“Traditionally the test of a great power was its strength in war. Today, however, the definition of power is losing its emphasis on military force and conquest that marked earlier eras,” Joseph Nye, the distinguished scholar of international relations, wrote in a 1990 Foreign Policy essay that introduced the world to the idea of “soft power.”
Nye, who died at 88 last week, championed this form of power—or the ability to change other nations’ behavior through attraction and persuasion—throughout his career. He believed that the United States had unique ideological, cultural, and institutional resources that would allow it to lead a post-Cold War era. As recently as last fall, he wrote an article in FP urging the next U.S. president not to neglect this crucial asset.
Yet, as Suzanne Nossel writes in an essay on his life and work, “the foundations of the belief system that Nye helped construct have corroded beyond repair.” In today’s world, U.S. soft power is no longer a given. This edition of the Reading List considers Nye’s legacy, features some of his work in FP, and explores how U.S. soft power is changing.—Chloe Hadavas
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