soft power: a standalone construct

Joseph Nye introduced the term in his 1990 book Bound to Lead and, the same year, in a Foreign Policy article of the same name, defining soft power as a state's ability to obtain the outcomes it wants in world politics by attracting and persuading others rather than by military coercion or economic payment. He set out the concept fully in his 2004 book Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics, where he located its sources in a country's culture, its political values, and its foreign policies when others see these as legitimate and appealing. Soft power works by shaping the preferences of other actors so that they come to want the same outcomes, in contrast to the hard power of force and inducement, that is, the carrot and the stick. It is distinctive as a construct in international relations because it directs attention to intangible resources of attraction and to the co-optive, agenda-setting face of power rather than to material capabilities alone.[1][2][3]

Unit

A relational capacity of an actor, typically a state, to influence others through attraction and persuasion

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Assessed through composite soft-power indices and surveys that combine indicators of cultural reach, diplomatic engagement, and the perceived attractiveness and legitimacy of a country's values and policies