soft and hard power

Iqra Syed Ali
HARD AND SOFT POWER
Today we live in a more and more globalized world, inter-states relations are
exploding: it is not only about economic relations, but also human connection, cultural
influence, information flows, supported by new technologies and medias.
With the end of the Cold War, in the late 1980’s, we assist to a paradigm shift,
before IR relations were based on things that separated us, and the main security risk was
a war between the two superpowers. But now, with the end of the Soviet Union, the USA
appears like the only power, and the liberal and capitalist model has imposed itself in the
major part of the world. Thus, the focus is more on the things that integrate us, and the
risk of inter-states war is now lower with the explosion of trade and economic
interdependency.
However, like the famous American political scientist Joseph Nye explains:
“Globalization has made national boundaries more porous but not irrelevant. Nor does
globalization mean the creation of a universal community.” And so with the conservation
of national boundaries, and national interests, the notion of power still appears like
relevant. But with globalization power is now more and more complex and contested.
Non-state actors have risen, and some of them have even more power than states: they
could be terrorist organizations like ISIS, non-states associations like Greenpeace, banks
like Goldman Sachs… Face to this emerging powers, nation-states have to adapt their
powers to be able to face these new challengers. To achieve this we have to analyze their

capacities by term of Hard Power and Soft Power.
For a long time, the notion of power was related to the notion of military
capacities, the highest the state’s capacities were the highest its ability to protect its
borders, and its people. But with the Vietnam War, we can see that even the most
powerful army in the world can lose a war against poorly equipped but determined
peasants. Another interesting case is the Iraqi war in 2003 with an international coalition
leaded by the USA, which intervenes without the UN support. If the US army won easily
against the army of Saddam but the country was far from pacified: with suicide bombers,
communitarian conflicts, and guerrillas… Furthermore the unilateral decision of the
USA, was considered as imperialism by the international community, this has led to a
huge anti-American in the Middle-East, but also in Europe where a lot of governments
criticised this intervention.
In fact, these two cases could be considered as representative of the negative
effects of overusing Hard Power.
We can define power, as the ability of A to make B do something that otherwise
B won’t do. B can act because it is afraid of a more powerful country, and chose to
submit, this is Hard Power. Joseph Nye also talks about a “stick policy”. The stick can be
military but also economic, a country can take economic sanctions and impose an
embargo for example. The objective is to force a state to act in a certain way, for example
when Iran was developing a nuclear program, international economic sanctions has been
established in order to change Iran’s policy.
But another kind of power exists; less aggressive it is called Soft Power. The
objective is to obtain the consent of B rather than imposing a decision. Soft Power should

be able to lead to a convergence of interest, through tools like diplomacy or culture. The
capacity of drawing agenda settings is also a very important dimension of Soft Power.
The cultural influence of a country A could be so important that it can shape the
perceptions and the preferences of another country, and so B will take a decision in the
interest of A without even think about it. This is why Joseph Nye talks about a “carrot
policy”, not based on coercive policy but on cooperation. In this sense, in our globalized
world Soft Power has even several advantages compare to Hard Power. The problem
when you try to force a country is that there is a high risk of contestation or rebellion
against the dominating country. This is a big issue especially for the hegemon and its
challengers. Indeed according to the “Regional hegemony” theory developed by John
Mearsheimer, the hegemon influenced the neighboring countries and is enough powerful
to organize an international system in order to reduce uncertainty. To achieve this it is
important for the hegemon to governing rather than ruling, according Brzezinski. This
American policy-thinker explains that using hard power is ruling, it is a domination
thinking like colonialism for example which will create an opposition to the hegemon.
Brzezinski has criticized a lot Bush administration and Iraqi war, not for moral purposes
but because America lose its moral hegemony by acting like this. The best approach is
rather using Soft Power to govern, the hegemon is the leader but he has to obtain the
consent of the others before taking a decision.
So globalization comes along with the growing importance of Soft Power. But
what kind of Soft Power? And how to associate both Hard and Soft Powers?
Like states are not equal in terms of military capacities, their Soft Powers are also
very different. We are going to answer these questions through the case of the USA with

the most powerful soft power in the world, but also their challengers: China which is
developing its Soft Power, and Russia, and its influence on Post-Soviet states. We will
also interest to some regional hegemons and their influence on the region: with Germany
in the European Union, and Turkey in the Middle East.
The term Hard power has a long history, As mentioned previously it consist of
military capabilities, as described by Machiavelli in the princes: "I judge those princes
self-sufficient who, either through abundance of troops or money, are able to gather
together a suitable army and fight a good battle against whoever should attack them; and
I consider those who always need the protection of others to be those who cannot meet
the enemy in the field[.]"[1]
Due to self-fish nature of human being, Hobbes in the Leviathan goes on to
state that the powerful hegemon is very important to constraint selfish desires of human
beings, he expands the measures of power by adding the ability to have a control not only
on armed forces, but also economic and financial forces.
The power to which these thinkers are suggesting is “the hard power”. The
term is precisely explained by the contemporary thinkers in the international relations.
Joseph Nye for example, describe hard power as the ability to use coercion (sticks) and
payments (carrots) to make others follow your will and for this reason, The United States
possess the most of the hard power in terms of military budget spending of almost $600
billion, military troops have lots of experience of using it in battle, due to this Chinese
commanders thinks that they cannot match American hard power until 2050, America has
a lot of allies everywhere Unlike China and Russia, who have few real friends. That gives
America an advantage of spreading its forces widely. These measures gives America

