Network States

Geopolitics

Primer on the the 3 types of power that states posses (as outlined by Joseph Nye).

David Friedman once said there are three ways to get other people to do what you want: force, money, and love.

What is true of individuals is true of states

Aviator, diver, Etherean, nexialist, PhD in aviation ∩ climate science | Host of /diving /ethfinance /eth-staker /geopolitics /science /singapore /thomas

I can't come up with a country that would pass as soft power. Maybe EU/US with some of the laws that get replicated around the world (on top of their economic power)?

Definitely the US as a cultural hegemon (e.g., Hollywood exports), but also China investing tons of infrastructure money in Africa and Asia to buy a lot of goodwill (but also accrue economic power by becoming a creditor to those countries)

Your examples confirm that there is no soft power in the world, only soft powers gained from economic power 🤔

How is Hollywood and American culture (Disney, comics, music, etc) not a prime example of soft power? Hollywood doesn’t incentivize its buyers abroad, people pay to consume American content.

"[...] the powers a state possesses"
The success of Hollywood worldwide is in large part due economic power that the US wields, and Hollywood is not a state

I'm not arguing the inexistence of soft power, I'm arguing that while I can clearly discern which country is a military and which one is economic power, there isn't one that I'd say has more soft power than any of the other two. It's more that soft power comes when you have the edge in one of those two.

It’s just a bit weird to argue the inexistence of soft power, when it is a very well established and undisputed concept in international relations. Anything that is driven by cooptation rather than coercion (military) or incentive/obligation (economic) is soft power

Take any state-owned channel broadcasting propaganda (like Al Jazeera), the hosting of sports events (like the Olympics), state-sponsored humanitarian programs, hosting foreign students to expose them to one’s values, etc