ABSTRACT
The classic naval texts of and about sea power are essentially Western and Atlanticist in nature, reflecting the concentration of maritime supremacy first in Europe and then in North America. In the 21st-century language of hard and soft power, American Alfred Thayer Mahan could be said to view navies both as instruments of coercive diplomacy and as agents of national reputation or status. Acknowledging the imprecision of the term when applied to sea power, Edward Luttwak explained that suasion pertains to 'other's reactions, and not the actions, of the deploying party', a notable departure from Sir James Cable's and Turner's approach. A post-Cold War model of naval diplomacy can be determined by applying the post-modern interests of building maritime situational awareness, building coalitions and alliances and engendering attraction to the sliding scale of Joseph Nye's smart power concept.