hegemonic power that since no one can match the Americans nuclear arsenal, military
spending, massive air force etc. America can use these effective coercive measures for
deterrence and compliance.
However, getting a defeat from a weaker rivals suggest that hard power does
not always pays off. The campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq did little to bring more
power to the US, instead it reduced the US influence on many part of the world and Anti-
American feelings started to emerge. Many scholars argue that the US invasion of Iraq
was the biggest mistake, Iken berry suggest that the US need to fix its mistake and take
the role of a leader. If you have the leadership qualities you don’t have to invest so much
on wars for making others to follow your will. Others will be influenced by your
leadership qualities and they can give their consent without even knowing it. People look
up to their leaders, get inspired by them and follow them. This work at macro level too,
where states should aim to get those leadership qualities, which can be translated as their
weapon to convince others to do what you want them to do. This is called ‘Soft Power’.
America after World War 2 is persuading the strategies of using soft power
and consequently, America has achieved the title of world hegemon. It is for this reason
that globalization today is certainly America-centric. People all around the world are now
so attractive to the United States is as a place to live. The causes for this can be as
following: United States status as the sole superpower. The idea that It is able to do, more
than any other country can, more things that more people around the globe perceive,
rightly or wrongly, as threatening or destructive. It can also be due to particular U.S.
policies—policies that make use of that ability to do many things around the globe that
can be perceived as persuasive. The biggest weapon of soft power for Americans in this

globalized world is the export of popular culture and consumerism that some people label
it as “cultural imperialism”.
The American influence started to grow after World War 2 when America
feared Soviet communism would get hold of destabilized, war-torn regions as Nazism
had done earlier. To counter that, The United States developed a Soft Power initiative
known as the Marshall Plan, named after the Secretary of State, George Marshall. This
Plan was taken into action to provide massive humanitarian aid to sixteen western and
southern European countries, which aimed to improve their economies and promote
democracy during the Cold War. The Marshall Plan exclusively aimed to prevent
European economies from getting into the hands of the communist Soviet Union by
promoting American economic and cultural hegemony. US not only provided foreign aid
for these countries but also encourage these economies to become the followers of the US
instead of Soviet Union through economic openness, reciprocity, multilateral
management which were the organizing arrangements of a distinctively liberal western
order. These economies were already following liberal order, when the US entered into
the picture with its massive generosity in terms, of pumping millions of dollars into
Europe and its ideology in terms of economic and social aspects, helped in building
America’s hegemony.
Ever since then, US foreign aid is an essential part of American foreign policy.
The U.S. extends it to developing nations and for military or disaster assistance. The
United States foreign aid is divided into three categories: military and security assistance
(25% of yearly expenditures), disaster and humanitarian relief (15%), and economic
development assistance (60%). Furthermore, The United States Army Security

Assistance Command (USASAC) manages military and security elements of foreign aid.
Such aid includes military instruction and training. USASAC also manages the sales of
military equipment to eligible foreign nations. According to the USASAC, it now
manages 4,000 foreign military sales cases worth an estimated $69 billion.
Similarly, The Office of Foreign Disaster Administration handles disaster and
humanitarian aid cases. Payments differ according to the number and nature of global
crises. In 2003, United States disaster aid reached a 30-year peak with $3.83 billion in
aid. That amount included relief resulting from America's March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Also, US have a huge budget for foreign aid economic development. Assistance includes
infrastructure construction, small-enterprise loans, technical assistance, and budget
support for developing nations. Nowadays, providing emergency relief and humanitarian
assistance after a natural disaster might count as soft power. And we know that America
is ahead of everyone in providing foreign aid because of the above mentioned reasons. A
current example is the deployment by the US of more than 3,000 troops to Africa to help
with the Ebola crisis reflects the soft power of America.
Moreover, some U.S. practices are deemed as very attractive to other
countries: practices like honest regulation of drugs, as by the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA); transparent securities laws and practices that limit fraudulent
dealing, monitored actively by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Then we
have international organizations driven by the US ideology, International monetary fund,
World trade Organization, the World Bank etc. are all the products of soft power. The
values and norms put forward by these organizations are seen as universal. The US
hegemony is so institutionalized to such an extent that people would have to go through

serious disturbance and disruption if the order is to radically change.
Another source of Soft power is perhaps the US film business. The movies
depict an American view of the world, which can be powerfully attractive to others. The
Hollywood is so powerful in delivering the American cultural values and norms that
many people want to be part of that side of the world. The number of tourists and
immigrants in the US has increased dramatically. This is the reason China has been
taking some serious steps to effectively present its image to other countries, and
overcome a lack of experience in handling relations with the media and the public in
foreign countries. China wants to promote its media industry because it sees this as the
public diplomacy which the US has excelled in. China is spending tens of billions in state
funding including the development of media and entertainment companies to compete
with the American giant companies.
The US soft power is not restricted to its foreign aid polices or the Hollywood,
the US multinational food industries further contribute to influence the other countries.
Today`s McDonalds is seen as a major promotor of American culture into the global
market. Many multinational national set their business elsewhere and promote American
culture through advertisement strategy or promotions on the products. Loss of local
cultures because of imperial culture (Americanization) or hybridity of different cultures
“Mcdonalization” suggest that American hegemony is built around soft power.
However, the US may still be the only superpower in the world but there are
now new, competing perceptions of what the world should look like. The growing
Chinese economy provokes both fear and admiration, though Chinese is very willing to
have more of the latter. The 2008 Beijing Olympics was probably the first step from the

