THE SOFT POWER CONCEPT - A STRATEGY FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
THE SOFT POWER CONCEPT - A STRATEGY FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Author(s): Andra-Ioana Pînzariu
Subject(s): Government/Political systems, International relations/trade, Security and defense
Published by: Carol I National Defence University Publishing House
Summary/Abstract: In the theory of International Relations, the notion of “power” is the starting point of most of the conceptions of political thinking, being the basic category that determines the state’s behaviour in its external relations. The power of a state on the international arena consists, first of all, in the ability to influence the behaviour of another state in the desired direction, the ability to establish different forms of state dependence on one another: direct dependencies, using military force, or indirect dependencies, by the method of convincing or offering advantages through the economic element. Both of these strategies are considered part of the concept of hard power. Though the military and economic force are maintaining their importance, the main global transformations are related to the use of non-military parameters of power. Therefore, to the elements of hard power there was a need to add the concept of soft power, the ability to convince and attract in a positive manner. Soft power embeds the cultural, ideological and institutional force of a state. In this respect, we are going to overview and analyse the concept of soft power and its development over the years.

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