Joseph Nye Soft Power

In the 18th Century, Thomas Jefferson stated, “the less we use our power, the greater it will be” and this concept was echoed over 200 years later by Joseph Nye in his 2004 book, “Soft power”. This essay will delve into the effectiveness of Nye’s concept of “soft power” in 21st century international relations, highlighting the cases of its use in the process.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, power is defined as “The capacity or ability to direct or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events.” However in international relations the concept of “power” has been split into three; hard power, soft power, and smart power.
Before we begin discussing the effectiveness of “soft power” we must first understand what it is, and to understand
One notorious example is the “marshall plan”. The marshall plan was a strategy used by the United States after World War 2, supplying billions of dollars of aid into Western Europe – in hopes of preventing influence from the communist regime. In addition to financial support, humanitarian aid was also supplied. This act of giving aid after the poverty and destruction of World War 2 allowed the foreign populations (Europe) to be in preference to democracy (America) rather than communism. It can be argued the fall of communism was due to the marshall plan, as the European countries needed to support communism did not support it. Still to this day the European countries still trade, as well as side with America.
Another key example of soft power globally is the educational exchange program. The united states has used an exchange program for 100,000 people … this highlights the effectiveness of soft power, not only does it spread the message of the country to the host country, it allows the host country to spread their influence. This was shown when Vladimir Putin ordered all diplomats of Russia to bring their children back from international education as they were being educated by “the