Soft Power Determinants in the World and Implications for China: A Quantitative Test of Joseph Nye's Theory on Three Soft Power Resources and of the Positive Peace Agreement

Lai, Hongyi

Abstract

Statistical tests are conducted on two explanations of soft power. One is Joseph Nye's argument that political values, foreign policy, and cultural appeals shape soft power, and the other is the positive peace argument which suggests the significant effect of the Global Peace Index (GPI) on soft power. Two measures of soft power are employed-the favorability of major powers in global public opinion polls and the Soft Power 30 index. The latter gauges the magnitude of soft power. When the former measure which indicates the positiveness of soft power is adopted, the three soft power resources provide less explanatory power than per capita GDP and especially the GPI. When the Soft Power 30 index is used, only foreign policy independent of the US contributes positively to soft power. The GPI and non-soft-power related cultural exports (NSPCE) take on a negative role because a number of nations in the index achieved very high rankings with a relatively poor GPI or small NSPCE.

Citation

Lai, H. (2019). Soft Power Determinants in the World and Implications for China: A Quantitative Test of Joseph Nye's Theory on Three Soft Power Resources and of the Positive Peace Agreement. Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies, 37(1), 8-35. https://doi.org/10.22439/cjas.v37i1.5904

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 17, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jan 7, 2020
• Publication Date: 2019
• Deposit Date: Sep 17, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 1, 2020
• Journal: The Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies
• Print ISSN: 1395-4199
• Publisher: Handelshoejskolen i Koebenhavn (Copenhagen Business School)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 37
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 8-35
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.22439/cjas.v37i1.5904
• Keywords: Soft power, Determinants, International relations, Positive peace, Political freedom, Foreign policy
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2627367
• Publisher URL: https://rauli.cbs.dk/index.php/cjas/article/view/5904
• Related Public URLs: https://rauli.cbs.dk/index.php/cjas/index
• Additional Information: Accepted on 17 September 2019 for publication in Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies, the October 2019 issue] Article title: Soft Power Determinants in the World and Implications for China--A Quantitative Test of Joseph Nye's Theory on Three Soft Power Resources and of the Positive Peace Argument.