Soft power transformation and growing conflict potential in International Relations

8
Soft power transformation and growing conflict potential in International Relations
// Pathways to Peace and Security. 2024. No 1 (66) . P. 150-168
DOI: 10.20542/2307-1494-2024-1-150-168

Abstract. At the end of the first quarter of the 21st century, the theoretical understanding of the concept of "soft power" has changed, as well as the application of its tools in practice. Along the liberal democratic countries that have traditionally used “soft power” resources to effectively achieve their foreign policy objectives by spreading their agenda and model of public administration, many non-western states have started to actively employ their educational services, cultural products, and sports diplomacy tools to advance their own geostrategic goals and to limit the monopoly of the West on shaping political agenda and its so-called normative power. With the escalation of the Ukrainian and Palestinian–Israeli conflicts, Western states turned to the use of the so-called sharp power tools, in order to delegitimize the “soft power” of competing countries through the tools of “cancel culture” and, specifically, to limit Russia’s ability to use its humanitarian resources in foreign policy. Reliance on “sharp power” has discredited not just J.Nye’s concept, but also the basic principles of the functioning of the humanitarian sphere at large. Against this background, “soft power” loses its initially positive message that promotes the ideas of growing interdependence as a condition for maintaining long-term partnership relations and mutual benefit. This message is replaced by tools for manipulating public consciousness, as states seek to ensure the conditions for the dominance of their narratives in the shortest possible time. Nevertheless, despite the dominance of “sharp power” at the times of conflict, demand for “soft power” instruments does not disappear completely. This is reflected by the 2022 concept of the humanitarian policy of the Russian Federation abroad which recognizes the important role of “soft power” tools as a means to neutralize anti-Russian sentiments.

Keywords: “soft power”, “sharp power”, “smart power”, public diplomacy, “soft power” resources, agenda setting, “cancel culture”, conflict, propaganda, manipulation of public consciousness


About author

Leili Rustamova is a Researcher at Peace and Conflict Studies Unit, Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IMEMO), Moscow.


For citation:
Rustamova L. Soft power transformation and growing conflict potential in International Relations // Pathways to Peace and Security. 2024. No 1 (66) . P. 150-168. https://doi.org/10.20542/2307-1494-2024-1-150-168



Comments (0)

No comments

Add comment







Indexes and Databases

  

 

  

Current Issue
2024, No. 1 (66)
  • - CONFLICTS AND SECURITY ISSUES IN THE MIDDLE EAST
  • - SOFT POWER AT THE TIME OF THE REVIVAL OF HARD POWER
  • - CENTRAL AND SOUTH ASIA: ISSUES OF DEVELOPMENT AND SECURITY
  • - BOOK REVIEWS
Submit an Article
Years
2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 |