As Roosh highlighted with elegance, culture is downstream of politics (and
the reverse is also true). Can stress that culture is also downstream of
economic power, both directly and indirectly.
One way to understand this is by looking at the term soft power & # 8211;
invented by American scientist Joseph Nye poltical (1937-) in the late
1980s, developed in its work related to Lead: The Changing Nature of
American Power (1990), and reworked in a number of books and later
articles .
According to Nye, soft power means the ability to get what you want through
attraction rather than coercion or payments, and is therefore different
from harsh electrical phenomena such as military force and sanctions. Power
& # 8211; so sweet & # 8221; hard or & # 8211; is often linked to foreign
policy and the country's desire to influence other countries of the world
by means of disseminating their own cultural taste.
Considered a broader way, it may simply mean the dissemination of culture
in general and has less to do with power in the ordinary sense, but because
soft power is often linked to a current (Western) economic models and
globalization, it can be difficult to distinguish between soft power and
hard economic power. In fact, the economic and cultural dimensions spawn,
or rather, soft power is often funded by governments.
I will provide five examples of how soft power is being manifested in the
world. Although there are many possible points of view in this regard, I
focus on the country level.
United States
The United States & # 8211; the world's largest economy and superpower over
the last 130 years, and # 8211; uses readily lot of hard power, including
military force, almost worldwide taxation of their currency, and sanctions
against certain countries.
But soft power wise, we can also highlight the almost worldwide spread of
American popular culture & # 8211; movies, music, sports, fast food, etc. &
# 8211; and its economic system based largely on the market and liberal
democracy than many other countries, have already absorbed or wish. The
quote below provides a relevant and nuanced general description of the
difficulty compared to soft power can be in the case of America:
Take the United Stated that example. The global popularity of Hollywood
blockbusters, Apple products, Google, Starbucks, and the NBA - to name a
few - can be cited as evidence of the soft American power, but it would be
an exaggeration to say that soft power was essential factor behind the
ability of the US to get what he wants in other parts of the world. First,
Starbucks drinking coffee or watching the NBA does not necessarily result
in the preferences of the pro-American policy. On the other hand, it is
difficult to imagine that the symbols of American soft power has spread to
the world and also had wide appeal had it not been for power without US
economic and military equal.
China
Chinese soft power has become more evident in recent years and # 8211; a
country set to be the largest economy in the world in a not too distant
future & # 8211; and this was shown by, for example, the great financing
and distribution of Chinese universities and Chinese cultural centers in
the world, as well as large-scale events such as the Summer Olympics in
Beijing in 2008:
The Chinese government has also spent hundreds of billions of dollars by
improving its media communication capabilities such as CCTV, organizing
mega events such as the Olympic Games and the Expo in Shanghai, the
financing of Confucius Institutes, summits hosting attended by dozens of
world leaders (eg APEC), and sponsoring forums on regional security and
prosperity (eg the Boao Forum). An important justification for such lavish
spending is that these activities may contribute to soft power of China.
In democratic countries like Canada and Sweden, academic freedom appears to
have been undermined by institutes funded by China and who controlled led
to several judgments of Confucius Institutes that promote research on
Chinese culture.
Perhaps China might not be as successful as the United States in this
regard (people are generally more long for democracy and Starbucks that
Confucian values), but the Chinese government still seeks to use the soft
power and has funded a lot of projects with large sums of money.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is in total a rich indeed countries, and at the same time it
is one of the most authoritarian regimes in the world.
Saudi Arabia is intimately linked to the country's soft power Wahhabi
doctrine has modern and fundamentalist form of Islam that was founded in
the late eighteenth century and which advocates a draconican, based on
sharia (school Hanbalic) interpretation that does not allow any other
religion or form of Islam. This religious and cultural framework, was
funded by wealthy and influential Saudis since the 1970s:
Overall, the Saudi figures show that in the period 1973 to 2002, the
kingdom has spent more than $ 80 billion to promote Islamic activities in
the non-Muslim world alone. This truly colossal sum has built an extensive
network of Wahhabi-controlled institutions, including more than 1,500
mosques, 150 Islamic centers, 202 Islamic colleges, and 2,000 Islamic
schools in non-Muslim countries alone. (Alexiev 2011)
Unfortunately, all Muslims are against Wahhabism and its ideological twin,
Salafism, which is manifested by the Islamic State and other organizations
and movements that articulate in part on the totalitarian ideas.
Russia
Russia is one of the largest countries and economies of the world, such as
China and Saudi Arabia, it is more or less authoritarian. Another feature
is its current geopolitical extensions, for example, Ukraine.
Besides the hard military power, influential Russians use soft power by the
means of media channels like Russia Today to broadcast a different world
views, different from the West, pro-EU and pro-American counterpart.
This could be a relatively successful way to get Western and other more on
the Russian side, or at least to have a more nuanced understanding of
Russia and it is both culturally, economically and ( geo) politics.
South Korea
South Korean readers are familiar with K-pop and Korean wave.
However, I might add that the South Korean government, having recognized
the strong financial results as a result of the special distribution of TV
dramas and K-pop, Korean Wave is currently using products as a means for
national brand and consequently increase revenues through tourism and the
export of Korean wave products such as music, dramas of television and food.
This will probably lead to & # 8211; and already has some exetent leads to
& # 8211; a positive feedback relationship as a likely consequence may be a
better representation of South Korea in the global community, and more
revenue, and revenue in turn can be used to increase investment in cultural
products and distribution this can lead to even more revenue.
It is also interesting to note that Chinese leaders are concerned about the
popularity of South Korean celebrities in China, and the country's close
ties with the United States. South Korea is undoubtedly one of the great
players of soft power these days and is a pop cultural alternative to both
the American and Chinese products.
There are several ways in which soft power can manifest. The national
level, in close connection with the political and economic elites, is one
such way, and some countries are indeed more than others in this regard.
Read more: How The Deep State Opera
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