Paschal Donohoe on how nations play the soft power game to win

Soft Power: The New Great Game

Author: Robert Winder

ISBN-13: 978-1408711460

Publisher: Little, Brown

Guideline Price: £20

In a meeting to agree the postwar future of eastern Europe, Winston Churchill suggested to Joseph Stalin that the view of the Vatican be considered. Stalin responded: “How many divisions has the pope?” The Russian leader recognised the difference between the powers of coercion and moral influence, and left little doubt as to which he believed superior.

The different forms of influence available to nations has long been a subject of study by historians and by those who wield such power. Recent thinking on this topic is led by the American political scientist Joseph Nye. He developed the concept of “soft power” and published a signature book on this topic in 2004.

Nye defined soft power as “the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments. It arises from the attractiveness of a country’s culture, political ideals, and policies.”

Implicit in this definition is function, the use of power – including soft – to achieve an outcome. This form of influence is particularly important to countries lacking the military heft or the economic scale necessary to achieve nationally valuable outcomes through those means.

Ireland recently securing a seat on the United Nations Security Council was an example of such influence. The campaign theme of Empathy, Partnership and Independence was based on values long central to Irish foreign policy. The article in The Irish Times on the campaign success was headlined "How pub sing-songs and Bono brought Ireland to a seat at the highest table".

A crucial foundation of these efforts is a broad embassy network, led by experienced diplomats. Soft Power by Robert Winder will no doubt be read in embassies and in Iveagh House. While the argument in this book is not without difficulties, it deserves readership beyond these professional circles.

Hearts and minds

The author elegantly defines soft power as “the art of capturing hearts and minds without using the usual weapons: guns or money. It was the magnetic force field of culture, lifestyle, history, heritage and political values.”

The development of this form of power is linked to the movement of people, each person acting as an ambassador for the culture of their original country. In this soft arena, where competition is still real but without a coercive edge, each nation strives to answer the following question: “Which country has the most gripping narrative, the most heroic heroes and heroines, the best ideas?”

Winder then seeks to answer this question through a global tour, beginning with the US and ending with Japan. Throughout he analyses the sources and nature of national soft power. This identifies many distinctive facets of this power. While soft power is more independent of government than other forms of power, it also depends on institutions for support and development.

He argues that “This is not to say that governments are impotent in this area. On the contrary, when it comes to creating and maintaining the institutions on which soft power depends, they are irreplaceable.” The impact of the British Council, the Goethe-Institut, Al Jazeera and Russia Today are all considered.

Fascinating insights abound in these chapters. The Pacific island of New Caledonia, where 27 per cent of the population identify as European, rejected three referendums on independence. Japanese restaurants increased across the world from 24,000 to 90,000 in a decade. The singing of British public school hymns in a school in Mumbai is another example.

Not always benign

The author notes that soft power is not always benign. He wisely concludes that it is “not, perhaps, axiomatically a force for good, or a tea towel full of liberal messages. It could be a conduit for ideas of any stripe.”

At times, however, this argument for soft power weakens and is overstated. The Belt and Road Initiative by China, the funding of ports, roads and transport infrastructure to create a new global trade route is not “the world’s boldest soft power move”. It is surely an example of more traditional forms of influence – the use of economic power.

A very conspicuous absence in these pages is the European Union. The role of the EU as a demonstration of both the strengths and limitations of soft power is important and deeply topical, but this is not considered.

The book concludes by hoping that soft power may have a true purpose in “creating the conditions in which mutual self-interest – the understanding that for me to win, you should win too – could thrive”.

This is a reminder that for the influence of any country to be sustained, the foundations of soft power are vital and always require renewal.

Paschal Donohoe is Minister for Finance