How soft is "soft power"? Unstable dichotomies at Expo 2010 (original) (raw)
Related papers
Introduction: Rethinking China’s Soft Power
2014
What has been dubbed “China’s rise” has been met with trepidation or outright fear. The increasing economic and political power of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is often read as a harbinger of the West’s imminent decline, and as a threat to a Western dominated global order. To match its growing ‘hard’ power, leaders in China have outlined intentions to cultivate the country’s soft power, or its appeal and influence globally. These efforts too have been read in largely negative terms in a body of literature that has sprung up around Chinese soft power. Yet, these works tend to assume negative implications without being grounded in empirical research. The contributors to this issue were tasked with reconsidering China’s soft power in the light of research which attends to the ideas and practices of its mediums – mediums such as the expansion of China’s global media network, the opening of Confucius Institutes around the world, and the increasing presence of Chinese popular culture in global forums. This introduction, in particular, considers some of the lessons that considerations of Chinese soft power can learn from the field of global studies.
Pushing the Boundaries of Soft Power: The Controversial Chinese Case
E-International Relations, 2018
Freely accessible here: https://www.e-ir.info/2018/07/11/pushing-the-boundaries-of-soft-power-the-controversial-chinese-case/ A preview of my current project with some projections of how China may be redefining soft power through its rhetoric and actions; published on the E-International Relations portal.
Beijing-Style Soft Power: A Different Conceptualisation to the American Coinage
China Report, 2020
This article examines China’s unique soft power conceptualisation, which differs from the American coinage. It contributes to the existing literature by demonstrating how soft power is theorised by Chinese academicians and policymakers in a distinct way. That means, according to China’s own tradition, predating the term. Unlike in America, where soft power is largely developed freely, in China, it is highly centralised. As a rising power, the People’s Republic initially concentrates on building domestic soft power, primarily through socialist culture and virtuous governance. These are in turn displayed to the outside world. Beijing uses multiple channels to tell the China story and has been setting up international platforms to portray itself as a responsible global actor. Several soft power indexes show that China holds a relatively positive image in Africa and South America. In Asia, views are mixed, while in Europe and North America, they remain low.
China's "Politics of Harmony" and the Quest for Soft Power in International Politics
International Studies Review, 2019
This article engages with China's “politics of harmony” to investigate the dangers and possibilities of soft power as a concept and practice. Chinese sources claim that China will be able to exercise soft power due to its tradition of thinking about harmony. Indeed, the concept of harmony looms large in Chinese soft power campaigns, which differentiate China's own harmonious soft power from the allegedly disharmonious hard power of other great powers—in particular Western powers and Japan. Yet, similarly dichotomizing harmony discourses have been employed precisely in the West and Japan. In all three cases, such harmony discourses set a rhetorical trap, forcing audiences to empathize and identify with the “harmonious” self or risk being violently “harmonized.” There is no doubt that the soft power of harmony is coercive. More importantly, the present article argues that it has legitimized and enabled oppressive, homogenizing, and bellicose expansionism and rule in the West and Japan. A similarly structured exercise of soft power may enable violence in and beyond China, too. Ultimately, however, we argue that China's own tradition of thinking about harmony may help us to theorize how soft power might be exercised in less antagonistic and violent ways.
Sources and limits of Chinese ‘soft power’
Survival, 2006
Analysis and debate concerning China's rise is focused almost entirely on the economic and military aspects of its growing power. 1 Yet 'soft' sources of power-including culture, political ideology and diplomacy-are increasingly recognised as essential components of Great Power status. It seems odd that the subject of soft power is either missing from discussions of China, or misapplied. While China is constrained in many ways in the exercise of such power, its softpower resources are considerable and demand scrutiny. The concept of soft power can be traced to the works of Hans J. Morgenthau, Klaus Knorr and Ray Cline. As summarised in recent years by Joseph Nye, soft power is a directing, attracting and imitating force derived mainly from intangible resources such as national cohesion, culture, ideology and influence on international institutions. According to Nye, it is the 'ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments'. 2 Examination of China's soft-power resources in the areas of culture, political values and diplomacy shows that, while China's soft power is increasing, Beijing faces serious constraints in translating these resources into desired foreign-policy outcomes.
