Publication details

• Monday | 30 Nov, 2020
• Ayesha Ilyas, Rahemeen Malik, Shakeel Ahmed Ramay
• Research Reports,Project Publications
• 258

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A soft power is a power that establishes its foundations on three main pillars, i.e. culture, political values, and foreign policy. It is the culture of a state that attracts others and piques outsiders’ interest in the unique attributes offered by the society. It aims to direct and imitate by using attraction of intangible sources such as culture, national cohesion, ideology, and influence on international institutions (Nye 2002). One of the ways through which a state can highlight itself on the international stage is its association with its cultural traditions by following which it can establish and enhance its dialectical and historical legitimacy. This association not only allows the creation of a distinct identity in the international arena but also anchors the national identity. Cultural tradition is usually built through language and literature, religion and belief systems, myths and history, lifestyle, and so forth. Domestic and international performances are imperative if a country desires to make its culture attractive to others; the concept of cultural power as a tool in international relations is not limited to coercion, it rather acts as a tool of persuasion by creating an environment where the attractiveness of ideas creates a desire to follow it (Nye 1990). The term can be viewed as an expansion and advancement of Carr's (1954) thought of "power over opinion" and Lukes' (1974) "third dimension of power," the two of which illuminate on how the appeal of a country's way of life, beliefs, approaches, instruction and tact enable it to convince different countries to eagerly embrace its objectives (Su-Yan 2013). While acquainting this idea with China, Wang Huning contends that culture isn't as it were the establishment for setting strategies, yet in addition a capacity to impact people of different nations, which set the tone for this school of considerations.