Winning Without Fighting Is The Epitome Of Application

1. We know that military & economic might often get others to change their position. Hard power can rest on inducements or threat. However, sometimes we may get the outcomes we want without any substantial threats or payoffs. The indirect way to get what you want has sometimes been called “the second face of power”. This soft power – getting others to want the outcome that you want – co-opts people rather than coerces them [] . In international politics , the resources that produce soft power arise in large part from the values an organisation or country expresses in its culture, in the examples it sets by its internal practices and policies, and in the way it handles its relations with others. Governments sometimes find it difficult to control and employ soft power, but that does not diminish its relevance or importance. Even the great British realist E. H.Carr, writing in 1939, described international power in three categories that was military, economic and power over opinion. Those who deny the imp of soft power are like people who do not understand the power of seduction. [] The China-India comparison is central to the Asia debate. It is also of great importance to the rest of the world. In the end, it may not be an either/or consideration. While the Chinese economy has outperformed India by a wide margin over the past 15 years, there are no guarantees that past performance is indicative of what lies ahead. Each of these dynamic economies is now at a critical juncture in its development challenge – facing the choice of whether to stay the course or alter the strategy.

2. China and India are the giants of Asia who are showing signs of expansion of their soft power. Chinese novelist Gao Xingjian won China’s first Nobel Prize for Literature, with the Indian diaspora writer V.S.Naipaul receiving it a year later. The New Yorker devoted an entire issue on the fiction by Indian writers in the year 1997. The Chinese film “Crouching Tiger”, “Hidden Dragon” became the highest grossing non English language films , and the Indian movies like “Monsoon Wedding” were box office successes in the U.S. But the real promise for China and India still lies in the future,with the rapidly increasing hard and soft power in both the countries with rapid economic growth. [] 

3. However, soft power becomes credible when there is hard power behind it; that is why the US has been able to make so much of its soft power. Soft power by itself is no guarantee of security. It is one arrow in a nation’s security quiver, not an all-purpose panacea. A jihadi who enjoys a Bollywood movie will still have no compunction about setting off a bomb in Mumbai, and the US has already learned that the perpetrators of 9/11 ate their last dinner at a McDonald’s. To counter the terrorist threat there is no substitute for hard power. But there can be a complement to it. Where soft power works is in attracting enough goodwill from ordinary people to reduce the sources of support and help that the terrorists enjoy, and without which they cannot function. [] 

METHODOLOGY

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

4. To study and analyse the importance of soft power with focus on growing influence of China in the Asian region as a potential soft power giant, its affect on Indian efforts to project itself as a major soft power in the region to include India’s existing soft power resources and way ahead.

HYPOTHESIS

5. The importance of soft power cannot be ignored specially when countries of the Asia-Pacific region, namely China, Japan & Singapore are already exploiting their soft power potential. India being in the immediate neighbourhood and a competitor for regional power status along with China cannot afford to be left behind with such huge soft power potential already existing. Hence, India needs to analyze its existing soft power potential & plan a way ahead.

JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY

6. With a soaring economy and an expanding “soft power” initiative to expand its global influence, China appears on the road to superpower status. Yet, in recent years, India has emerged as a contender with a booming IT sector, GDP growth that rivals China’s, and a similarly massive labour force. The rapid rise of the world’s two most populous nations has spurred discussion on whether democratic India or authoritarian China will emerge as the greater economic power. [] Fortunately, the concept of power in today’s world is not confined to economic and military strength alone. Much of the world today, including developed nations like Japan, which has forsaken military power, value freedom, democracy and social equity. The current crisis in Pakistan over democracy versus dictatorship confirms that yet again. China’s strengths are visible whereas India’s strengths are invisible. Both have different pasts and presents, and we will see where the future leads them.