Chinese government to nurture a soft power message. Since then, things turned out to be
in favor of China.
China’s Education Ministry funds more than 450 Confucius institutes aiming
to spread Chinese language and culture. The interesting part is among these institutions,
90 universities are located in North America. This attempt of expanding Chinese culture
has been criticized by the American Association of University Professors, they are
pushing the government to do something about the presence of Confucius institute on
campus. As a response, in recent weeks, two prominent universities have suspended their
affiliated Confucius institutes as they fear of them growing. US policies are therefore
directed to maintain its soft power as well stop any potential power from overtaking The
US power.
For now, US soft power, remains pre-eminent, America continues to succeed
in selling the world its culture, its ability to innovate and its way of life but the existence
of competing economic powers and competing ideologies, all demanding to be heard, all
wanting to persuade others to see the world through their way. In some cases these other
powers can take coercive measures to force their ideology. For instance, ISIS. These are
the group of people who want to impose their Islamic ideology on others and for these
people soft power is not enough. The US needs to use its military capabilities to hinder
these terrorists power before they grow even stronger. Therefore, scholars like Joseph
Nye use the term Smart Power which an ability to combine hard and soft power resources
into effective strategies.
The US needs to balance itself by maintaining soft power as well as hard power.
In this globalized world, countries are connected to each other; you can literally know

what is going on in other part of the world in seconds. This transnationality provokes
countries to adopt policies, which people look up to, and also helps in reputation
building. However, Globalization has bought some dangerous threat as well. Threats like
global warming, natural disasters, terrorism, violence etc and to reduce these threats and
maintain your security, you need to have hard power as well thus; American policies
have evolved with globalization. As the world is getting more and more globalized,
America is shaping its foreign police in a way that America can sustain its hegemony.
RUSSIA’S HARD POWER AND SOFT POWER ON THE POST-SOVIET
STATES AND THE INFLUENCE OF GLOBALIZATION ON THESE STATES
In this chapter, the discussion topic is the effect of Russia as a hard power and
soft power on the Post-Soviet States after Soviet Union collapsed as well as the effect of
globalization on these states after the Cold War.
Historically, the Post-Soviet states which is known as the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR) consisted of 15 states in total, such as Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. In the mid-1980s, Mikhail
Gorbachev who was the last leader of Soviet Union struggled to change and liberalize the
economy with his economic policy: glasnost and perestroika. The aim of them was to
prevent the Communist Party and change economic stagnation with better economic
policy. Since Soviet satellite countries overthrew their respective communist regimes in
Eastern Europe in 1989, the increase of remarkable nationalist and separatist movement

was adversely seen in the USSR when the Cold War ended during his tenure. In 1991, the
referendum (which was boycotted by the Baltic Republics, Armenia, Georgia, and
Moldova) was made to preserve the USSR. The majority of citizens who attended this
referendum voted for preserving the USSR as a renewed federation. In addition, in 1991,
a coup d’état was tried by the Communist Party hardliners, especially because of policy
of perestroika, which could provide the politic and economic growth. However, the
attempt was concluded with failure. At the end of December, the resignation of
Gorbachev and the agreement which was made by a chairman of Russian Soviet
Federative Socialist Republic, a chairman of Ukraine, and representatives of Belarus.
This situation led to the dissolution of Soviet Union as independent Post-Soviet States.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia undertook the rights and
obligations of the USSR as well as is internationally accepted as the successor to the
Soviet Union.
After the Cold War, Russia’s hard power and soft power has been seen
influentially on the Post-Soviet States in order to get control and influence as a successor
to the Soviet Union. In this part, this heading is tackled below.
RUSSIA’S HARD POWER OVER THE POST-SOVIET STATES:
As it is known, Russia has desired to regain its old strength with President Putin,
although its military forces and industrial base have greatly atrophied after the collapse of
the Soviet Union. (Majumdar, 2015) It has struggled to prevent losing the influence of
Neo-Soviet Federation, which was seen on Russia’s sphere of influence because the

government of Russia believes that it sees as inheritance from the Soviet Union and they
must keep an advantage of states. Since Russia is not global power across the globe
nowadays, it perceives NATO’s expansion pack and missile defense system as a threat
and has improved its military forces. Moreover, as it has several nuclear arsenals, it is
seen as a rival by the United States. Russia has also continued to keep a great deal of
nuclear warheads -both strategic and tactical- which by default makes Russia one of the
most significant powers around the world. (Majumdar, 2015) Owing to these
developments, Russia should assert dominance over the Post-Soviet countries and it has
not to lose its control and influence on these regions.
Eleonora Tafuro (2014) points out that ‘’Russia is mainly known as a classical
realist power, that thinks in geopolitical, zero-sum terms and is more prone to using hard
power than relying on its power of attraction.’’ (Tafuro, 2014) There are numerous
developments, which reinforce these opinions over the sphere of influence of Russia after
the Cold War.
1)Russo-Georgian War
The Russo-Georgian War, which was an armed conflict, was made between
Georgia, Russia, and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and
Abkhazia. This war was interpreted that Russian hard power shifted balance in Caucasus.
Putin restoration has embarked on its first strongly affecting use of hard power beyond
borders of Russia. This is an essential indicator of Moscow’s real purpose and
motivations. Russia preferred hard power to alternative ways in order to solve its
differences with Georgia and both the United States and Europeans were not willing to
direct invention to this war. This indirect involvement to this war was interpreted by

Daniel Kimmage (2008): ‘’The most important Russian intention is to indicate that it is
the merely outside power which can and will use military force in order to defend its
proclaimed interests in a territorially defined sphere of influence that corresponds to the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), or the former Soviet Union minus the three
Baltic states’’ (Kimmage, 2008) In addition to this, Russia gave some messages to the
world. One of the important messages is that the message of Moscow was sent not only at
Washington and Brussels but also was sent to the capitals of other states in the former the
USSR who was to see Russian military put to use abroad and the West weak to stop it.
(Kimmage, 2008)
1)Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation
The internationally known Ukrainian territory of Crimea was started to rule and
controlled by the Russian Federation in 2014. With this annexation, Russia has de facto
conducted the peninsula as two Federal subjects of Russia: the Republic of Crimea and
the city of Sevastopol inside of the Crimean Federal Distinct.
Crimea’s Russian will be protected from Russia and it contributes to the common
actions of Russian society. The Western World hesitated to impose sanction on Russia
and have not estimated the action of Russia. These conditions affected the Putin’s Crimea
policies. Russia will accord a right of Crimean Tatars, which was formed %10.2 of
population in Crimea according to 2001 Census. It is clearly seen that Russia will
preserve these regions from the isolation, which will be come from the West, and it will
promote relations with its borderlands and the Orient. In this way, it will minimize all
risks against Russia over Post-Soviet regions. The annexation of Crimea from Russia led
to turn the policy of 19th Century in international relations. As for another important side

