The United States projects its power in varying degrees of rigidity. American military supremacy, or “hard power”, is unquestioned. American economic primacy, what might be called “stiff power”, perseveres despite erosion in the face of rising economic power in China, India, and the European Union. But “soft power”, what Joseph Nye, professor of international relations at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, describes as the attraction of the international community to the United States based upon its culture, values, and policies, has fallen significantly. The primary cause of this is America’s unilateralism, most notably in the Iraq War. The effect has been that other countries are “more likely to question America’s motives and intentions,” said Robert Lawrence, professor of international trade and investment at the Harvard Kennedy School. While this observation is grim, it also offers an opportunity for decisive action to restore America’s moral leadership. The next president can revitalize American soft power through many avenues, two of which seem especially powerful: committing to multilateral diplomacy, and leading by both example and engagement on globally significant issues.

A Seat at the Table
In November of 2007 the Center for Strategic and International Studies released the Commission on Smart Power Report. The Commission, which Nye co-chaired, warned that “an increasing number of American leaders have turned away from a norms-based approach to global engagement. They have come to view international law as suggestive rather than binding, alliances as outdated and dispensable, and international institutions as decrepit or hostile.” The next president must reverse this trend to restore American soft power. In the face of transnational terrorism, multilateral institutions and alliances are increasingly important for protecting American interests. They allow the United States to lead as a first among equals instead of by demanding that other nations fall in line behind it, or by going alone. The next president needs to repair America’s acrimonious relationship with the United Nations, the paramount multilateral institution. A repaired relationship will enhance the status of an enlarged U.N. peacekeeping force and provide America with the benefits of U.N. orchestrated international counterterrorism intelligence. Beyond paying larger dues to the United Nations, this will require working to restructure the organizations governance so that it can claim greater legitimacy and operate more effectively.

Global Issues
A similar boost to American soft power will come through leadership on issues of global significance, such as global health and climate change. Ensuring that the world’s impoverished do not die from preventable diseases not only improves America’s image amongst those poor in the short-term, as it has in Africa following a tripling of development funding in recent years, said Nye, but it also promotes the stability necessary for American values to take root and flourish. Towards this end, the next president will need to convince other G-8 leaders of the wisdom of empowering the UN’s World Health Organization. In tandem, he or she will have to streamline the federal government’s development initiatives and increase funding to agencies like the National Institutes of Health, which can help combat infectious diseases.

Along with global health, climate change stands as a key issue on which America can establish leadership. The European Union has already begun to innovate with regards to carbon constraint, and the two other leading actors in this crisis, China and India, may well follow if the United States assumes leadership of the clean-energy transformation. The process will certainly be painful at first, whether it involves gasoline-tax hikes, investment in nuclear energy, or other redemptive actions. But progress on this front could do more to rehabilitate America’s moral leadership than any other, and would begin to undo the significant damage caused by America’s refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol.

The Importance of Soft Power
With the dollar weakening and large numbers of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, America cannot rely only on its hard and stiff power. This means that soft power will be imperative for America to accomplish its foreign policy objectives and maintain its global leadership. Though progress will be difficult, the US has long been admired for its achievement of grand aims by pragmatic measures. Building upon that record will go a long way towards solidifying America’s position as the leader of the free world. ]]>