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Anders als die USA können weder die Europäische Union noch einzelne EU-Mitgliedsstaaten als sicherheitspolitisch relevante Mächte in Asien gelten. In ihren Gemeinschaftsverträgen hat sich die EU allerdings die Verpflichtung zur normativ ausgerichteten Gestaltung ihrer Außenbeziehungen auferlegt. Ihre Wirkung als Ideengeber und soft power spiegelt sich insofern im südostasiatischen Regionalismus sowie in asiatischen Diskursen zu Menschenrechten, Fragen der Demokratie und good governance wider. (KAS-Auslandsinformationen / SWP)

The study of soft power in international relations suffers from a liberal democratic bias. Throughout the literature, liberal concepts and values are assumed to be universal in their appeal. This bias has led scholars to underestimate Russian soft power by instrumentalising it, that is, to see it purely as the effect of government-sponsored programmes, and to focus primarily on the cultural pillar of soft power. This paper argues, alternatively, that Russia's conservative values and illiberal governance models generate admiration and followership, even outside of what Russia claims to be its post-Soviet sphere of influence. Crucially, this admiration and followership perform the traditional function of soft power: generating support for controversial Russian foreign policy decisions. Admitting that soft power can be based on conservative values is necessary not only to understand Russia's foreign policy potential, but also the ability of non-Western states to challenge successfully the Western liberal order.

Soft power is the ability to affect others to obtain the outcomes one wants through attraction rather than coercion or payment. A country's soft power rests on its resources of culture, values, and policies. A smart power strategy combines hard and soft power resources. Public diplomacy has a long history as a means of promoting a country's soft power and was essential in winning the cold war. The current struggle against transnational terrorism is a struggle to win hearts and minds, and the current overreliance on hard power alone is not the path to success. Public diplomacy is an important tool in the arsenal of smart power, but smart public diplomacy requires an understanding of the roles of credibility, self-criticism, and civil society in generating soft power. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright 2008 The American Academy of Political and Social Science.]

Purpose–Adopting the critical sensemaking (CSM) lens to the micro-level interaction between leader andemployees, the article offers a theoretically informed example of leading with soft power and positive emotionsthat blurs boundaries in democratic organisations. Design/methodology/approach–The research methodology involves videography and interpretiveanalysis of video-recorded interactions that combines focused ethnography with video analysis. The analysisfocuses on face-to-face meeting interactions between a leader and employees in a small service firm. Findings–The findings illustrate how restoring the sense of the democratic organisation is an accumulatingand complex phenomenon where explicit and implicit organisational rules and changing identity positions areenacted by constructing affective loyalties, moral and reflex emotions that serve as soft power capacitieshelping the leader and employees to enact meanings attached to a democratic rather than hierarchicalorganisation. Practical implications–The article provides new insight for human resources practitioners and leaderswho want to build resilient organisations and pay attention to shared, distributed and relational leadershippractices, co-creative work and collective decision-making processes. Originality/value–The power explored in previous sensemaking studies has been power over, which is mostoften associated with the negative aspects of power, such as domination and suppression, in the pursuit ofspecific performance. The applications of videography method linking ethnography and interpretive analysisof video-recorded interactions are still rare in organisation studies. ; final draft ; peerReviewed

This article examines to what extent Turkey's foreign policy identity has transformed from being a 'hard power' to a 'soft power' over the last few years. In doing so, this article also contends that there is a close relationship between the degree of securitisation of issues & whether the power used to deal with them is hard or soft in nature. If issues of concern were securitised, the tendency to use hard power would increase. Another argument is that the main difference between these two types of power stems from the kind of 'logic of action' that governs the behaviour of agents. If an instrumental logic of action were in play, meaning if the goal were to force others to make a cost-benefit analysis through coercing or coaxing strategies, then one could talk about hard power. If the goal were to ensure that others would automatically follow the lead of the power-holder due to the power of attraction the latter has in the eyes of the former, then one could refer to the existence of soft power. The main conclusion of this article is that recent internal & external developments have contributed to Turkey's soft power potential. References. Adapted from the source document.

"'Soft power' emerged as a concept in the late twentieth century to describe international relations based not on military or economic strength, but on influence. While the resources of 'hard power' are tangible--force and finance--soft power resources include ideas, knowledge, values, and culture, as well as the ability to persuade. This volume discusses soft power from the vantage point of museums and demonstrates how they are quietly changing the world. With contributions by thirteen experts from ten countries, Cities, Museums and Soft Power reveals the world's 80,000 museums to be sleeping giants. Two major characteristics of soft power--the rise of cities and the role of civil society--are pushing museums from the margins toward the center as these institutions serve as education hubs, employers, magnets for creative industries, and engines of economic development. Meanwhile, the growth of technological networks and connectivity has enabled this soft power to spread even farther and deeper across the Internet and groups of people. Whether cozy and local or internationally renowned, museums possess a cultural strength that extends far beyond their walls "--

Asymmetrical power relations and India's contested leadership in South Asia are two major impediments to ensuring peace and stability in, and integration of, the region. After having unsuccessfully tested the hard power approach to impose its will in the region, India has turned towards soft power. It now tries to rebuild its positive image in the region and attract more neighbours into a vision of shared prosperity and peace through soft power. This essay presents an overview of the most recent initiatives aimed at improving India's soft power in its neighbourhood and attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of this strategy. It finds that despite some flaws in this approach, it could bring tangible positive effects and has the potential to transform relations in South Asia in the long run.