soft power

English

Etymology

Coined by American political scientist Joseph Nye in the late 1980s and popularized in the 1990 book “Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power”.

Noun

soft power (countable and uncountable, plural soft powers)

1. (politics) Political influence that is extended by means of diplomacy, media, international assistance, cultural exchanges, etc., rather than by such "hard" means as military intervention or punitive economic measures.
   • 1999 March 8, Joseph S. Nye Jr., “The Challenge of Soft Power”, in Time:

     Soft power is a country's cultural and ideological appeal. It is the ability to get desired outcomes through attraction instead of force.

   • 2007 May 23, Jim Yardley, “Blocked by U.S., China finds it own way to space”, in New York Times, retrieved 16 July 2011:

     The bank often provides the hard currency for Chinese soft power aspirations: In Africa, China ExIm has handed out more than $7 billion in loans in recent years.

   • 2011 January 8, “More Indian cultural centres to showcase soft power: PM”, in Indiaweb123.com, retrieved 16 July 2011:

     India will set up cultural centres in five more countries to showcase its soft power and acquire a global footprint for its rich diversity, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here Saturday.

   • 2024 April 1, David Pierson, “The Bizarre Chinese Murder Plot Behind Netflix’s ‘3 Body Problem’”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     His bid to popularize Mr. Liu’s novels was a rare attempt to export Chinese popular culture — something that has eluded China as its government yearns to wield the same soft power the United States commands with its movies, music and sports stars.

   • 2024 July 25, Jason Farago, “Why the Olympics’ Parade of Nations Is the World’s Costume Party”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     But for all its contemporary soft power — the “Emily in Paris” tie-in, the medals displayed in Louis Vuitton trunks — these Paris Olympics will also be a throwback.

2. A state having this kind of power.

Translations

political influence that is extended by means of diplomacy, international assistance, cultural exchanges, etc.

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: القُوَّة النَّاعِمَة f (al-quwwa(t) an-nāʕima)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: yumşaq güc
• Belarusian: мяккая сіла f (mjakkaja sila)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 軟實力／软实力 (zh) (ruǎnshílì)

• Danish: blød magt c
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: pehmeä valta
• French: soft power (fr) m, puissance douce f
• Georgian: რბილი ძალა (rbili ʒala)
• German: Soft Power f, weiche Macht f
• Hungarian: please add this translation if you can
• Indonesian: kekuatan lunak, kekuasaan lunak
• Japanese: ソフト・パワー (sofuto-pawā)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: kuasa lunak, kuasa lembut
• Polish: no equivalent term in Polish, but see siła (pl) f
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: putere moale f
• Russian: мя́гкая си́ла (ru) f (mjáxkaja síla), мя́гкая власть f (mjáxkaja vlastʹ)
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: poder blando m
• Swedish: mjuk makt c
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can

See also

• hard power
• smart power
• sharp power

Further reading

• soft power on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “soft power”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• wetproofs