of this annexation, the unipolar system, which was dominated by the USA, has started to
end. (Askeroğlu, 2014)
1)Russia-Armenia Relationship
As it is known, a Russian Su-24 warplane was shot down after it veered into
Turkish airspace and the first time a country, which is a member of NATO shot down
Russian plane in 60 years.
After this development, Russia unified air defense system in Caucasus with
Armenia, which was a member of the USSR before Soviet Union collapsed. Alexander
Luzan who was the former deputy undersecretary of Russian land forces said to “Today,
aviation plays the most important role in military. Turkey is a member of NATO and
there are not only Turkish aircrafts inside Turkish territories; the United States also uses
air bases [in Turkey]. There is a need for a more serious system that will strengthen [our]
air space and for this aim, the unifying of forces is needed’’ (Doğan News Agency, 2015)
on December 23.
It is interpreted that Russia tries to form a strong bloc on Neo-Soviet land against
the powerful blocs of the West and the USA.
RUSSIA’S SOFT POWER OVER THE POST-SOVIET STATES:
The term soft power was defined by Joseph Nye as ‘’the ability of a county to
persuade others to do what it wants without force or coercion’’ (Nye, 2004) at the end of
1980s. A country that wishes to dominate others has to use both hard power and soft

power. In order to use soft power successfully, a country can take help from companies,
foundations, universities, and other institutions of civil society. In this part, the discussion
topic is how Russia uses the soft power on the Post-Soviet States.
Russia has used the soft power as well as the hard power and it has a great deal of
advantages for implementing a soft power strategy it its neighboring countries. In
addition, in 2013, the term of soft power has been used the first time for Russia’s official
Foreing Policy Concept. As Tomila Lankina and Kinga Niemczyk emphasized that
‘’Putin has shown himself to be a significantly more artful player in the “smart power”
game, skillfully combining elements of both soft and hard power in pursuing his foreign
policy objectives. Russia’s steep learning curve in manipulating soft power has important
policy implications.’’ (Lankina and Niemczyk, 2014)
As for Kremlin’s soft power tools, it contains several things, such as cultural and
linguistic programmes, scholarships for foreign students, well-equipped and Kremlin-
aligned media outlets, religion factors (Christian Orthodoxy). In addition to these, Russia
implements visa-free regime with numerous neighbours, which contributes to make
Russia labour market easy to find and reach.
Islam Halidov who wrote the article of Russia’s Soft Power Tools divided four categories
institutions, which organize the soft power of Russia.
1)Russkiy Mir Foundation
The main function of this institution tries to restore the image of Russia and
struggles to prevent the interest of Russia diaspora. This institution organizes some
activities abroad such as, training activities with Russian language and language schools

as well as competition and olympiad, scientific-methodological activities, art and skills
activities, social activities, grant programme in order to promote spreading of Russia’s
history, culture, language, philosophy, books, media which broadcasts with Russian. In
addition to these, it gives training programme to develop the Russian World. (Halidov,
2015, p.7&8)
1)Rossotrudnichestvo
Rossotrudnichestvo, which is known as the Federal Agency for the
Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International
Humanitarian Cooperation, has several advantages for Russian World. The first
advantage is that this institution promotes union process on the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS). As for the second advantage, it helps Russian people who live
in abroad. Thirdly, it supports Russian language and culture. The last advantage is that it
promotes the concept of public diplomacy in the foreing policy. (Halidov, 2015, p.13)
1)A.M. Gorçakov Public Diplomacy Institution
This institution supports the non-governmental organizations, which are,
promotes by local resouces in Russia. It promotes these institutions because Russia
improves common public diplomacy language in foreing policy thank to them. Moreover,
this institution assists the development of social, cultural, academical, administrative, and
educational programme in international relations area. (Halidov, 2015, p.64)
1)The Concept of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation and Council of
Foreign and Defense Policy (CFDP)
This constitution trains experts and encourages to develop the regional and

international policy of Russia. One of the most important activities is that it prepares
articles and projects. (Halidov, 2015, p.65&66) As well as this institution, the Council of
Foreign and Defense Policy ‘’is one of the most influential political institutes in Russia,
its members being part of the country’s political, academic and economic elite. The
Council has implemented projects and programs such as ‘The Strategy for Russia,’
‘Russia and the World,’ ‘Russia and NATO,’ ‘Russia and the EU,’ and “The US-Russian
Dialogue.” (ESI, 2010)
Apart from the approach of Islam Halidov, the ‘near abroad’ is an important term
to succeed the soft power within the Post-Soviet States. This term refers to the recently
independent republics other than Russia that appeared after the dissolution of the Soviet
Union. ‘’After the dissolution of the Soviet Union all countries (apart from the three
Baltic states), have entered the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which was
supposed as a means of exercising Russia’s institutional power. Along this organization,
there is a set of other associated organizations such as the Free Trade Area, Organization
of Central Asia Cooperation and Collective Security Treaty Organization.’’ (Terente,
2014, p.21) The Eurasian Economic Policy (EEP), which is an economic and political
union of governments located mainly in northern Eurasia, was signed between Belarus,
Kazakhstan, and Russia in 2014. Its aim is to create a single economic market.
Additionally, ‘’ Putin knows the need for strengthening the status of Russian language in
the near 23 abroad and the ties with the compatriots living abroad offering them
protection and assistance.’’ (Terente, 2014, p.22&23) Over the near abroad, especially,
Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine, the Russian language has an essential location in
business, social, cultural, and scientific relations. It is an indicator of language union over

