{"id":41487,"date":"2018-08-20T06:00:36","date_gmt":"2018-08-19T20:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=41487"},"modified":"2018-08-20T07:07:52","modified_gmt":"2018-08-19T21:07:52","slug":"the-power-of-soft-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-power-of-soft-power\/","title":{"rendered":"The power of soft power"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

While Heisenberg proclaims the uncertainty<\/a> principle, a public service inquiry operates on the certainty principle.<\/p>\n

Not for government, Heisenberg\u2019s quantum insight about the impossibility of simultaneously measuring position and momentum; nor the observer effect\u2014that to observe or measure something is to change it. Journalists know the observer effect: produce a microphone and camera and see the change.<\/p>\n

The certainty principle requires that public servants offer firm facts and solid recommendations. Certainty equals competence.<\/p>\n

What can be measured can be managed. What gets managed gets used. And what gets used gets rewarded.<\/p>\n

Tension between the uncertainty and certainty principles nibbles at the announcement by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop of the \u2018first ever review of soft power<\/a> to ensure Australia remains a persuasive voice in our region\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Bishop statement<\/a> of intent offers lots of positives:<\/p>\n

Soft power is the ability to influence the behaviour or thinking of others through the power of ideas and attraction. By leveraging our soft power strengths, we can advance Australia\u2019s global reputation and prosperity.<\/p>\n

These strengths include our economy, multicultural society, world-class education system and sporting prowess, as well as our attractive lifestyle, values, culture, and reputation as a reliable partner, a trusted friend, and a nation of friendly and enterprising people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The inventor of the \u2018soft power\u2019 label is the American academic Joseph Nye, who served as a senior official in both the state and defence departments.<\/p>\n

Nye\u2019s insight<\/a> was that the US won the Cold War with a combination of soft and hard power\u2014institutions and ideas mattered as much as infantry.<\/p>\n

In his 1990 book, Bound to lead: the changing nature of American power<\/a><\/em>, Nye called soft power the co-optive power of the US.<\/p>\n

Culture and communications could direct the decisions and behaviour of others without the need for military force. Soft power means getting others to want what you want, using the intangible resources of culture, ideology and institutional norms.<\/p>\n

Ideas and culture can set international standards in the same way that American software set standards for the world\u2019s computers.<\/p>\n

The lifestyle promoted by American media and the promise of plenty offered by American supermarkets helped undermine the Soviet Union, along with the hard power of military forces and nuclear weapons. In the Cold War victory, Mickey Mouse, movies and the Big Mac marched with the marines.<\/p>\n

Hard power rests on command, coercion or inducement: \u2018the ability to change what others do\u2019, Nye wrote. Soft co-optive power, Nye said, is \u2018the ability to shape what others want\u2019.<\/p>\n

Soft-power institutions set agendas, define values and persuade others about what\u2019s desirable or even legitimate.<\/p>\n

Many are attracted to the power of attraction, and much work has been done to inject certainty into the idea. The Soft Power 30<\/a> index, judging the soft power of nations, this year ranks<\/a> Australia in 10th spot, dropping from 8th place last year, and 6th in 2015 and 2016.<\/p>\n

Such exactness is reassuring. Still \u2026<\/p>\n

There\u2019s just a hint of Heisenberg in the Oz soft power review, a whole-of-government effort being led by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.<\/p>\n

DFAT says<\/a> effective diplomacy will require Australia to consider new ways to engage and a more systematic and sophisticated approach. Australia wants to maximise its soft power in the Indo-Pacific by:<\/p>\n