While it is generally agreed upon that globalization has not yet lead to a completely homogenized culture, there continues to be concern that nations with the strongest forms of soft power could persuade other nations to join them or directly oppose them. This carries over from the topics of my last post in that without legitimacy soft power efforts are ineffective. For example, Nye explains that while China has outwardly made attempts to increase its soft power, even declaring it as a necessity at their 17^th congress of the communist party, it ultimately seems to be failing (3). This is because the cultural narrative the government is trying to propagate is not inline with the domestic realities of its population.

Soft power efforts can also struggle because despite fears of technology as a tool for surveillance, in many ways technology and the Internet has actually decentralized power and given it back to members of a civil society. This means that government attempts to project an idealistic image to foreigners in order to gain soft power can more easily be shattered as citizens create their own blogs, videos, and other forms of public media that can expose the realities of a country. While access to the Internet is not a reality for all people, it’s not secret that information sharing has become easier. This is important to note as Nye points out that Soft Power is actually primarily lead by individuals, the private sector, and the actions of a civil society as whole (5). That is to say that is to say that to be convinced of the desirability of a nation, the common folk need to back up with what the government is putting forward about them. This also ties in with the fact that people may be losing their sense of national identities as more options self-declared options for identity open up to them.

Huntington argues that as time goes on there will be more conflicts against civilizations rather than nation states themselves. His article was published in 1993, the same year that the European Union was formed. This could have been a key example in his piece if it had already been a reality at the time, but even without this information he is able to make a strong argument that culture and religion influence similar or opposing core values of various nation states, causing them to either come together or stand in direct opposition (5). However, it is not always that simple. Huntington explains that some nations might prefer to make changes in order to become more appealing to those in positions of power, predominately the western world, where as others may prefer to attempt to modernize without westernizing. A key part of Huntington’s argument appears to rest in that certain civilizations, primarily those based in differing religious beliefs and intensities, will always be at odds. An article by Brooks, written over a decade later, actually states that even those in countries with similar religions and cultures appear to declare with identity as related to their nation and desire to maintain their own independence. He also speaks of the desire for human rights from these non-western countries that appear to be ‘at odds’ with traditional values. This updated point of view seems in hand with the perspective of transformationalists as described by Movius (7). It also supports what Huntington claims has only been done by Japan up until that point, which is that countries can modernize, without being westernized (16).

However, Hungtington does have some good points in his declaration about divided civilizations in that Turkey, Russia, and Mexico have attempted to change and acclimate without the acceptance of the dominate culture (12). This shows that there is still a distinct otherness perpetuated by civilizations in power and that they do want to see those others acclimate to their values. It is for these reasons that his claims about the Confucian-Islam connections do make sense as a potential example of, “The West versus The Rest” (13). However, if China does want to gain respect from the Western world and benefit from its current economic power, they would do best not to associate to strongly with the “perceived enemy” of the modern western paradigm. Either way, it is clear that China itself is gaining economic power, but without much desirability of other nations already in power due to its differences in culture, political views and foreign policies. There is certainly something to be said for the power of persuasion, but foundations for believability must be in place.

Brooks, David. “Huntington’s Clash Revisted”. New York Times, New York City, 2011.

Huntington, Samuel. “The Clash of Civilizations”. New York: Touchstone, 1997.

Movius, Lauren. “Cultural Globalization and Challenges to Traditional Theories”. PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication 2(1), Melbourne, 2010, pp. 6-18.

Nye, Joseph. “The Information Revolution and Soft Power”. Current History 113(759), Cambridge, 2014, pp. 19-22.