Public diplomacy – the art of rallying a foreign audience behind a nation’s interests – used to be about attracting support through charm, values and cultural exports. It is what political scientist ...

Power is the ability to get others to do what you want. That can be accomplished by coercion (“sticks”), payment (“carrots”) or attraction (“honey”). The first two methods are forms of hard power; ...

“The strong do what they will, the weak suffer what they must.” So wrote Thucydides in the “History of the Peloponnesian War,” and the Greek historian’s cold-eyed observation still holds. But in today ...

President Donald Trump has never been a fan of soft power. He much prefers the hard stuff: tough diplomacy, throwing around the weight of American might. In keeping with this ethos, Trump has made ...

Earlier this month the United Kingdom government launched an inquiry into the country’s soft power – that is, its tools of attraction and cultural influence. Soft power is an elusive form of influence ...

Nye, who coined the term “soft power”, has died at the age of 88. Here in full is his article from Monocle’s June 2025 issue. Joseph S Nye, who popularised the term “soft power”, on what it means in ...

You’ve probably heard of “soft power.” The word “soft” has many connotations, among them “feeble” or “weak.” Softness also denotes gentleness, kindness, tenderness, so the term, “soft power” may seem ...

Foreign Policy is a global affairs magazine offering diverse perspectives on issues shaping nations and the world. One of the more striking features of the Trump administration’s approach to foreign ...

This issue is preventing our website from loading properly. Please review the following troubleshooting tips or contact us at [email protected]. Essay: Soft Power Is Making a Hard Return Create an FP ...

Last week, with uncertainty raging over whether the US would join Israel in striking Iran, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto delivered an elegy for a soft-power Europe that looked stranded in a ...