ABSTRACT
Introduction Introduced in 1990 by Joseph Nye, the concept of ‘soft power’ refers to the ability of international actors to influence the behavior of others by getting them “to want what you want”, essentially by changing their behavior (Nye 1990). A key means for international actors to wield soft power is public diplomacy – actors’ direct communication with foreign publics – which demonstrates an actor’s culture and political values, and imparts norms and values that can make them more legitimate in the eyes of the intended public (Nye 2008). In the post-Cold War unipolar world, soft power seemed to provide a convenient formula for moving away from the analysis of coercion or payment-based ‘hard power’ towards a form of influence that relies on appeal, attraction and persuasion. Despite its ostensibly American-centric nature, the concept has gained popularity internationally among leaders who were keen to capitalize on the promise of soft power (Hayden 2012; Pamment 2012). As Gary Rawnsley (2012) put it, soft power became “the latest fashionable catch-all term that all governments must claim to do” to keep up with the times. This is particularly the case for states such as Russia that want to achieve global recognition and a significant role in regional and world politics.
