BOOK REVIEW US smart power falters in information age The Future of Power by Joseph S Nye Jr
Reviewed by Shiran Shen
In his new book The Future of Power, co-founder of neo-liberalism theory
Joseph S Nye outlines a synthesis of his more than two decades of scholarship
on the future of world power politics.
Nye explains how power works and how it is changing under the conditions of a
burgeoning revolution in information technology, globalization, and the return
of Asia in the 21st century. Based on an understanding of power and its
changing landscape internationally, Nye endeavors to discredit the popular
conception of a declining America despite the resurgence of China and India in
the 21st century by suggesting that the United States should employ a smart
power strategy that combines hard power and
soft power to maintain its global leadership role.
Power is the ability to alter others' behavior to produce preferred outcomes.
It is not good or bad per se. Like calories in a diet, more is not always
better. There are two major types of power in international relations: hard
power and soft power. Hard power implies coercion while soft power allows us to
obtain preferred outcomes through co-option.
Hard power is push; soft power is pull. As we progress through the 21st
century, Nye suggests that the utility of military force is declining; instead,
soft power will play a larger role in international relations. Since attraction
and persuasion are socially constructed, soft power is a dance that requires
partners, which makes it difficult to wield and maintain. Sanctions combine
both hard power and soft power. Because sanctions are the only relatively
inexpensive policy option, they are likely to remain a major instrument of
power in the 21st century despite their mixed record.
The two major trends of power shift in the 21st century are a power transition
among states and a power diffusion away from all states to non-state actors.
Nye predicts that the classical transition of power among great states may be
less of a problem than the rise of non-state actors. In an information-based
world of cyber-insecurity, power diffusion may be a greater threat than power
transition. Conventional wisdom has always held that the state with the largest
military prevails, but in an information age it may be the state (or
non-states) with the most favorable presentation that wins.
In a century marked by global information and a diffusion of power to non-state
actors, soft power will become an increasingly important part of smart power
strategies. Nye warns that government efforts to project soft power will have
to accept that power is less hierarchical in an information age and that social
networks have become more important. Leaders need to think of themselves as
being in a circle rather than atop a mountain.
Based on his analysis of how power works, Nye casts serious doubt that America
is in precipitous decline and endeavors to dismiss this popular conception
through a sober and rigorous analysis of the power resources the United States
possesses and is able to possess through a smart power strategy.
Becoming less dominant on the international stage is not a narrative of
decline. The United States, he argues, needs a liberal realist strategy to cope
with "the rise of the rest" among both states and non-state actors; that is,
the US needs to rediscover how to be a smart power.
Furthermore, it is not enough to think in terms of power over others. We must
also think in terms of power to accomplish goals that involves power with
others. The problem of American power in the 21st century is not one of decline
but of a failure to realize that even the largest country cannot achieve its
goals of both national and international significance without the help of
others.
With all due respect to the book for its clarity and depth, Nye does not
explicitly explain the more fundamental goal of acquiring or maintaining power.
Hard power, soft power, and smart power, which are explained in length and
depth, are just tactics.
The book's title is The Future of Power, but the book is more tilted
toward explaining power from the vantage point of the United States. Other
governments in the world may see things differently, which the book does not
adequately address. Otherwise, this book will make a good resource for teaching
realism in international politics at the introductory and intermediate levels.
The Future of Power by Joseph S Nye Jr. PublicAffairs; 1 edition
(February 1, 2011). ISBN-10: 1586488910. Price US$27.99, 320 pages.
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
Hard power is push; soft power is pull. As we progress through the 21st
century, Nye suggests that the utility of military force is declining; instead,
soft power will play a larger role in international relations. Since attraction
and persuasion are socially constructed, soft power is a dance that requires
partners, which makes it difficult to wield and maintain. Sanctions combine
both hard power and soft power. Because sanctions are the only relatively
inexpensive policy option, they are likely to remain a major instrument of
power in the 21st century despite their mixed record.
