A Study Of Joseph S.Nye's "Soft Power"

clearly set out the"soft power".Soft power is an important idea in the theory of international relations today,which has a profound impact on the United States and the world of international relations.Joseph Nye's idea of soft power arised from 1990s,as a response to a"decline theory"of the United States,occuping an important position at the history of international relations of the United States and the world largely.His idea of soft power has aroused the concerns of academics,the research results quite good,but the academic less thought about Joseph S.Nye's soft power on the research of the time background and root causes of the ideology.Therefore,the main idea of paper will discuss the appearance of Joseph S.Nye's soft power from the time background and root causes of the ideology,and exponding easily Joseph S.Nye's main idea of the contents,and finally giving a comprehensive evaluation on the idea of Joseph S.Nye's soft power from the both aspects of the rationality and the limitations.The preface introduces Joseph S.Nye concisely,states research background,the significance of choice,the main method,and the current situation as well as the existing problems at home or abroad.The first part mainly explains the time background and the source of thought of the formation of Joseph S.Nye 's soft power.Theory originates from reality,and the thought of soft power is the product of the changing of international political realities.The wave of globalization not only profoundly changes the course of economic development of mankind,but also influences the cultural life of mankind tremendously.At the same time,the interdependence of the era of globalization makes the domestic affairs and international affairs gradually diluting,interactions and effects.It makes domestic forces and international forces intertwine,and it will make the world link together closely.The development of traditional theory of international relations has effectively promoted the generation of the idea of soft power.The end of the cold war caused the long-term dominant realism into a momentary embarrassment in the study of international relations,resulting in a theoretical vacuum since World War II,Which directly stimulated the return of cultural theory in the study of international relations.The generation of soft power was precisely in response to the international politics of these profound changes.It developed the concept of traditional power, which hard power was as the core. It provided a new perspective for studying international relations.The generation of soft power is also the required of the development of international strategy of the United States.In order to maintain the hegemonic status of the United States,the soft power theory emerged,aimed at the relative strengths of the United States in the fall and damage the international image of how to make up for missing cases,the maintenance of hegemony provides a theoretical basis for policy advice and made for the traditional theory of hegemony were added and improved. In the world,with the end of the Cold War and the development of the information revolution,especially the"9.11"years,world politics has changed dramatically,and many global issues and cross-border relations have become increasingly serious.The idea of soft power is a relatively young idea,but it is not a new concept.From the entire history of international relations theory,Thucydides'enlightenment and Gramsci's traditional thought was very important for the study of ideal of soft power.They and other schools of international relations theory,such as the international community school,theory of international mechanisms,constructivism and so on,co-enriched and developed the idea of soft power.The second part mainly concerns the main contents of Joseph S.Nye 's soft power,including the concept of soft power,sources and classification,as well as the characteristics of soft power.Soft power is in terms of hard power,and they interrelate each other.Therefore,this article mainly examine the meaning of soft power through hard power.To sum up,soft power is the ability to secure those outcomes through attraction rather than coercion.It is the ability to shape what others want.The article summarized the idea of Joseph S.Nye 's soft power as a cultural attraction,the attraction of political values,foreign policy and to shape international rules and the ability to decide political issues and so on.The third part is mainly a comprehensive evaluation from the both aspects of the rationality and the limitations on the idea of Joseph S.Nye 's soft power.Soft power is an academic innovation with important rationale and practical significance.It not only contributes the United States to achieve its foreign policy goal,but also provides a new perspective on interpretation of the power.In this perspective,the soft power as the other side of the power play a role that the traditional hard power can not be replaced.However,the idea of soft power is still a premature idea,it does not be able to explain all the international political reality.Therefore,the idea of soft power at the beginning stage of its development there is bound to be some limitations.First,the relationship between soft power and hard power are rather ambiguous;Second,the source of soft power is not integrity;Third,it can not be measured in the size of soft power; Fourth,soft power has a strong dependence to hard power.Joseph S.Nye made the idea of soft power,its influence and significance is not just the contributions to the system of international relations and international political and theoretical,but it provides a strategic direction in the maintenance and the development of U.S.hegemony,at the same time,it also promotes other countries the development of soft power.Joseph S.Nye 's soft power provides an important perspectives that analysis country's status in the international arena of power,which lead people to go focus on those abstract and non-material factors of power,including cultural attractions,values and attraction of political system,as well as to shape the international rules or the creation of the capacity of the international agenda and so on.But Nye divided power into two easily,there is no clear definition of the relationship between soft power and hard power , which has limitations on soft power inevitably.Nevertheless,as an idea that analysis international relations,his idea of soft power is still to be able to give us a lot of useful inspiration.We need to recognize the concept of soft power,source,content and features,exploring the value of soft power,in order to find the source of China's soft power,then making the soft power play a role in the China's"peaceful rise".