Japan and Soft Power Yasushi Watanabe Keio University Power the - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Yasushi Watanabe Keio University

Japan and Soft Power

Power

• the ability to influence the behavior of others

to get the outcomes you want

Three Ways

• Coercion
• Payment
• Attraction

Hard Power

• Coercion (“stick”) --- military power
• Payment (“carrot”) -- economic power

Soft Power

the ability to attract and co-opt rather than coerce, use force or give money as a means of persuasion

Resources of Soft Power

• Policy
• Value
• Culture

How Soft Power Works

• Policy

Goals

• Value

✕ Contexts

• Culture

Tools

Sun Tzu (544-496 BC)

• “To fight and conquer in all your battles is not

supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy‘s resistance without fighting.” The Art of War

Why now ?

• Military power is too strong and costly to

resort to.

• Economy is more interdependent for a

country to dominate.

Anthony Eden (1897-1977)

• “Even the best foreign policy will end in failure

if the policy makers neglect their responsibility to explain the policy convincingly.”

Public Diplomacy

Diplomatic efforts to wielding soft power in

• rder to “shape realities” and “win the hearts

and minds” of public or elite opinion in a foreign country.

Two Layers of Public Diplomacy

Achieving policy goals Securing optimal policy environments

Tools of Public Diplomacy

FAST INFORMATION

• Policy Advocacy
• International Broadcasting

SLOW INFORMATION

• Exchange Diplomacy
• Cultural Diplomacy

1940s

For example

1950s

Propaganda ?

• Propaganda is based on false information.
• “The best propaganda is no propaganda”.
• “Cultural Relations”

Daniel Bell (1919-2011)

• “[T]he nation-state is becoming too small for

the big problems of life, and too big for the small problems of life. . . . In short, there is a mismatch of scale.”

Roles of State/Government

• Policy Advocacy
• Rulemaking
• New Public Diplomacy

“Facilitator”

• Helping self-help of private actors
• Coordinating private actors
• Collaborating with private actors

“Meta Soft Power”

the state’s capacity and introspective ability to criticize itself or remain credible

Paris Expo 1867

Post-WWII Japan

• Japan faced the challenge of transforming its

reputation as a militaristic aggressor into that

• f a democratic, peace-loving nation.

Since 1960s

Assertive Reactive Uniqueness

Since 1990s

Proactive Common agendas Shared experience

Actors of Public Diplomacy

STATE / PUBLIC ACTORS

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Japan Foundation
• NHK World
• Japan Tourism Agency

NON=STATE / PRIVATE ACTORS

• Foundations, Think Tanks,

Universities, Museums, Athletic Clubs, NGOs, Religious Organizations, Corporations, and Individuals (bloggers, Celebrities), etc.

Recent Focuses

Cool Japan Infrastructure Export Contribution to Peace and Human Security

Challenges

• History problems with PRC and ROK
• Rumor control in the aftermath of the Great

East Japan Earthquake of 2011

• English language proficiency in higher

education

More Challenges

• Aging population and low birthrate
• Budget cut
• Accountability and evaluation

Global Competitions

• Foreign cultural policy has become one of the

major challenges in foreign policy

Areas of Competitions

• Branding one’s country
• Pushing tourism
• Fostering one’s language as a second language in foreign schools
• Promoting internationalization and exchanges in schools,

universities and research institutions

• Offering development aid, conflict prevention help, support for

political transition and social reforms

• Using media (Social Media, International Broadcasting)

Just another weapon ?

From Zero-sum to Positive-sum Cultural Safety Nets

Thank you