How to Bring Back US Soft Power?

US soft power, the ability to get what you want not by using coercion or payments, but by attraction and persuasion, had a hard time during Donald Trump’s presidency. It is now facing both internal and external challenges — repairing the damage done by Trump and internal issues including democratic decline and political polarization, on the one hand, and external illiberal challenges, on the other.

Contributing authors to this volume have a firm belief in the importance and resuscitation of US soft power. How to bring it back? The authors underscore the crucial importance of civil society and private sources of soft power, such as Hollywood movies, the charitable work of US foundations, freedom of inquiry at universities, companies, churches and protest movements, particularly in the age of social media, which represent the persistent resilience of US attractiveness, regardless of government policies.

The book has three parts. The first deals with the role of soft power in both the theory and practice of US foreign policy from a macro perspective, while the second and third parts address the role of soft power in specific areas of US foreign policy such as counterterrorism, security, the economy and trade, culture, and cyber diplomacy — as well as selected bilateral or multilateral US relationships. In particular, Nancy Snow and Liwen Zhang, who examine the meaning of soft power in Sino-us relations, argue that soft power does not necessarily lead to a zerosum game, as often assumed by global media. The two have the potential to overcome challenges and move towards mutually beneficial relations.

Soft Power and the Future of US Foreign Policy

Edited by Hendrik W. Ohnesorge

Manchester University Press, 2023, 280 pages, $126.25 (Hardcover)