Going Soft? The US and China Go Global
What is "soft power"? How can a country acquire and enjoy it? Is it the product of public or private initiatives? How significant is "soft power" in world affairs? The concept of "soft power," the idea that international success depends not just upon weaponry, force, and military coercion, but also on admiration and respect for a country's culture and way of life, is winning ever-greater global attention. As China enjoys ever-increasing heft on the global scene, many Chinese officials seek to emulate the past success of the United States in dominating the world, not simply militarily, but in terms of influence and prestige. Most are very conscious that "soft power" can be extremely valuable in terms of supplementing and boosting their country's military and strategic position, but are often uncertain as to how to deploy the instruments of propaganda and cultural diplomacy most effectively. The essays in this volume, largely written by scholars based in mainland China, represent an extended effort to debate and assess the theoretical concept of "soft power" and just what it means and how it works in practice. The authors focus upon the practical impact and implications of "soft power" in diverse settings and situations in the United States past and present. How, they ask, does "soft power" relate to issues of religion, gender, race, and social equality, at home and abroad? What do American elections and political rhetoric do for American "soft power"? Will China succeed in rivalling the United States in power, whether hard, soft, or smart? And how will "soft power" feature in US-China relations, present and future? For further details of the two American Studies Network conferences on which this volume is largely based, see the US-China Education Trust website, at: http://www.uscet.org/asn-annual-meeting-2011 http://www.uscet.org/2012-annual-american-studies-network-conference See also: https://www.amazon.com/Going-Soft-Us-China-Global/dp/1443856681/ref=sr\_1\_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1489554697&sr=1-1&keywords=going+soft+priscilla+roberts#reader\_1443856681 https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1443859427 https://books.google.com/books?id=rpoxBwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=power+of+culture+priscilla+roberts&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjIvo\_-39fSAhUMf7wKHdxFBD0Q6AEIIDAB#v=onepage&q=power%20of%20culture%20priscilla%20roberts&f=false Preface / Julia Chang Bloch xiii Introduction Going Soft? The US and China go Global / Priscilla Roberts xvi pt. I Chinese Reflections on Soft Power ch. One China's Soft Power and its Peaceful Rise as an Aspiring World Power: A Critical Assessment / Shi Yinhong 2 ch. Two Readjustments in US Pacific Strategy: China's Regional Options / Dai Changzheng 11 ch. Three American Competitiveness, American Soft Power / Kong Xiangyong 25 ch. Four Limitations of Soft Power / Kong Qingshan 51 ch. Five Potent Though Hard to Identify: Soft Power in China and the United States / Ma Xing 56 ch. Six Soft Power as a Soft-Balancing Tool: The European Union and China / Sun Yu 61 ch. Seven The China Model and the Decline of American Soft Power / Wang Li 72 pt. II Soft Power in International Practice ch. Eight Soft Power and the Challenge of Social Equality / Sonya Michel 90 ch. Nine Cold War Cultural Representations: The Films of Charles and Ray Eames / Eric Schuldenfrei 108 ch. Ten Soft Power in Sino-American Relations / Priscilla Roberts 122 ch. Eleven Soft Containment: US Psychological Warfare Against China in the 1950s and 1960s / Guo Yonghu 141 ch. Twelve US Double Standards in Evaluating Human Rights in Tibet / Zhang Yuling 159 ch. Thirteen China's Soft Power and Political Credibility: An Analysis of International Reports of the July 23 Train Wreck in China / Sun Yu 187 ch. Fourteen Confucius: Cultural Icon of Chinese