Week 9 Topic 8: Soft power: the role of media and cultural products
US President
Barack Obama noted in a 2013 fundraising speech at DreamWorks Studios that
Hollywood exports are important economically but also “believe it or not,
entertainment is part of our American diplomacy”. The President went on to
suggest that Hollywood transmitted US tolerance and diversity to a global
audience through its stories: “They might not know the Gettysburg address, but
if they’re watching an old movie – Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, The
Mary Tyler Moore Show, or Will and Grace and Modern Family –
they’ve had a front row seat to our march towards progress. Even if their own
nations haven’t made that progress yet.” In this session we build on our
insights from session 4 to delve further into what constitutes soft power and
how it operates.
Key readings:
(2021) “Soft power: the evolution of a concept,” Journal of Political Power 14(1), pp. 196-208.
Kwon, S. & Kim, J. (2014) “The
cultural industry policies of the Korean government and the Korean Wave”, International
Journal of Cultural Policy 20(4), pp. 422-439.
Recommended
readings:
Edney, K. (2015) “Building National
Cohesion and Domestic Legitimacy: A Regime Security Approach to Soft Power in
China.” Politics 35(3-4).
(2023) “The Power Paradigm of the King Salman Period: Building a Saudi
Soft Power?”, Asian Journal of Middle
Eastern and Islamic Studies, 17(2), pp.
190-200.
(2021) “The Interplay of Soft Power and Sharp Power in Sport Diplomacy:
A Conceptual Framework”, Journal of
Global Sport Management.
Wilson, E. J. (2008). “Hard Power, Soft Power, Smart Power”, The ANNALS of the American
Academy of Political and Social Science 616(1), pp.
110-124.