Joseph Nye’s Death Marks the End of an Era for U.S. Soft Power

“Traditionally the test of a great power was its strength in war. Today, however, the definition of power is losing its emphasis on military force and conquest that marked earlier eras,” Joseph Nye, the distinguished scholar of international relations, wrote in a 1990 Foreign Policy essay that introduced the world to the idea of “soft power.”

Nye, who died at 88 last week, championed this form of power—or the ability to change other nations’ behavior through attraction and persuasion—throughout his career. He believed that the United States had unique ideological, cultural, and institutional resources that would allow it to lead a post-Cold War era. As recently as last fall, he wrote an article in FP urging the next U.S. president not to neglect this crucial asset.

“Traditionally the test of a great power was its strength in war. Today, however, the definition of power is losing its emphasis on military force and conquest that marked earlier eras,” Joseph Nye, the distinguished scholar of international relations, wrote in a 1990 Foreign Policy essay that introduced the world to the idea of “soft power.”

Nye, who died at 88 last week, championed this form of power—or the ability to change other nations’ behavior through attraction and persuasion—throughout his career. He believed that the United States had unique ideological, cultural, and institutional resources that would allow it to lead a post-Cold War era. As recently as last fall, he wrote an article in FP urging the next U.S. president not to neglect this crucial asset.

Yet, as Suzanne Nossel writes in an essay on his life and work, “the foundations of the belief system that Nye helped construct have corroded beyond repair.” In today’s world, U.S. soft power is no longer a given. This edition of the Reading List considers Nye’s legacy, features some of his work in FP, and explores how U.S. soft power is changing.

Joseph Nye Was the Champion of a World That No Longer Exists

The distinguished scholar, who coined “soft power,” shaped five decades of U.S. foreign policy, Suzanne Nossel writes.

Foreign Policy

Soft Power

Joseph S. Nye Jr. explains a key power resource in this essay from 1990.

Nye (left) alongside then-Harvard University President Lawrence Summers and former U.S. President Bill Clinton during a speech by Clinton to Harvard students in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Nov. 19, 2001. Darren McCollester/Getty Images

Invest in Soft Power

When you are attractive, you can economize on sticks and carrots, Joseph S. Nye Jr. writes.

Examples of soft power around the world, including (clockwise from right) a panda, a dancer from the Bollywood movie “Monsoon Wedding,” a NAFO Shiba Inu avatar, the K-pop group BTS, and Olympic sprinter Jesse Owens.Foreign Policy illustration/Getty Images, Alamy, and NAFO photos

Soft Power Is Making a Hard Return

Leaders are reaching for fellas and films as much as bullets and blockades, J. Alex Tarquinio writes.

An image from the opening scenes of 3 Body Problem. Netflix

America’s New Expression of Soft Power

Shogun and 3 Body Problem show U.S. pop culture can thrive without putting Westerners front and center, FP’s Howard W. French writes.