the attractiveness and allure of colleges and universities in the international system, it provides only part of the explanation regarding competition among nation-states in global education. This study asserts that economic resources and wealth largely determine the extent to which nation-states exercise influence with their higher educational institutions. The goal of this study is to provide international relations scholars with a more comprehensive explanation of the role of colleges and universities in international relations. It begins with a review and assessment of the scholarly literature on higher education and international relations. It then analyzes summary descriptive data collected and reported by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, International Monetary Fund, Institute for Government-Moncole Soft Power Index, Times Higher Education World Rankings, Cross-Border Education Research Team, Institute of International Education, and the U.S. Department of State.