SOFT POWER SUPERPOWERS: Cultural and National Assets of Japan and the U.S., edited by Yasushi Watanabe and David L. McConnell. New York: M.E. Sharpe. Armonk, 2008, 296 pp., $32.95 (paper)
As the Bush administration skulks ignominiously into history, its reputation in tatters and its strategies discredited, debate rages about how best the United States and its allies can project their influence and shape the world to suit their interests. For Team Obama, restoring the squandered stature of the U.S. is a key task as it tries to overcome Bush's pathetic legacy.
American international relations scholar Joseph Nye Jr., who coined the expression in the late 1980s, views "soft power" as the ability of a nation to achieve its objectives by attracting or seducing other nations to do its bidding or emulate its policies without resorting to coercion. Gains achieved by military force and economic sanctions are often short-lived and provoke a backlash. Nye maintains it is more effective to inspire nations to adopt desired policies and objectives.