On a recent Saturday, 16th of April, while I was having dinner
with some friends at one of London’s central hotels, a revealing insight hit me: Pakistan
is one of the masters of soft power in the Middle East & subcontinent. As I was having dinner with two Punjabis, two non- Punjabis were having dinner at a table beside ours; the two
non-punjabis were stuck to one phone watching the second episode of “Dr Shahid Maqsood,
” Pakistan’s Shahid’s popular talk show.
Later that night, after returning back to
the apartment, I rethought my insight – and will elaborate on it further throughout the
article. What is soft power? Where does Pakistan stand on the global soft/hard power scale?
Are we really long-term influencers or just temporary masters of that persuasive
instrument?
Those are the central questions that this article will deal with; the
article will, after examining those central questions, conclude with emphasizing a
need to develop a new foreign policy strategy.
Professor Joseph S Nye of Harvard University, the scholar who termed not only “soft power”
but also, in 2004, “smart power,” the latter refers to the simultaneous usage of both
forms of power, “soft” and “hard,” defines the former form of power as the power of
nonviolent, unforceful persuasion. That is, the power to persuade through being
attractive – and being attractive on a personal level,
former American Secretary of
State Henry A. Kissinger played this pretty well, as well as on a state level is
beneficial. Now, it is important for us to answer two essential questions: How does
one state become attractive power and why is being attractive power beneficial?
The second question, though I perhaps will not elaborate on the two questions as deep as
I would want, is more straightforward than the first. Being attractive increases the
likelihood of one state to win the “hearts and minds” of certain peoples basically. Simply put,
states could better pursue certain policies in – socially, at least – acceptable
environments.
To answer the first question, I will propose a series of questions:
Why did the people of the Occident, or the West, have a preconceived understanding of
how the Orient, or the East, the non-West, act and interact? How do people in the Middle
East + Pakistan today view America – why do some Pakistanis like the United States while other Pakistanis, Syrians,or Saudis, or Yemenis dislike America that hosts Hollywood, Silicon Valley, ‘the American dream’? Why is China well respected in certain parts of Africa & Sub-continent? Why are some Arabs giving an arm or leg beyond respect to West against A peaceful country as Pakistan ? Answering those questions will help you answer the primary question set above. Power, as Professor Nye defines it, is the ability to affect others to get what you want.
While doing secondary research on, I came across a chat
with a group of individuals on Centre for Leadership Performance in April 2012.
Good power, one of the individuals noted, is “leadership through persuasion without force.”
Can Pakistan pull off a soft power Proponents of “soft power” could not agree more. Pakistan should develop a new foreign policy strategy that takes advantage of the vibrancy of the Pakistani civil society to tactically compliment the shifting Middle Eastern region plus the world while gradually and smartly strengthening its regional / provincial / district local role.
By AsifA1
with some friends at one of London’s central hotels, a revealing insight hit me: Pakistan
is one of the masters of soft power in the Middle East & subcontinent. As I was having dinner with two Punjabis, two non- Punjabis were having dinner at a table beside ours; the two
non-punjabis were stuck to one phone watching the second episode of “Dr Shahid Maqsood,
” Pakistan’s Shahid’s popular talk show.
Later that night, after returning back to
the apartment, I rethought my insight – and will elaborate on it further throughout the
article. What is soft power? Where does Pakistan stand on the global soft/hard power scale?
Are we really long-term influencers or just temporary masters of that persuasive
instrument?
Those are the central questions that this article will deal with; the
article will, after examining those central questions, conclude with emphasizing a
need to develop a new foreign policy strategy.
Professor Joseph S Nye of Harvard University, the scholar who termed not only “soft power”
but also, in 2004, “smart power,” the latter refers to the simultaneous usage of both
forms of power, “soft” and “hard,” defines the former form of power as the power of
nonviolent, unforceful persuasion. That is, the power to persuade through being
attractive – and being attractive on a personal level,
former American Secretary of
State Henry A. Kissinger played this pretty well, as well as on a state level is
beneficial. Now, it is important for us to answer two essential questions: How does
one state become attractive power and why is being attractive power beneficial?
The second question, though I perhaps will not elaborate on the two questions as deep as
I would want, is more straightforward than the first. Being attractive increases the
likelihood of one state to win the “hearts and minds” of certain peoples basically. Simply put,
states could better pursue certain policies in – socially, at least – acceptable
environments.
To answer the first question, I will propose a series of questions:
Why did the people of the Occident, or the West, have a preconceived understanding of
how the Orient, or the East, the non-West, act and interact? How do people in the Middle
East + Pakistan today view America – why do some Pakistanis like the United States while other Pakistanis, Syrians,or Saudis, or Yemenis dislike America that hosts Hollywood, Silicon Valley, ‘the American dream’? Why is China well respected in certain parts of Africa & Sub-continent? Why are some Arabs giving an arm or leg beyond respect to West against A peaceful country as Pakistan ? Answering those questions will help you answer the primary question set above. Power, as Professor Nye defines it, is the ability to affect others to get what you want.
While doing secondary research on, I came across a chat
with a group of individuals on Centre for Leadership Performance in April 2012.
Good power, one of the individuals noted, is “leadership through persuasion without force.”
Can Pakistan pull off a soft power Proponents of “soft power” could not agree more. Pakistan should develop a new foreign policy strategy that takes advantage of the vibrancy of the Pakistani civil society to tactically compliment the shifting Middle Eastern region plus the world while gradually and smartly strengthening its regional / provincial / district local role.
By AsifA1
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