Joseph Nye, the distinguished Harvard Kennedy School Professor of International Relations, who coined and conceptualized ‘Soft Power’, died recently at the age of 88.
Soft Power is an insightful concept and a critical matrix in the increasingly complex realm of global politics where countries vie for influence at multiple levels – economic, military, technology, ease of doing business, prosperity, human development, cultural etc. It extends from the stadium to the move studio, and from the workshop to the laboratory.
A country’s soft power could be its cinema, sports, music, literature, civilizational ethos, network of government sponsored language schools, tourism, cuisines, or anything that attracts non-citizens. It could even be the allure of open markets and the pursuit of freedom & individual liberty, or the strength of its passports of convertibility of its currency.
In contrast to hard power, which is narrowly limited to military might, soft power is more abstract, amorphous, open ended, and multi-variate, but it plays an outsized role in shaping global perceptions.
Bollywood, IT, and Yoga could be considered three most successful instruments of Indian soft power overseas, just like Hollywood, pop /rock/ rap music, literature, and the culture of innovation is the soft power of USA.
The melodies and rhythms of Hindustani classical music has successfully influenced western musicians including the Beatles. India’s soft power has been across the domains of the numinous as well as the temporal, with glorious tributes written about Kashi, said to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world.
Pax Indica
Nye also coined the term ‘Smart Power’, which he described as ‘the ability to combine hard and soft power to achieve desired outcomes’.
India, an ancient fountainhead of civilization, is a repository of immense cultural diversity, vibrant heritage, dozens of languages, and ancient philosophy. It’s a unique mosaic where tradition meets modernity, and the mundane and the magical co-exist.
American author Mark Twain famously described India as “the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great-grandmother of tradition”.
The country today is the world’s fourth largest market and an emerging economy, which is making strides in all avenues. As per recent reports by World Bank this year, India has ranked higher in HDI for the first time since 1990, and over the last decade millions of people have been pulled out of poverty.
“Between 2011-12 and 2022-23, the extreme poverty rate in India plummeted from 16.2% to 2.3%, lifting 171 million people out of poverty”, says the report.
From launching Mars missions on shoestring budgets to exporting software-as-a-service to the world, India is slowly but certainly moving up the value chain in production and claiming its place in the world.
The Great Divide
The contrast with the trajectory of Pakistan, born out of the throes of partition of British India in 1947, could not have been starker.
India today has managed a combination of military might( hard power), technological edge, situational awareness, in situ real-time reconnaissance and diplomatic and other outreach, as the recently concluded Free Trade Agreement with the UK symbolizes.
In 2017, the journalist Myra MacDonald wrote a book ‘Defeat is an Orphan’ on the widening gulf between India and Pakistan in terms of economic strength, global ties, and how the two can no longer be hyphenated. Seems like now the ‘Orphan’ is further beleaguered.
The outpour of global solidarity against terrorism in the wake of India’s calibrated Operation Sindoor only affirms to the rise of India’s stature as a responsible power in the comity of nations.
New Delhi may have abandoned strategic ambiguity regarding Pakistan, but strategic restraint and coherence of statecraft remains her strengths.
According to a recent article in Fortune India magazine, the gap between Indian stock exchanges and Pakistan’s benchmark index, listed in Karachi, is simply astounding. Infosys alone is worth more than over 476 Pakistani listed companies in terms of market capitalization.
India needs to transmute this hard economic strength into diplomatic clout, greater soft power projection, and resolute global decision-making.
Pakistan, if it ever aspires to be a normal state, needs to wean off from Fauji Foundation’s cereals, gain trust and confidence, enhance reputation, and forfeit magnificent delusions.
India should boost cross-cultural exchanges with friendly nations, export the success story of India Inc, as well as the civilizational continuum more assertively. The country has long been a magnet for spiritual seekers, fun-loving hippies, as well the intrepid backpackers and off-roaders. Tourism is another sector that we should look at promoting in this age of Instagram reels induced wanderlust.
