says that Russia's use of cyber technology for information warfare is disruptive, not attractive.

Politics

Guerra de la información y poder blando

May 9, 2017 Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

CAMBRIDGE – La interferencia de Rusia en la elección presidencial estadounidense en 2016 y su presunta intrusión en servidores de la campaña del presidente francés Emmanuel Macron no deberían sorprender a nadie, dada la idea (errada) que tiene el presidente Vladimir Putin de lo que es el poder blando. Antes de ser reelegido en 2012, Putin dijo a un periódico moscovita que “el poder blando es un conjunto de herramientas y métodos cuyo fin es alcanzar metas de política exterior sin uso de la fuerza, por medio de la información y otros mecanismos de influencia”.

En la perspectiva del Kremlin, las revoluciones de colores en los países vecinos y los levantamientos de la Primavera Árabe fueron ejemplos de uso del poder blando por parte de Estados Unidos como nueva forma de guerra híbrida. La idea de poder blando se incorporó al documento “Concepto de la Política Exterior de Rusia 2013”, y en marzo de 2016, el jefe del Estado Mayor ruso, Valery Gerasimov, declaró que responder a amenazas externas de esa clase “con tropas convencionales es imposible; sólo pueden contrarrestarse con los mismos métodos híbridos”.

¿Qué es el poder blando? Algunos piensan que se refiere a cualquier tipo de acción que no sea la fuerza militar, pero no es así. El poder blando es la capacidad de obtener lo que uno desea por medio de la atracción y la persuasión en vez de amenazas de coerción u ofertas de pago.

To continue reading, register now.

Subscribe now for unlimited access to everything PS has to offer.

As a registered user, you can enjoy more PS content every month – for free.

Already have an account? Log in

Subscribe to PS Digital

Access every new PS commentary, our entire On Point suite of subscriber-exclusive content – including Longer Reads, Insider Interviews, Big Picture/Big Question, and Say More – and the full PS archive.

Subscribe Now

new comment has been posted. new comments have been posted.

0 Comments on this paragraph, 6 Comments on this article

Thomas Lloyd Jun 13, 2017

This article is similar to President Donal T Rump's campaign of identifying the problems America workers faced and still face as he and his chaotic government, and I use the term loosely. is incapable of doing anything about. Russia is one country with pretentions of grandeur lacking the great empire it never had. Its economy is on par with Italy, the main difference is a gullible populace who can be led by the nose and nuclear weapons. They were not used in the last Cold War and will not be used now. If Putin wants to meddle in other states affairs more sanctions need to put against Russia. Europe needs to wean itself off Russian gas, and renew efforts for renewables and yes nuclear. Russia needs to be treated as it is, and the UN security council needs to be reformed with Russia out of the picture. Japan? I will leave that open.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
j. von Hettlingen May 13, 2017

Joseph S. Nye is known for coining the phrase "soft power" in 1990, explaining the ability of a state to get others to do what it wants by the power of attraction, rather than by coercion or "hard power", which focuses on the use of military and economic strength. For decades America's pop culture, technology, foreign aid etc. have been harbingers of American soft power. Despite politics - the lunatic Trump presidency - and economy - sluggish growth and skyrocketing debt - its soft power still retains its influence.
Since Putin's return as a third-term president in 2012, he saw the "color revolutions" in Russia's backyard and the Arab Spring uprisings as "examples" of American soft power in "a new form of hybrid warfare." In response Russia has also developed its own "hybrid warfare" - the blend of unidentified troops, that were involved in the 2014 annexation of Crimea and backing the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine; propaganda and fake news "generated and promoted by paid trolls and mechanical bots." Russia has "perfected these techniques" - waging an information warfare by means of cyber technology. Propaganda and fake news are nothing new. In fact the Kremlin has taken a page from the Cold War playbook, using old tools to counter new threats.
Russia has its own interpretation of "soft power" which is very different from the one in the West. In 2013 Putin named the 21st century Orthodox power as a more sophisticated vision of Russia. In his speech, he claimed that Western leaders had been responsible for the loss of human dignity by promoting a secular worldview and rejecting Christianity. He highlighted Russia's "unique experience" of mutual enrichment of diverse cultures within its borders and urged its citizens to feel a common identity.
Putin was keen on restoring Russia's status and influence it enjoyed abroad during the Cold War. His "ideology of traditionalism, state sovereignty, and national exclusivity...resonated in countries like Hungary," which has become an "illiberal democracy" under Victor Orbán, and the "diaspora along Russia’s borders, in impoverished countries of Central Asia, and among right-wing populist movements in Western Europe."
Under the banner of "defending the values of European civilisation," Marine Le Pen called for "an advanced strategic alliance" with Moscow. Russia's rising soft power has attracted a number of Euroskeptic parties and countries across Europe. Rejecting Western institutions, like NATO and the EU, Putin created a number of eastward-pivoting economic and political alternatives - the Eurasian Economic Union, the economic and military overtures to China, robust support for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, etc. that aim to cement Russian influence in former Soviet Republics.
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union placed much emphasis on showing the superiority of its culture and educational system. Vast sums of money were spent on human resources - dancers of the Kirov and Bolshoi ballet ensembles, and classical musicians enjoyed global fame. Russian teams won more gold than their American counterparts at the Olympics. Neverthess the Soviets had limits of expanding their soft power. It was only in 1989 when Mikhail Gorbachev brought the Cold War to an end with his Glasnost and Perestroika that the USSR won praise and acclaim in the West.
Although the conventional threats of the Cold War are gone and Donald Trump, who had during his campaign vowed to mend fences with Russia, Americans haven't been able to shrug off the misgivings about how the Kremlin had interfered in their last year presidential election. A whole series of recent events suggest that Russia, apart from using its military might, also resorts to "negative soft power" in its pursuit of national interests. The international community has to "inoculate /itself/ against the process."
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Oleksandr Aleksandrovych May 12, 2017

In addition to the excellent presentation of the concept of "soft power" by its "father" Joseph Nye, let me just point out its understanding and instrumentalization by Soviet/Russsian KGB/FSB (according to Yuri Bezmenov), namely:
Soft power means promoting your own values,
while the so called "active measures" means always an aggressive destruction of another's values.
Russian ballet can be labeled as soft power, while Russian fake news are part of active measures".
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Karl Barber May 10, 2017

According to Pew Research Center, people in Russia now have the least favorable opinion of the United States https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-development-patient-capital-by-justin-yifu-lin-and-yan-wang-2-2017-05 Does it mean that the U.S. information warfare failed in terms of generating soft power? :)

China's soft power is growing to respond to the U.S. information warfare and false analysis https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-development-patient-capital-by-justin-yifu-lin-and-yan-wang-2-2017-05
A new reply to this comment has been posted.

https://prosyn.org/EWg5Stoes

Guerra de la información y poder blando

Subscribe to PS Digital

New Comment

Contact us

Handpicked to read next

Russia’s Neo-Feudal Capitalism

Log in/Register

Guerra de la información y poder blando

Subscribe to PS Digital

Handpicked to read next

Edit Newsletter Preferences

Set up Notification