This paper subjects Joseph Nye’s advocacy of soft power (recently repackaged as ‘smart’ power) to critical scrutiny, and reflects on the implications for US global leadership.

It shows that Nye’s position is far from multilateralist, still insisting as it does on hard power supremacy and the need for America to lead. It then argues that the case made is weak, both in theory (because of a misuse of collective action theory) and in practice (because of the evidence he himself provides that America is unable to provide constructive, co-operative leadership).

It concludes that the best contribution that America could make to global stability would be to relinquish the claim to leadership, not only in cases where it is at odds with the international community, or widely seen as itself the source of instability, but particularly in cases where shared perspectives regarding common goals and approaches do exist.

Smart Power and US Leadership: A Critique of Joseph Nye
Paul Cammack

Joseph Nye’s much reiterated insistence on the importance of ‘soft power’ is invariably deployed to support the argument that in the absence of a credible alternative the United States can and must lead in global affairs in the twenty-first century world. He has argued consistently over two decades, and continues to argue today, that the US remains unchallenged in terms of ‘hard’ power (military and economic strength combined), but that because hard power alone is insufficient it must be married to ‘power over opinion’ (the power to persuade others to want what the US wants).

Recent formulations in terms of ‘smart power’ are partly presentational (‘smart’ being easier to sell to public and policy-makers alike than ‘soft’); at the same time, Nye uses the term ‘smart power’ to make the point that soft power must be backed by hard power. ...

Download Smart Power and US Leadership: A Critique of Joseph Nye

PDF format, 295KB, 18Pages.

REFERENCING DETAILS:
Cammack, Paul (2008), “Smart Power and US Leadership: A Critique of Joseph Nye”, 49th Parallel, Vol. 22 (Autumn), pp.4–20
Available at : www.49thparallel.bham.ac.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Cammack teaches at Manchester Metropolitan University, where he is Head of the Department of Politics and Philosophy. His recent work is on the governance of global capitalism [ www.politicsofglobalcompetitiveness.net ].

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Comment

smaller | bigger

Add Comment