We Have Lost Our Soft Power

[shakatany]

I just finished reading this fascinating article "The Bell Doth Toll for Him Who Thinks it Doth": Hezbolah, Israel, and the beginning of World War III" by Clay Jenkinson in The Bismarck Tribune. In it he writes: At the moment, when the globe's only superpower's moral authority is more urgently needed than at any previous time in our history, we have lost so much credibility that even our closest friends are troubled, or ashamed, or outraged by our behavior. Nations have two types of power: hard power (the military) and soft power (the attractiveness of the nation's values, lifestyle, behavior, and leadership style).

"Soft power," says the dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, Joseph Nye, "is the ability to get what you want by attracting and persuading others to adopt your goals." Every country whose trust and collaboration we need has lost respect for the United States for our conduct over the last four years. If we had worked to increase, not dissipate, our soft power since 9/11, we just might be able to lead the nations of the Middle East toward some sort of resolution of their tragic struggle. As things stand, we are regarded as an exacerbator of the problems of the region, and nobody regards us as a disinterested arbiter. We are, even by our friends, seen as an imperial bully, aided in the region (some say led by the nose) by our imperial client state, Israel.

Once upon a time we had plenty of soft power. Six years of Dubya and his cronies have wasted that leaving us with but one recourse and hard power is rarely a permanent solution to the world's problems.

Comments

[lit-gal.livejournal.com]

Oh man, this is entirely too true. I'm embarrassed to be American at this point. We have bullied and pushed our way into places we shouldn't be, and reinforced every bad cliche and stereotype that the world holds. *hangs head in shame*

[shakatany.livejournal.com]

Our beloved (yeah right) leader now says it will be up to his successors to clean his mess up. We've lost our way (actually we've been led far astray) and I don't know how we'll find our way back to an America we can be proud of. We've damaged our standing in the world so badly that it might take a generation or two if at all.

Shakatany