De-Americanizing Soft Power

Abstract

It is no coincidence that the discourse on soft power should have emerged in the United States, the world’s most powerful country in economic, political, and military terms. Its hard power is expressed in its more than 1,000 military bases across the globe and its enormous defense budget ($852 billion in 2012), spending more than the 17 next countries combined. It is American hard power which impacts on many countries and helps to spread the American way of life, promoted through its formidable soft power reserves—from Hollywood entertainment giants to the digital empires of the Internet age. As Nye has remarked, US culture “from Hollywood to Harvard—has greater global reach than any other” (Nye, 2004b: 7). In terms of non-state soft power, the United States is also home to the world’s highest ranking corporations, best-known think tanks, top nongovernmental organizations, and, crucially, Ivy League universities, with an innovative and sophisticated research and development record unsurpassed by any other country.