the near abroad. Russia uses the ‘religious factor’ to success soft power and Adrian
Terente emphasizes that ‘’ the Russian Orthodox Church, that extends its jurisdiction to
many believers in Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, is a reinforcing partner for the Russian
policies towards compatriots abroad and a supporter of the Russian World ideology’’
(Terente, 2014, p.24) in his article.
When the approach of Islam Halidov and Adrian Terente are unified, it is clearly
seen that Russia can use its soft power to some extent on the Russian diasporas in the
near abroad instead of Western democracies where Russia’s both political policies and
foreign policies are considered in a negative way.
Globalization, after the Cold War, had started to change the factor of power. In
this era, states try to create their soft power instead of classical military foundations.
During the Cold War, military power and ability are the most important definition of
power, whereas after the cold war, in the information age, guidance of public opinion and
persuasion and negotiation are the most important factors. As it is defined above, Joseph
Nye said that soft power is the ability of a country to persuade others to do what it wants
without force or coercion -- is now widely invoked in foreign policy debates. These
situations have affected the policy of Russia on the Post-Soviet States. The strategic
policy of the USA is that the US suppresses and gets under control. Russia has to
implement suitable soft power by using historical ties on its region and across to world
against the USA’s and Europe’s soft power. Although, Russia preserved its influence by
using hard power like Georgia and Ukraine, it has continued its influence on Turkic
Republic which is under the effect of Russia by using its soft power. With the effect of
globalization and the dominant policy of the USA, Russia uses the cultural ties with Post-

Soviet Union, near abroad policy, Russian language, churches as well as strong military
power over the Post-Soviet states.
Last but not least, if states, which were a member of the USSR, do not come near
to Russia, they are deceived from the West or they are exposed to hard power of Russia.
GERMANY AND THE EUROPEAN UNION
Germany has accepted as one of the world's leading industrialized countries
and it is recognized as a major power in European and global affairs. A great power
is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its
influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and
economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power influence, which may cause
middle or small powers to consider the great powers' opinions before taking actions
of their own. Germany in this sense focuses on being a soft power, more than it
exerts its resources to be a hard power. Yet it still has a big impact on Europe and
the rest of the world in hard powers.
Germany has a big military power, which can be considered as hard power. It
has biggest number of soldiers in Europe, 2nd biggest expenditure on military after
France (International Institute for Strategic Studies World Military Balance 2015,
for 2014) and 9th highest expenditure on military in the world. German military
expenditures estimated at $46.5 billion (SIPRI, 2014), the Bundeswehr (the unified
armed forces of Germany) is among the top ten best-funded forces in the world,
even if in terms of share of German GDP, military expenditures remain average at

1.2% and below the NATO recommendation of 2%, which makes Germany 16th in
NATO countries 14th in European countries. In military active personnel it is 5th in
NATO, 3rd in Europe after UK and France, in total military personnel 7th in world and
5th in Europe after Poland, Greece, UK and Bulgaria. As of March 2012 the
Bundeswehr employed 183,000 professional soldiers and 17,000 volunteers. The
German government plans to reduce the number of soldiers to 170,000
professionals and up to 15,000 short-term volunteers. The role of the Bundeswehr
is described in the Constitution of Germany as defensive only. But after a ruling of
the Federal Constitutional Court in 1994 the term "defense" has been defined to not
only include protection of the borders of Germany, but also crisis reaction and
conflict prevention, or more broadly as guarding the security of Germany anywhere
in the world. Therefore it can be seen that Germany transform the military power
into soft power and reduce its importance in power balances.
As different aspects of the military power Germany was the fourth largest
exporter of major arms in the world in 2014, according to SIPRI and Karl A. Lamers,
German Deputy Chairman of the Defence Committee of the Bundestag and a
member of the Christian Democratic Union, became president of the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly in 2010 to 2012.
In a scale of powers from hard to soft, economy can be considered as if it is
an element of both and Germany has the largest national economy in Europe, the
fourth largest by nominal GDP in the world, and fifth by GDP. In 2014, Germany
recorded the highest trade surplus in the world worth $285 billion, making it the
biggest capital exporter globally. It is also the third largest exporter in the world

with 1.13 trillion euros ($1.28 trillion) in goods and services exported in 2014.
Germany’s main export partners are France and the UK while its main import
partners are the Netherlands, and France in the Europe.
Also Germany is the largest contributor to the budget of the European Union
(providing 20%) in 2011. Total German contribution to the EU budget is € 26.125
billion while the total EU spending in Germany is € 13.056 billion.
Another aspect that can be counted as both hard and soft power is
population and Germany has the largest population in Europe and it is the 16th most
populated country in world. With the advantage of its population Germany has the
largest share in representation in EU. It has 96 MEPs in total of 751, which
corresponds to 12.8%, in the European Parliament and France follows Germany
with 74 seats.
In the current The Juncker Commission is the European Commission; it can
be seen that more powerful countries in European Union have the most powerful
portfolios. For example Germany has “Digital Economy and Society”, France has
“Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs” and United Kingdom has
“Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union”, which are all
related to economics, finance, markets and customs, the most important elements of
both hard and soft power.
Also another example that can be considered as both economic power and
soft power because of its influential power and ability to intervene domestic affairs
is IMF. In IMF, numbers of votes of Germany is 146,392 with its 14,565.5 millions of

