How Soft Power Works
Abstract
This paper will explore how soft power works. But before we can meaningfully discuss this question, we must be clear about what soft power is. The two questions, How does soft power work? and What constitutes soft power?, are closely related. Before we can know how soft power works, we must know what makes soft power as such; and once we know what causes soft power in the first place, we will get a key to knowing the conditions under which and the mechanisms by which soft power is realized. The central questions that I will ask in this paper is, What causes soft power? and How is soft power caused? These questions are where the two questions above, What is soft power, What constitutes soft power, and How does soft power work, What are the underlying mechanisms that generate soft power, meet. After a first part that deals with these theoretical questions, there is a second part in which I will survey the major policy tools of soft power and show, with the aid of the concepts developed in the first part, how these tools facilitate and produce soft power.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 03, 2009
- Accession Number
- AD1032656
Entities
People
- Alexander L. Vuving
Organizations
- Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies