Abstract
Soft power, or “a political theory of attractiveness” was defined in the US in 1990 by Americanist political scientist Joseph S. Nye of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Since the 2017 publication of The Routledge Handbook of Soft Power, edited by Naren Chitty, Li Ji, Gary D. Rawnsley and Craig Hayden, the theory has become more sharply defined, making way for international perspectives. This broadening rise in interest reflects the changing global conditions that accord to national power through media and communication, a shift that reinforces the continual growth in importance of media and communication in international contests for national attractiveness. In particular, the emergence of soft power studies reflects the rise of China against the previously prevailing hegemonic role of the US after the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. In effect, the rise of soft power studies accompanied the influence of a Chinese public opinion methodology whose scalar dimensions incorporated the refinements of humanities and social science that were foreign and new to the western method. This new soft power methodology is emerging through media and communication, looking less like propaganda and more like a structural shift in communication at global scalar dimensions. This study addresses this shift, considering the recent rise of China and its soft power methodology in the light of the propaganda focus of the established US approach.
Presenters
Marcus BreenAssociate Professor of the Practice , Communication, Boston College, Massachusetts, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2022 Special Focus: Trust, Surveillance, Democracy
KEYWORDS
Soft Power, Soft Power Methodology, Political Theory of Attractiveness