SDR quota shares. It is 3rd largest creditor in world and 1st in Europe, followed by
France with 10,738.5 millions of SDR quota and 108,122 vote shares.
Another example for soft power in the international organizations can be the
Germany’s place in United Nations Security Council. Even though Germany has no
permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council, it has allies to support its
bids from non-permanent members. They are called G4 nations and they are
compromised by Germany, Brazil, Japan and India. Also the German Federal
Government began an initiative to obtain a permanent seat in the United Nations
Security Council, as part of the Reform of the United Nations.
On the other hand there are critics about demilitarization of Europe’s armed
forces that assert that soft power needs the backing of hard power, which means the
availability of well-equipped and well-trained armed forces to be effective. In the
continuing situation Europe will be unable to project any role as a global player—or
even as a soft-power player. Like in the examples of ISIS, Ebola virus crisis and
conflict in eastern Ukraine, the EU is playing no strategic or security role. If
European governments cling to the belief that soft power is a substitute for hard
power, then they will be completely unprepared to deal with any crisis once it
reaches the EU itself. Some say that if European governments and EU leaders think
soft power is sufficient to contain conflicts or project influence, they are mistaken.
To have any impact, soft power needs the support of military hardware. Without
such essential hardware—be it military air transport and logistics, intelligence, or
protection for soldiers—the effect of soft power is weakened. Soft power is about
much more than relying on diplomacy, offering development aid, or funding

nongovernmental organizations. It is also about building state institutions,
protecting refugees, and providing security for essential infrastructure such as
energy supplies, shipping lanes, and border controls.
As an answer to these critics, with Joseph Nye’s words “We must also be
careful to recognize the limits of soft power. It is hard to see how it can be deployed,
for example, to solve the ongoing Syrian crisis. But this does not mean, as some
critics suggest, that soft power really is not power at all. All forms of power have
limitations. When foreign policy goals include the promotion of democracy, human
rights, and freedom, soft power turns out to be superior to hard power. In an era
marked by increased information and a diffusion of power, it will become an
increasingly important part of effective foreign policy strategies.” (Joseph Nye,
2015) In this more confused, complex and multi-polar world, the limits of hard
power – the use of force, threats, sanctions or payments — are becoming more
obvious. It has also seen the concept of soft power — the use of attraction and
persuasion to achieve goals — move from the world of academia to the front-pages
of newspapers and the speeches of our political leaders. Therefore we can see that
Germany is also following this trend with still protecting its military forces strong
but focused more on soft powers, its economy, importance in international,
supranational and intergovernmental organizations, having powerful positions in
political areas, and reaching the farthest places of the world with trade exported
goods.
TURKEY AND MIDDLE EAST

One of the Turkey’s most important neighbors are Middle East and Middle
Eastern countries. Turkey had deep relationships with Middle East because of location,
historical background, economic transactions caused these deep relationships. If we want
to understand Turkey’s Middle East politics around globalization, first we need to
understand its historical background, not only its historical background between Middle
Eastern countries, but also its domestic politics.
Ottoman Empire was the ruler of the Middle East until 1900s. Middle East was a
part of Ottoman Empire terriority. After the collapse of Ottoman Empire and the
establishment of many states in these lands, shifted the balances and politics in terms of
soft power as well as hard power but main shifts in relationships are based on Republic of
Turkey’s new identity. This young state was based on a principle that is called Kemalism.
Kemalism had 2 main pillar; Laicism (or secularism) and Assimilationist Nationalism.
The first pillar Laicism was not same with the French style secularism, it was not only
aim dividing of state and religion but also it used to create a control on religion. The
cause of this control was that finishing longstanding religion’s hegemony on state. So,
domestic politics shaped around that and it caused establishment of directorate of
religious affairs. Second pillar, assimilationist nationalism is creating a new Turkish
identity with a common national, linguistic, and territorial definition. Another leg of
Assimilationist Nationalism was active sought to assimilate all of its Muslim minorities
(Taspinar, pg.5, 2008). All of these ways of new Turkish state created a new foreign
policy context. Application of this strong laicism and assimilation used to need cut the
relationships between Turkey and Muslim Middle Eastern world. So, state’s policy
shaped around that.

The state’s policy aim that demolish the bridges between Turkey and Islamic
Middle Eastern world. In 1954, Turkey planted mine in its Eastern borders. The
estimation is that approximately 2254 km was covered with mine. Some journalists
argues that these mines planted for cut the connection between Turkey and Eastern world.
Of course it does not have an academic value but it can open new ways to think about
state’s policy. The creating discourse was clearly against Eastern worlds. Founders used
to say this new state is a Western state. We are not Eastern. We have to take the life of
Western. So, every state based activities, every state based rules , regulations etc. depends
on anti-eastern and used to aim creating a western society and country. The reforms aim
transformation of society into a western society. Reforms of clothing and letter are the
main reforms with secularism.
In this kind of time, state cannot build good relationships with Eastern world.
Regulations used to aim make difficult the transactions between Eastern worlds. Also,
Eastern countries used to show an enemy by the statesmen.
The first 50-60 years relationships do not become normal. At 2002, when Justice
and Development Party (AKP) came to power, Turkey’s foreign policy context began to
shift. Undoubtedly, Prof.Ahmet Davutoglu is the creator of these policies as the advisor
to Prime Minister Erdogan, then as Minister of Foreign Affairs then finally as Prime
Minister. Even they do not accept it, many scholars see them as Neo - Ottomanist.
Turkish scholar Omer Taspinar says these sentences about Davutoglu’s Neo – Ottomanist
policies “Davutoglu’s “neo-Ottoman” vision, it should be noted, is very different from
policies promulgated by Necmettin Erbakan. While Erbakan sought to create an Islamic
alliance with Muslim countries like Libya, Iran, Malaysia, and Indonesia as an explicit