Cuisine in Post-Second World War America / Zhang Tao 196 ch. Fifteen Agency and Global Hypergamy: A Glimpse of Chinese Mail-Order Brides / Wu Xiaoping 211 ch. Sixteen Tiger Mothers and Diplomatic Fathers: Amy Chua and Henry Kissinger "On China" / Staci Ford 224 pt. III Soft Power and Social Questions in the United States ch. Seventeen Sources of Power: Soft Power and the American Reform Tradition / Lv Qingguang 246 ch. Eighteen The Provincial Congresses in the Early American Revolution, 1774-1776 / Wang Bin 252 ch. Nineteen Inherent Contradictions in Jacksonian Democracy / Li Yang 268 ch. Twenty S̀oft Power' in American Foreign Expansion in the 1890s / Wang Jianhong 276 ch. Twenty-One American Liberalism and the Transformation of Single-Parent Families in the 1960s / Lv Hongyan 281 ch. Twenty-Two Interest Groups and Race-Conscious University Admissions / Yang Kui 290 ch. Twenty-Three Religion's Uneasy Place: Religious Engagement and Religious Freedom in American Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy / Brie Loskota 303 ch. Twenty-Four The Role of Protestantism in Enhancing Social Equality in the United States During the Progressive Era / Zhang Lei 314 ch. Twenty-Five Marginal Religions and Women's Rights in America / Yao Guigui 330 ch. Twenty-Six Religion, Diaspora and Hybrid Identity: Literary Representation in a Coming-of-Age Narrative / Lin Ling 339 ch. Twenty-Seven The Bird that Would Soar Above Tradition and Prejudice: The Inevitability of Edna's Death in The Awakening / Ye Ying 351 ch. Twenty-Eight Feminist Subjectivity and Independence in A Rose for Emily / Zhou Liyun 369 pt. IV American Presidential Politics as Seen from China ch. Twenty-Nine Research on Freedom: The Past Decade / Yang Ming 380 ch. Thirty Liberty and Democracy in Presidential Inaugural Addresses, 1949-2012 / Qin Huifang 393 ch. Thirty-One A Tripartite Game: The Emergence of Horse-Race Coverage in the 1988 Democratic Primaries / Jiang Qingshuang 410 ch. Thirty-Two Continuity and Change: American Mainline Religious Denominations and the 2008 Presidential Election / Liu Xianming 422 ch. Thirty-Three Religion as a Factor in the 2012 Presidential Election / Zhang Yuan 431 ch. Thirty-Four Race in the 2012 Elections: Asian American Voting Patterns and Candidates / Huang Xiaoqu 441 ch. Thirty-Five Income Inequality and Partisan Polarization: A Cross-Sectional View / Tao Jingting 480 ch. Thirty-Six Competing to Reach Across the Aisle: Bipartisanship and Leadership in the 2012 Election / Xiong Yingzhe 498 ch. Thirty-Seven The Course of Governance of the Obama Administration: Re-Reading the Four State of the Union Messages / Mei Renyi 510 ch. Thirty-Eight Farewell, 2012! The Declining Chinese Image and its Impact on US-China Issues During the 2012 US Presidential Campaign / Zhang Zhexin 528
Xin Li - 2011 - Building China's soft power for a peaceful rise
This article addresses Chinas multilateral diplomacy by identifying four distinct strategies: watching, engaging, circumventing, and shaping. The typology builds on two literatures: power transition theory, and the more recent “assertiveness” discourse in the West. Drawing from a range of cases in both the economic and security domains, the article argues that China’s multilateralism is diverse, and that it cannot be un-problematically characterized as either status-quo or revisionist in nature. However, the general trend appears to be towards engagement, but with an assertive tact as China’s interests become further entangled in the business of international institutions.
The ‘Exceptional’ Chinese Soft Power: Outlier or Pioneer?
E-International Relations, 2018
Freely accessible here: https://www.e-ir.info/2018/12/11/the-exceptional-chinese-soft-power-outlier-or-pioneer/ A further step in my investigation about Chinese soft power and related strategies, while highlighting its peculiarities which can make or break the nation's overall efforts.