Denying “America’s Decline”
257of Foreign Affairs (May/June 2004), Nye points out that, because of
unilateralism, America’s soft power was in decline to a great extent, but it
is not too late. He argues that the US should change its attitude and listen
attentively to other countries’ voices. Then, in his paper, “Restoring the
Leadership of America,” in 2008, he repeated his call to alter the
unilateralism of the Bush Administration, strengthening cooperation with
other countries, and making soft power and hard power complement each
other. Furthermore, in his article “The U. S. can Reclaim ‘Smart Power,’”
(Los Angeles Times, January 21, 2009), Nye further developed his soft
power theory, and created a new concept, “smart power” (i.e. the
combination of soft power and hard power). In his opinion, America’s soft
power suffered a serious setback after the Vietnam War, but was restored
around the time that the former Soviet Union collapsed, which is a typical
case of “soft power” being recovered.^2
Nye gave a speech entitled, “Powers of America and China after
Financial Crisis,” at Fudan University in China in December 2010, in
which he maintained that power is an ability that can achieve its own goal
through influencing other countries to some extent. It can be attained by
“sticks” or “carrots,” or neither of them but rather “soft power.” The
invention of “soft power” provides a new thought for America’s foreign
affairs. America's soft power is so strong that it can become an effective
alternative to “sticks and carrots,” which is the traditional American
foreign policy. Traditionally, international politics measure national
prowess according to military strength, and powerful states refer to
winners in the war (esp. military conflicts that are relevant to the overall
situation); but in this information age and globally interconnected world,
countries need to develop not only “hard power” but also “soft power” to
strengthen their influence, enhance their position in the world, and attain
the respect and support of international society.^3
Nye’s New Understanding of Changes to and Tendencies
of America’s “Soft Power”
Research on national strength
National strength is an important part of Nye’s research, and Nye has
made unique academic contributions while looking at the historical
(^2) Nye, “The U. S. Can Reclaim 'Smart Power'”.
(^3) http://news.fudan.edu.cn/2010/1214/26665.html