alternative to alliance with the West, AKP leaders today want to reach out to the East to
complement their ties to the West, not replace them. Their vision, which builds on the
approach of former President Özal, is one in which Turkey rediscovers its imperial legacy
and seeks a new national consensus where the multiple identities of Turkey can coexist. It
reminds Turks that they once had a great multinational empire that ruled the Middle East,
North Africa, the Balkans and parts of Central Europe. Such emphasis on the Ottoman
legacy is not part of a plan to Islamize Turkey and Turkish foreign policy. Rather, it is
an attempt to balance and broaden the horizons of Kemalism and its over-obsession with
Turkey’s Western identity and trajectory.” (Taspinar, pg.14, 2008).
There are many causes of shifting of Turkey’s Eastern policy. Of course it is can
not be deny the role of President Erdogan’s ideological background but this is not
enough. The globalized world does not enable a self – enclosed state. Therefore, states
must to improve their politics accordingly this new globalized world. The globalization
made the world a huge and single place. So, every parts of life affected from it such as
trade, politics, art, people’s habits etc. In the past, affecting a country used to based on
mostly militarily. It means if you can occupy or conquest a place, yes you can rule there.
Otherwise affecting in terms of culturally was very limited and it was only limited with a
small region. But today’s world through technology, a published book in the USA can
affect a child living in Istanbul or a film can affect hole the world. Culture, fashion, art
and the increasing transportation capability of these things create a new power, which is
called soft power.
Soft power changes the gun of politics. Turkey also did not resist these changes
and of course it affected its Middle East politics. When we talk about the soft power, we

should focus on culture. Especially last 7-8 years, Turkey’s art began to affect Arab
countries. The popularity of Turkish TV series in Arab world gave Turkey a chance to
introduce themselves to Arab world. In addition it gives a huge chance to affect the
culture and opinion of people about Turkey. Today, it is very normal to see Turkish TV
series advertisement in a mall in Dubai or on a billboard in Jeddah.
When people’s opinion changes, the politics also can be changes. Turkey created
a chance to affect these societies’ minds through TV series. It increased the tourists’
number who comes to Turkey. However, main important point is Turkey became a role
model for Arab societies. Because Turkey is a Muslim country but it has not a strict
conservative rules, regulations.
Turkey’s increasing attractions in Arab world pushed Turkey into a big chaos
such as Syria problem. Because Turkey lost the chance of “not care”. Davutoglu’s dream
“zero problem with neighbors” did not succeed especially after Arab spring. Even Turkey
made an effort to success it, these developments did not enable it.
After Arab spring, Turkey lost its friendly seems by Arab societies. Because
Turkey became a state that get involved to another countries’ domestic politics. In Arab
springs, Turkey took side with someone. Took some with Assad oppositions in Syria,
took side with Ikhwan-Al Muslimin in Egypt, and took side with anti – Qaddafi in Libya.
All of these attitudes demolish Turkey’s image on societies’ of Middle East, because in
Arab spring, societies divided very strictly to 2 groups. Turkey prefers a group rather than
staying neutral. As a result, a part begins to love much more but other sides became
Turkish enemies. Turkish scholar Meliha Benli Altunisik summarizes Turkey’s Middle
East policy with these words “. . . the challenge for Turkey now is to balance its interests

with principled foreign policy that favours democratic transitions in these countries.
Especially in the first part of the 2000s Turkey had a vocal democracy promotion agenda.
Both Prime Minister Erdogan and then- Foreign Minister Gul have been raising the issue
of the necessity of reform in the Arab/Islamic world in different forums. However, in
recent years active democracy promotion was replaced by an approach that was less
vocal and instead stressed long-term transformation through engagement and opening up.
It was hoped that through engaging the countries in the region in political and economic
terms, Turkey can play an important role in facilitating peaceful change. Yet this policy
may no longer be tenable in many parts of the Middle East.
In short, the Arab Spring presents significant challenges to Turkish foreign policy
in the Middle East. Increasingly Turkey also realizes that the status quo is no longer
sustainable. Thus, it is trying to find a way in which the transformation can take place.
Clearly a peaceful and controlled transition is the best option for Turkey. For that reason
Ankara is trying to cultivate relations with new actors in the Middle East without losing
sight of the old ones. If the regimes evolve into more representative and accountable
forms as a result of the Arab Spring, this in the long run is in the interest of Turkey. Such
a Middle East would be more responsive to Turkey’s vision of the Middle East that is
based on engagement, dialogue and regional cooperation. Furthermore, such regimes
would also be more positive towards Turkey’s engagement with the region than existing
leaders who have been receptive to Turkey mainly due to changing circumstances.
Nevertheless, there is also a possibility that the transitions may fail, at least in some
places. The history of democratic transitions tells us that this process is not linear and it
may lead to chaos and /or the emergence of hybrid regimes that also have authoritarian

characteristics. Thus, the future of the Middle East is not certain. This uncertainty
presents difficulties for Turkey and yet requires more active involvement preferably by
engaging other actors that share its vision and have an interest in the prosperity, stability
and peace in this region.” (Altunisik , pg.4 ,)
When we talk about Turkey’s hard power in Middle East, it is possible to say that
its hard power is mostly shaped around economic power rather than military power.
Turkey and Middle East had usually increasingly economic transactions especially until
the problem of Syria and ISIS.
Turkey had a closed economy until 1980’s. After the liberalization of economy,
the GDP and per capita income began to increase rapidly. Instead the manufacturing
sector grew significantly together with the services sector, especially in banking,
communication, health and tourism. These are precisely sectors that require better
education and professionalism, again strengthening the ranks of the middle class. It is not
surprising that these massive structural changes have coincided with growing demands
for democratization in Turkey especially in the 2000s. All of these changes made Turkey
a trade state. (Kirisci, pg.37, 2011). Since Turkey’s hard power is mostly economic. The
ISIS and Syria chaos closed Turkey’s trade roads to Middle East. So Turkey need to find
the new ways to become a regional power because its hard and soft power is declining.
Through these examples we see that the way a country conceptualizes its power
has a real impact on its policy. It is not only an academic issue, because the implications
are real.   The USA have the most powerful Soft Power, even if it was less used by Bush
Administration, because they are aware of its strength compare to Hard Power. Their
victory during the Cold War against Soviet Union is largely due to this. Their Soft Power