7. The truth is that India does not see itself in a race with China. India truly wants to chart its own course, and is willing to pay the price of slower economic growth. China, too, is charting its own more ambitious course. For now, from what is visible, the Chinese people seem willing to pay the price of freedom for economic might. Even if they are given political freedom, they may choose to have exactly the same government, the same system-but then it will be their choice. India and China are the two giant experiments of our time. No other country has attempted to do what they are doing. These two ancient cultures dominated and changed world history in the past. The rise of the western, industrialized powers in the 19th and 20th centuries was a brief interruption. India and China will once again change the course of world history-for now India will do it though its soft power, and China through its hard power. Hopefully, they will learn from each other. Then Asia will regain its central global status. [] 

8. The study, while briefly touching upon the existing soft power potential with both China and India, will attempt to analyse the advantages that India enjoys over China in terms of its soft power resources. The study will also attempt to look at the options available to India, in future, for furtherance of its soft power potential to achieve its rightful place in the new world order.

METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

9. The study is primarily based on information available on the web as the topic is current and relevant. However, the concept and information about soft power has also been gathered from book written by Joseph S Nye, Jr and certain study papers and articles on the subject by other scholars and experts. Other sources of information are articles written in Indian newspapers, journals. A bibliography of the sources is appended at the end of the text.

Scope

10. By undertaking this study, it is proposed to study the importance of soft power with focus on China’s existing soft power gains and India’s existing & potential soft power which can be further exploited. To analyze the existing soft power resources with India, thereby iden the pathway ahead.

Preview

11. The study has been org in the following parts:-

Chapter I : Introduction & Methodology.

Chapter II : What is Soft Power?

Chapter III : Potential for Soft Power in China.

Chapter IV : A Look into the Economies of India & China.

Chapter V : India’s Soft Power Advantage Over China.

Chapter VI : India’s Soft Power Advantage Over China.

Chapter VII : India’s Existing Soft Power Resources.

Chapter VIII : Pathway Ahead for India.

12. What is Soft Power? The soft power that is becoming more important in the information age is in part a social and economic by-product rather than solely a result of official government action. On the contrary “Smart Power” means learning better how to combine our hard & soft power. This chapter will define soft power thereby giving out the relationship between the hard & the soft power. It also will bring to light certain limitations of soft power.

13. Potential for Soft Power in China. In the last two decades of the twentieth century, China, Asia’s largest country, had high annual growth rates of 7 to 9 percent that led to a remarkable tripling of its GNP and enhanced its reputation and soft power. China has always had an attractive traditional culture, but now it is entering the realm of global popular culture as well. Chinese novelist Gao Xingjian won China’s first Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000, and the Chinese film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” became the highest grossing non-English film. Yao Ming, the Chinese star of the U.S. National Basketball Association’s Houston Rockets, is rapidly becoming a household name, and China has successfully hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics.The number of foreign tourists has also increased dramatically to 17 million last year. We will be further identifying the potential for soft power that China poses in this chapter of the study.

14. A Look into the Economies of India & China. This chapter will briefly cover the hystorical perspective of the economies of both China & India and will bring out the comparative growth of the two great economies as also highlight the inter se relationship betn their hard powers, which will further enhance their soft power.

15. India’s Soft Power Advantage Over China. While both China & India are acutely aware of the importance of soft power and cultural attractivity, India seems to hold a sizeable advantage in that, unlike China, it needs to do little to render its culture appealing to the rest of the world. The process is natural, almost organic. This is consistent with India’s long history as both a birthplace of ideas, and of peaceful cultural diffusion. Whereas China invaded and occupied Vietnam for more than a thousand years, India spread Buddhism and the Hindu concept of sacred kingship to Southeast Asia. This chapter will thus focus on issues that gives India an advantage over China.

16. India’s Existing Soft Power Resources. With a soaring economy and an expanding soft power initiative to expand its global influence, China appears on the road to superpower status. Yet, in recent years, India has emerged as a contender with a booming IT sector, GDP growth that rivals China’s, and a similarly massive labour force. The rapid rise of the world’s two most populous nations has spurred discussion on whether democratic India or authoritarian China will emerge as the greater economic power. In this chapter of the study, we will iden the existing resources in India which can be exploited to enhance its reputation in the world utilizing its soft power.

17. Pathway Ahead for India. In this part we will be recommending the way ahead for India after having analysed its existing potential in terms of soft power as compared to its neighbour and an adversary in the field i.e. China.