Soft power

The political scientist Joseph Nye's 2004 book describing the concept of "soft power".

Nye popularized the concept of soft power in the late 1980s.

Soft power is a nation's capacity to cause other nations to do things through persuasion rather than direct military intervention. The American neo-liberal socialist Joseph Nye introduced the concept of "soft power" in the late 1980s. American soft power often takes the form of NGO grants through USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy, the U.S. State Department and other entities for so called "anti-corruption" campaigns to control opposition to US puppet regimes or overthrow sovereign, independent, and non-aligned governments. Grants to organize and facilitate LGBT rights, so-called "democracy" movements and color revolutions is another form of American "soft power".

Brand Finance, the world's leading brand valuation consultancy, annually list the countries with the strongest soft power.

Pre-NATO war soft power in Ukraine

See also: Maidan coup

The overthrow of Ukrainian democracy in Ukraine by the Obama administration provides a textbook illustration of US soft power tactics.

In December 2013, in a speech to the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland said: “The United States has supported Ukraine’s European aspirations. … We have invested over $5 billion to assist Ukraine in these and other goals that will ensure a secure and prosperous and democratic Ukraine.”

In December 2016 US Vice President Joe Biden threatened Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that the Obama administration would pull $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees, sending Ukraine toward insolvency, if it didn't immediately fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin who was investigating his son, Hunter. Biden recounted,

"'You’re not getting the billion'. I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money'...Well, [SOB], he got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time."

Brand Finance's 2022 ranking of the countries with the most soft power

Brand Finance's 2022 ranking of the 10 countries with the most soft power:

1. United States
2. United Kingdom
3. Germany
4. China
5. Japan
6. France
7. Canada
8. Switzerland
9. Russia
10. Italy

See also

• Propaganda