Public Diplomacy and Soft Power in East Asia

by Melissen, Jan; Lee, Sook Jong

• ISBN13: 9780230110977
• ISBN10: 0230110975
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-03-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The importance of soft power is one of the most striking features of contemporary international relations. The concept of soft power has a strong appeal outside the Western world, most countries now makes serious business of developing their public diplomacy, and the challenge of engaging with overseas audiences is under close scrutiny in foreign ministries everywhere. Soft power possesses an almost magical attractive quality in East Asia, to a degree that it never attained in the United States or Europe. This study shows the continuing importance of empirical measurement and critical examination of this analytical concept. The awareness of public diplomacy's centrality in international relations is also shared in East Asia and recent experience has something to offer to current thinking. Public Diplomacy and Soft Power in East Asia helps to fill in empirical gaps and informs broader conceptual and theoretical debates.

Author Biography

Sook Jong Lee is a Professor in the Department of Public Administration and in the Graduate School of Governance at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, South Korea. She is also President of the East Asia Institute (www.eai.or.kr). Her research interests are Korean and Japanese civil society and democracy, their political economy, and their policy opinions. Lee received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Harvard University.

Jan Melissen is Head of the Diplomatic Studies Programme at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael,’ Professor of Diplomacy at the University of Antwerp (Belgium), and co-editor of The Hague Journal of Diplomacy. His previous publications include The New Public Diplomacy: Soft Power in International Relations (2005/7) and Consular Affairs and Diplomacy. Evolution and Transformation (co-editor, 2011).

Table of Contents

The Theory and Reality of Soft Power: Practical Approaches in East Asia--Shin-wha Lee * Soft Power as Productive Power--Yong-wook Lee * Measuring Soft Power in East Asia: An Overview of Soft Power in East Asia on Affective and Normative Dimensions--Byong-kuen Jhee and Nae-young Lee * Modern Japan and the Quest for Attractive Power--Akiko Fukushima * Soft Power and Public Diplomacy: The Case of Indonesia--Rizal Sukma * Taiwan’s Soft Power and the Future of Cross-Strait Relations: Can the Tail Wag the Dog?--Yun-han Chu * South Korean Soft Power and How South Korea Views the Soft Power of Others--Sook Jong Lee * The Limits of China’s Soft Power in Europe: Beijing’s Public Diplomacy Puzzle--Ingrid D’Hooghe * Asian Perceptions of American Soft Power--Marshall M. Bouton and Gregory Holyk * The Complexities of Economic Soft Power: The US–China Case--Benjamin I. Page and Tao Xie * Concluding Reflections on Soft Power and Public Diplomacy in East Asia--Jan Melissen