ABSTRACT
Introduction Soft power aims to achieve desired outcomes through attractiveness rather than coercion (Nye 2004). The influence of attractiveness exerts on the individual cognitive system first, and then on the individual behavioral decision. The process of the cognitive acceptance and admiration and the behavioral implementation tend to be voluntary, fluid and culture-specific; so does the process of the cognitive and behavioral change. As it has been argued in the overview chapter of this section (Ch. 5), due to the attributes of soft power resources and influence, the evaluation of soft power effects faces three big challenges: difficulty in measuring intangible resources and the long cultivation process, variables changing in the conversion process, and the cultural compatibility between power ‘agents’ and ‘subjects’. Keohane and Nye (1998) highlighted the interdependence of the elements of power in the information age, which leads naturally into the question of how to model and quantify these elements.
