To what extent are these two forms of power (soft and hard power) are interacting ?

Introduction

The use of power can take various forms. The theorist and analyst Joseph Nye has defined in 1989 the two main forms of power, which are soft power and hard power. We will wonder : to what extent are these two forms of power interacting ? To answer this question, we will use a recent article written by Joseph Nye in the New York Times in 2020, then an academic essay from 2014 and two drawings. Finally, we will look at a speech by Joe Biden in 2021. We will first study the use of soft power by defining the term, comparing Trump's diplomacy to traditional diplomacy and highlighting the decline of American soft power. Then, we will question the meaning of hard power and the way the United States applies it.

I - Soft power

A - Definition

So, Joseph Nye is the pionnier of the theory of soft power put forward in 1989.

Document 2 clearly defines the concept of soft power : it mentions Joseph Nye and his notion of "soft power", which is a persuasive approach to international relations, in order to influence and shape international relations in one's favor by means other than coercion. This generally implies the use of intangible resources, as soft power takes a relatively long time to build and implement, and sometimes develops over several years.

It is often based on the consent of populations. In short, soft power is a geopolitical tool used by states to influence their cultural model in the world through the favorable prejudices it enjoys. This can be done through culture, films with Hollywood, ideology, institutions for example, i.e. everything that emanates from culture in general. It is a strategic tool used by many governments without the use of force.

B - Trump’s diplomacy VS traditional diplomacy

Trump’s term (former U.S. president from 2017 to 2021) has been characterized by a foreign policy doctrine of accentuating hard power and moving it to a more extreme form. However, this policy appears to be a departure from the traditional American diplomacy of several decades ago.

This idea can be reinforced by document 4, which shows a rather caricatured image of Trump's policy : it shows a golf club but instead of golf clubs, they are tools or even weapons. On the golf club it says, “Trump's foreign policy.” The choice of golf is to be taken into account because it is his favorite hobby. This can be interpreted as the use of force through weapons in Donald Trump's foreign policy which seems to be at the expense of diplomacy (Note that the unused and broken diplomacy is in the bin in the drawing).

Then, according to document 1, if Trump claims that he has made “America great again”, it seems in reality that the former president has lost all credibility one year after his election. Indeed Joseph Nye explains that soft power is the most powerful way to attract others and that it is not necessary to use force and that this is what makes the US powerful and what most previous presidents understood. But he argues that under Trump, his administration has focused mostly on hard power by isolating itself from others rather than promoting international relations : this is called unilateralism. So there is indeed a break between Trump's diplomacy and traditional diplomacy.

However, we can add that traditional diplomacy is expected to be revived by newly elected U.S. President Joe Biden in 2021. In his speech on America's place in the world (doc 5), he announced a return to diplomacy on the international scene and noted that alliances had been neglected in recent years. It is therefore necessary, according to him, to rely on diplomacy because it is what makes the US powerful. He says : “Diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy”. This means that it puts diplomacy at the heart of its foreign policy

Transition

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