(2025-05-06) Drezner American Soft Power Rip

Daniel Drezner: American Soft Power, R.I.P. Ever since Joseph Nye coined the term “soft power” more than thirty years ago, foreign policy mavens and international relations scholars have debated whether it’s really a thing or not.

Since scholars are often hard-pressed to identify concrete situations in which soft power had a tangible effect, critics of the concepts believe that soft power is much ado about nothing.

the Donald Trump administration is now serving up a near-perfect natural experiment: what happens when an administration eviscerates all U.S. soft power in less than four months? Will it make a difference?

how am I so sure that the Trump administration is erasing American soft power?

Consider that in Nye’s original discussion, he articulated three components of soft power: attractive values, perceptions of policy competence, and cultural attraction. How has the Trump administration affected these three pillars of soft power? Spoiler alert: it ain’t good.

One could argue that the arrogant promotion of such values might be off-putting to other countries. But even those critics would acknowledge that the United States gains from practicing such values at home.

If the Trump administration is illiberal, at least it’s making the trains run on time, right? Nah. From Signalgate on down, the administration keeps committing foreign policy fuck-up after fuck-up — just an endless series of beclownings. The ridiculously counterproductive trade wars have not turned out at the administration had hoped, causing some Trump officials to start hoarding toilet paper and foodstuffs. (incompetence)

The Trump administration’s operational security is also something of a joke

So that all seems bad. But at least the United States can fall back on its cultural attractiveness, right? Right?!

The hard-working staff here at Drezner’s World need not belabor the dramatic decline in international tourism or foreign students studying in the United States. Rather, I’ll just note that Trump has finally turned his destructive attention towards Hollywood.

For every component of American soft power, there is a Trump administration policy designed to scuttle it. Maybe this will have no effect on future U.S. foreign policy. Maybe soft power is a mirage. We are about to find out.


Edited:    |       |    Search Twitter for discussion