is also the most complete: the diplomacy is very important, with a lot foreign aid
programs, US medias are present all other the world, American movies have a lot of
influence especially on young population, the Multinational Companies (MNC) are also
contributing to an “Americanization” of the world. There is even an institutionalization of
the American Soft Power, as a lot of international institutions and treaties: IMF, World
Bank, WTO etc., spread the American model, based on liberalism and capitalism, by
setting agenda to influence foreign countries.
It is interesting to see that China has understand this issue and so is trying to
develop its own Soft-Power by investing in Chinese Medias or opening Confucius
institutes all over the world to support the knowledge of the Chinese language. Russia is
also a special case, if we often think it is a very Hard-Power states, using military
solution in Georgia or Ukraine, its Soft Power is very powerful in the neighbouring
countries. These close ties with Post-Soviet States are also a way for Putin to achieve its
dream of a “Big Russia”, with bigger borders and a worldwide influence.
Germany is also considered as a great power in Europe. It is very powerful in both
soft and hard power and supports them with each other. It still continues to be biggest
military power regionally but it understood the importance of the soft power and made
huge steps in the international arena by holding great powers in many organizations like
IMF, EU, European Commission, NATO, and United Nations Security Council. It also
adapted its military resources and other resources that are related to the hard
power into soft power and use them as tools of soft power.
Turkey’s has also a specific position in Middle East because of history. After the
Ottoman Empire, which ruled the regions for centuries, it is a paradigm shift with the

new Republic of Turkey, which focused mainly on the West. Nowadays, with the AKP
victory, the policy has changed and we assist to the comeback of Turkey has one of the
main actors of the region, with the influence of Ahmet Davutoglu’s “Neo-Ottomanist”
policy.
Another conclusion that emerges through all these examples is that one power is
not enough. Because of globalization the new issues the states have to face are very
complex: with multiple layers, actors and problems. The example of the war in Syria is
very symbolic of this: there is a civil war with local consequences, but it is also a proxy
war between regional powers, there is a terrorist issue with ISIS able to attack all over the
planet, and a lot of refugees are now trying to go in Turkey or in Europe. All of these
elements are creating a human crisis that we cannot solve only by using one power. To
deal with these multiple issues the states should use the most appropriate, Hard or Soft,
power to the situation. It is what we call the “Smart Power”.
Resources:
(Kemal Kirisci, Turkey’s “Demonstrative Effect” and the Transformation of the Middle
East, pp. 37-39)
(Omer Taspinar, Turkey’s Middle East Policies between Kemalism and Neo-Ottomanism,
2008, pp.5-14)

(Meliha Benli Altunisik, Challenges to Turkey’s “Soft Power” in the Middle East, 2011,
pp.4)
(Halidov, İslam. (2014). ‘’Rusya’nın Yumuşak Güç Araçları’’ Retrieved from
www.journals.istanbul.edu.tr/iuavid/article/download/.../5000140095
(Ikenberry, G.John. (2004) ‘’Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics’’
Retrieved from https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/2004-05-01/soft-
power-means-success-world-politics
(Terente, Adrian. (2014). ‘’Russia’s Power in the Near Abroad, Illustrated in the Case of
Ukraine’’ Retrieved from
http://projekter.aau.dk/projekter/files/198417929/THESIS.ADRIAN.TERENTE.pdf
(Lankina, Tomina and Niemczyk Kinga. (2014). ‘’What Putin gets about soft power’’
Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-
cage/wp/2014/04/15/what-putin-gets-about-soft-power/
(Doğan News Agency. (2015). ‘’Russia, Armenia unify air defense systems in Caucasus’’
Retrieved from http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/russia-armenia-unify-air-defense-
systems-in-caucasus-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=92951&NewsCatID=353
(Tafuro, Eleonora. (2014). ‘’Can Russia exercise soft power as well as hard power?’’
Retrieved from http://www.policyreview.eu/can-russia-exercise-soft-power-as-well-as-
hard-power/
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CAUCASUS: WHO IS WHO? Part 2: Think-Tanks and Academia’’ Retrieved from

http://www.esiweb.org/pdf/esi_-_russia_manual_-_part_2_-_think_tanks.pdf.pdf
(Kimmage, Daniel. (2008). ‘’Russian 'Hard Power' Changes Balance In Caucasus’’
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http://www.rferl.org/content/Russia_Changes_Balance_In_Caucasus/1190395.html
(Majumdar, Dave. (2015). ‘’Europe's 4 Deadliest Military Powers’’
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powers-12214
(Murteza, Yusuf. (2015). ‘’Avrupa’nın Hard Power’ı’’ Retrieved from
http://akademikperspektif.com/2015/06/26/avrupanin-hard-poweri/
(Askeroğlu, Sabit. (2014). ‘’Rusya Kırım’ı Neden İlhak Eder?’’ Retrieved from
http://www.21yyte.org/tr/fikir-tanki/2255/rusya-kirimi-neden-ilhak-eder
"World Economic Outlook Database April 2015". International Monetary Fund.
International Monetary Fund. April 2015. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
"World Trade 2011, Prospects for 2012". World Trade Organisation. 12 April 2012.
Appendix Table 1. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/member-countries/germany/index_en.htm
“Europe’s Flawed Reliance on Soft Power“. October 30, 2014. Carnegie Europe
Retrieved 30 December 2015 http://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/?fa=57074

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