Soft Power Superpowers

by Watanabe,Yasushi

• ISBN13: 9780765622488
• ISBN10: 0765622483
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781317459644
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-07-15
• Publisher: Routledge
• More Book Details

Summary

The term soft power describes a country's ability to get what it wants by attracting rather than coercing others--by engaging hearts and minds through cultural and political values and foreign policies that other countries see as legitimate and conducive to their own interests. The concept was introduced by Joseph Nye, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, who wrote the Foreword for this book. The book analyzes the soft power assets of the United States and Japan, and how they contributed to one of the most successful, if unlikely, bilateral relationships of the twentieth century. Sponsored by the U.S. Social Science Research Council and the Japan Foundation's Center for Global Partnership, the book brings together anthropologists, political scientists, historians, economists, diplomats, and others to explore the multiple axes of soft power that operate in the U.S.-Japanese relationship, and between the United States and Japan and other regions of the world. The contributors move beyond an either-or concept of hard versus soft power to a more dynamic interpretation, and demonstrate the important role of non-state actors in wielding soft power. They show how public diplomacy on both sides of the Pacific--bolstered by less formal influences such as popular cultural icons, product brands, martial arts, baseball, and educational exchanges--has led to a vibrant U.S.-Japanese relationship since World War II despite formidable challenges. Emphasiszing the essentially interactive nature of persuasion, the book highlights an approach to soft power that has many implications for the world today.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures	p. vii
Foreword	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Introduction	p. xvii
Perception
Anti-Americanism in Japan	p. 3
Japan's Image Problem and the Soft Power Solution: The JET Program as Cultural Diplomacy	p. 18
Higher Education
Higher Education as a Projection of America's Soft Power	p. 37
Facing Crisis: Soft Power and Japanese Education in a Global Context	p. 54
Nurturing Soft Power: The Impact of Japanese-U.S. University Exchanges	p. 75
Popular Culture
The Attractions of the J-Wave for American Youth	p. 99
Shared Memories: Japanese Pop Culture in China	p. 111
Japan's Creative Industries: Culture as a Source of Soft Power in the Industrial Sector	p. 128
Baseball in U.S.-Japanese Relations: A Vehicle of Soft Power in Historical Perspective	p. 154
American Pop Culture as Soft Power: Movies and Broadcasting	p. 172
Public Diplomacy
Wielding Soft Power: The Key Stages of Transmission and Reception	p. 191
Official Soft Power in Practice: U.S. Public Diplomacy in Japan	p. 207
Japan Does Soft Power: Strategy and Effectiveness of Its Public Diplomacy in the United States	p. 224
Civil Society
Mr. Madison in the Twenty-first Century: Global Diffusion of the People's "Right to Know"	p. 245
Soft Power of NGOs: Growing Influence Beyond National Boundaries	p. 262
About the Editors and Contributors	p. 279
Index	p. 285
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