Smart Power

There is an interesting column in the current issue of USAID's Frontlines by Joe Nye. I quote:

President Obama reminded us [Jan. 20] that “our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering
qualities of humility and restraint.”

A week ago, in her confirmation hearings to become secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton said: “America cannot solve the most pressing problems on our own, and the world cannot solve them without America.... We must use what has been called ‘smart power,’ the full range of tools at our disposal.”

Smart power is the combination of hard and soft power. Soft power is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments. Opinion polls show a serious decline in American attractiveness in Europe, Latin America and, most dramatically, the Muslim world.