{"id":18863,"date":"2018-04-19T14:51:41","date_gmt":"2018-04-19T09:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=18863"},"modified":"2018-04-19T14:51:41","modified_gmt":"2018-04-19T09:21:41","slug":"soft-power-in-the-21st-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/soft-power-in-the-21st-century\/","title":{"rendered":"SOFT POWER IN THE 21ST CENTURY"},"content":{"rendered":"

CONTEXT:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

India aspires to become a Global Power in this Multipolar world order. To do so we need to have both Hard & Soft Power.<\/p>\n

Need for power<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Since ancient times,<\/strong> battles and wars have been fought in the quest for power. A powerful nation can impose its ideals and policies<\/strong> on other nations. Power helps the country advance.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The nature of power has changed<\/strong> over the years. From hard military power to soft power.<\/p>\n

What is soft power:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Soft power refers to the ability of a country to persuade others<\/strong> to do what it wants without force or coercion<\/strong>.It helps in building favourable attitude and preferences<\/strong> over a period of time.<\/p>\n

Examples of Soft Power:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

1)China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative<\/strong>, is a soft power tool which aims to make smaller countries dependant on China in the name of development and hence support its policies and actions.<\/p>\n

2)Non Resident Indians<\/strong> helped create a positive atmosphere which made USA sign the nuclear deal <\/strong>with India.<\/p>\n

Hard power and its limitations:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hard power refers to the use of military force<\/strong> to produce favourable results. With the spread of democracy, and growth of civil society<\/strong>, use of hard power has been frowned upon. The limitations of hard power have also been exposed to the world.<\/p>\n

For example, US\u2019s War on Terrorism:<\/p>\n

1)No concrete outcome<\/p>\n

2)Arab Spring and crisis in the middle east<\/p>\n

3)Ongoing crisis in Syria<\/p>\n

4)Rise of ISIS.<\/p>\n

5)Refugee Crisis.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the invention of nuclear weapons<\/strong> have imposed serious limitations on the use of hard power. The fear of Mutually Assured Destruction<\/strong> and spread of nuclear weapons to terrorists<\/strong> has further dettered the use of hard power.<\/p>\n

Relevance of soft power:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

1)More relevant in a globalised world.<\/p>\n

2)Promotes world peace and progress<\/p>\n

3)A more civilised approach<\/p>\n

India and soft power:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

1) Has been a major tool of diplomacy since ancient times<\/strong>. Trade <\/strong>flourished with foreign countries due to soft power. Universities like Nalanda and Vikramshila<\/strong> attracted students from abroad. Kings like Asoka<\/strong> sent ambassadors<\/strong> to foreign countries.<\/p>\n

2) India\u2019s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was convinced that India was bound to play an increasing and beneficent part in world affairs. He had developed a zeal for diplomacy <\/strong>that was not backed by the needed military and economic hard power.<\/strong> The nation were proud of the non-violent manner in which we had achieved our independence.<\/strong> It is this soft power which helped preserve the democracy in India<\/strong> while its neighbours fell prey to dictatorship.<\/p>\n

3) Gujral doctrine <\/strong>emphasised on the use of soft power. It was used to establish democracy in the neighbourhood<\/strong>-Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal.<\/p>\n

4) Soft power helped in furthering the agenda of Non Aligned Movement(NAM).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tools to implement soft power:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

1) A Public Diplomacy Division<\/strong> was created within the Ministry of External Affairs,<\/p>\n

2) Indian Council for Cultural Relations <\/strong>(ICCR) was expanded worldwide<\/p>\n

3) The Ministry of Tourism\u2019s \u2019Incredible India<\/strong>\u2019 campaign<\/p>\n

4) Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas.<\/strong><\/p>\n

5) Bollywood<\/strong> films and shows abroad.<\/p>\n

6) Make in India<\/strong> campaign,<\/p>\n

7) Intensive foreign visits<\/strong> by the Prime Minister<\/p>\n

8) Inviting world leaders<\/strong>-Prince William,Justin Trudeau(Canadian PM),Ivanka Trump etc<\/p>\n

9) NRIs<\/strong> as cultural ambassadors<\/p>\n

Soft power in the neighbourhood:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pakistan<\/strong><\/p>\n

1)Cricket matches<\/p>\n

2)Wagah Border Ceremony<\/p>\n

3)Medical Tourism<\/p>\n

4)Bollywood<\/p>\n

5)Daily buses for trade<\/p>\n

Bangladesh<\/strong><\/p>\n

1)Hydroelectric Projects<\/p>\n

2)Bollywood<\/p>\n

3)Student exchanges<\/p>\n

4)BBIN(Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal) Motor Vehicle Agreement<\/p>\n

China<\/strong><\/p>\n

1)Bollywood<\/p>\n

2)Student Exchanges<\/p>\n

3)Coordinating at global forum platforms on climate and trade issues.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka<\/strong><\/p>\n

1)Helped in ending the civil war.<\/p>\n

2)Establishing democracy<\/p>\n

3)Framing constitution<\/p>\n

Nepal:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1)Open border<\/p>\n

2)Employment opportunities<\/p>\n

3)Framing Constitution<\/p>\n

Limitations of soft power:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

1) Soft power can create a favourable attitude but it is not always guaranteed<\/strong> that the other nation would act favourably.<\/p>\n

2) It takes more time<\/strong> than hard power.<\/p>\n

Way Forward:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the rising multipolar world order<\/strong> India needs to establish itself. Since hard power cannot be used beyond a limit, it is soft power which will help india carve a niche for itself <\/strong>in the new world order<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CONTEXT: India aspires to become a Global Power in this Multipolar world order. To do so we need to have both Hard & Soft Power. Need for power Since ancient times, battles and wars have been fought in the quest for power. A powerful nation can impose its ideals and policies on other nations. Power… Continue reading SOFT POWER IN THE 21ST CENTURY<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":18864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy-2","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/images.jpg?fit=1002%2C511&ssl=1","views":{"total":296,"cached_at":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}