Talk:Soft power

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Contents 1 About the usefulness of the concept 2 Improvements 3 Blockquotes 4 soft power idea derived from the Chinese? 5 Doctor Who example 6 A link to an article criticizing Nye's concept of soft power

[edit] About the usefulness of the concept

I would introduce the following critique:

"Soft power" basically refers to what a long time ago is known as "hegemony". This means that the idea may be useful, but there is a prior expression for it, so there is no need of a new one. D. Cordobale (July 13, 2006)

While it may be the case that there is some overlap between hegemony and Nye's concept of Soft Power, Nye's term has come into common usage (at least within lay or dilettantish circles)and thus probably ought be discussed independent of the hegemony discussion. shidobu 17:07, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Improvements

Any chance of an overhaul and some more examples? The article is very badly arranged. Estrellador* 21:53, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I started in on some changes, I think some critical context is still needed; I'm not sure what other kinds of examples to offer, since the concept itself can be rather vague. MC MasterChef 02:16, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Shutup. Estrellador* 19:47, 16 November 2005 (UTC)

ouch wolfie 14:03, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Blockquotes

The blockquotes really bug me - they're the type of thing that could be summarized and borrowed from to a lesser extent. Theshibboleth 02:00, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

Maybe we could use Nye's recent summary of soft power:

  "Soft power is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payment.     
  That attraction can come from culture (where it is attractive), but also from policies that may  
  include military forces".

The reference is from the April/May 2006 issue of The Diplomat[1], an Australian magazine (QLDer86 10:52, 10 December 2006 (UTC)).

[edit] soft power idea derived from the Chinese?

I really don't know. But when I first heard the phrases "soft power" and "hard power" I thought they were some literal and otherwise silly translations of the the Chinese words "gang li" and "ruan li" (Am I write?) I am really surprised. Maybe the Chinese stole the ideas from the West.

I belive it was in a book of the same name, I have it somewhere around but I remmeber the author claiming to have coined the word in 19xx wolfie 13:57, 22 May 2006 (UTC) I just rea dthe article its mentioned. lol

europeans advocated that strogly.in fact they beleave that soft power is superior and thus have small armys.--Ruber chiken 13:54, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Doctor Who example

I question the relevance of this strange, unsourced anecdote. It's painfully out of context with the rest of the article. Will remove if there are no objections. --Nydas 17:11, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] A link to an article criticizing Nye's concept of soft power

Dear readers, I noticed there are no links to any criticism of Nye's concept of soft power. All links (whether references or further reading) merely re-hash the traditional definition of soft power, according to Nye. Here is an article actually tackling the concept itself: http://www.thetalent.org/Indice/Show/Articoli-HTML/frm-main.php?show=122. I believe this does provide more information about the meaning and implications of Nye's concept. Do you agree to the adding of a link to this article in the references or further reading section? Thanks for letting me know.Taleinfo 16:24, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

As there were no objections regarding the above, I have posted the link to an article criticising the concept of soft power as understood by Nye.Taleinfo 11:12, 13 February 2007 (UTC)