New Russian Ideology ": Russia's Soft Power Is A Fundamental Resource

Soft power, unlike the traditional hard power which is mainly supported by the military strength, is another side of a nation's power. As globalization develops, soft power plays a more and more important role in the competition among the nations. Starting from the notion of power, this essay explains what is soft power, what is its resources, the way it works and its result. Then, I point out that the political values is the fundamental resource of a nation's soft power, because it decides the way the nation develops, and how it sees itself and the outside world. If accepted, the political values can not only unite the society and people from various walks of life and ethnical groups, but also spread outside and turn into attraction.For Russia, the fundamental resource of its soft power is"the new Russian idea"brought up by former president Putin. It has become the de facto political value of the Russian government and this will not change in next 10 years. The Russian idea is a term that has special meanings in Russian language. Although it was first coined by a Russian intellectual, it is actually a clue that goes through the whole history of the Russian people and the nation. Its essence lies in what position the Russian people is at in the big human being family, what their special characters are and where it should go. For the Russians, the difficulty with answering this question is due to its special position on the map. Here, the east and the west meet and clash. People here have always been confused about who they are, where we belong and where we should go. These questions are asked constantly but an ultimate answer has never been found. Russia had a really debatable communist period and a rather painful westernization during the 1990s, as the new millennium comes, people start to think about these questions again. This time, the result is the new Russian idea. It is a combination of traditional Russian values and the universal values, a mix of western experience and lessons they have learned during the last 10 years.The new Russian idea has not only united the Russian society, but also deeply shaped the way the country developed during the last 10 years. Just as the new Russian idea is a combination, policies the Russian government has taken in politics, economy, foreign policy and ideology are also a mixture of western experience and Russian historical characters and the national conditions.