American Soft Power - America's Image in the World and Its Uses in Foreign Policy Making

elective courses

To make students understand the interdisciplinary nature of international relations: history, culture, communication and policy analysis reinforce one another to produce a comprehensive understanding of the nature of power in the international arena in the 21st century.

Classroom

The goal of the class is to examine the way soft/smart power functions in contemporary world. The analysis of the dynamics of American soft power will introduce us to the theoretical underpinnings of soft power. What will interest us beyond the theoretical analyses as to the sources of soft power are the uses of soft power in a variety of situations. This will lead us to the study of public diplomacy as a way of creating, enhancing, changing, protecting i.e. managing actor’s soft power. We will study particular situations when US soft power became an issue: democracy building, global presence, regional relations, relations with allies and competitors (Russia and China).

The class will have a PRACTICAL/WORKSHOP ASPECT

The goal of the class is to examine the way soft/smart power functions in contemporary world. Our starting and a reference point will be the analysis of the US soft power capacity. We will compare it to the soft power of other major global actors such as Germany, United States, Russia, India or China etc. or non-state actors such as international organizations. The analysis of the dynamics of American soft power will introduce us to the theoretical underpinnings of soft power as brought to general academic discourse by prof Joseph Nye's. What will interest us beyond the theoretical analyses as to the sources of soft power are the uses of soft power in a variety of situations. This will lead us to the study of public diplomacy as a way of creating, enhancing, changing, protecting i.e. managing actor’s soft power. Specific concepts which we will study are: national branding, cultural diplomacy, collective memory, propaganda, role of media and popular culture and politics of history. We will study particular situations when US soft power became an issue: democracy building, global presence, regional relations, relations with allies and competitors (Russia and China).

The class will have a PRACTICAL/WORKSHOP ASPECT. Students will be asked to take up a role of managers of soft power (advisors to political leaders, PR and communication specialists) and propose realistic recommendations for behavior which will address use/protection of an actor’s soft power in specific situations/contexts:

LIST OF TOPICS

THEORY AND CONCEPTUALIZATIONS

1. soft power in international relations

2. what is soft power? variety of actors, goals, and tools. Who chooses them and how?

3. theoretical explanations of soft power. Usefulness and usability of soft power. Positive and negative aspects of soft power

4. Studying soft power as a scientific endeavor – collecting data, analyzing polls (methodology)

5. what is national brand? how is it constructed?

6. managing soft power: public diplomacy

MID-TERM QUIZ

SOFT POWER IN ACTION - SOURCES OF SOFT POWER AND CHALLENGES TO IT (Presentations)

7. Case study 1 – Political components of US soft power

8. Case study 2 – Cultural components of US soft power

9. Case study 3. – Economic components of US soft power

10. case study 4. China vs US a soft power rivalry

11. case study 5. Russia vs. US a soft power rivalry

12. case study 6. EU vs. US a soft power rivalry

13-14 RESEARCH design REPORTS and WORKSHOPS - American uses of soft power

ALL materials available online.

Joseph Nye, Soft Power

Joseph Nye, The Future of Power

Christian Whiton, Smart Power. Between Diplomacy and War, ebook, Potomac Books, 2013 (optional, it is just available on-line)

Dinnie, Keith,(2008). Nation Branding. Concepts, Issues, Practice, Butterworth-Heineman, Oxford, 2008 (ch 1&2)

Hudson, V. (2019) The Fate of Russian Soft Power Following the 2014 Ukrainian Crisis. Paper for the RC 36 Interim Conference in Moscow. Jan Melissen, (2007) “The New Public Diplomacy: Between Theory and Practice,” in The New Public Diplomacy – Soft Power in International Relations, ed. by Jan Melissen, New York: Palgrave Macmillan. (Selected) Monocle Magazine soft power ratings, (2019) https://monocle.com/all/affairs/soft-power/ McClory, J. (2019) TheSoftPower30. A Global Ranking of Soft Power. Portland.

several academic articles from Foreign Affairs, International Security Studies, etc.

YouTube lectures and interviews with prominent scholars

Develop analytical skills needed to explain and analyze foreign policies. • Students will learn about the process of using soft power and Polish, American and Eastern European applications of it. • Students will be able to identify the old and new soft power instruments that the government has in its toolbox.

1. Mid-term quiz (written, short answers, and a short essay) 20% - to make sure that students understand the conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of the study of soft power

2. Workshop performance and report - practical recommendations for the uses of soft power (public diplomacy) 25%

3. short term paper focusing on measurement of American soft power (resources or perceptions) which will demonstrate the dynamics of soft power) 25%

4. Presentation of a certain dimension of soft power 20%

5. participation in class discussions 10%