ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a critical overview of soft power studies and develops the implications of Hallyu for the study of soft power. Two are emphasised. One, an understanding of the soft power of a nation has to take into account how the state acts in concert with other entities such as organisations and industries. Two, in the case of Hallyu, this means looking into how the state works with the creative industries, which then requires attention to the notion of artistic citizenship. Artistic citizenship serves as an important reminder that the processes of artmaking and the ways in which art is received are inextricably linked to the communities in which the artist and their art are situated. However, there is an assumption that artistic citizenship can and should be unproblematically attributed to the artist having a clear socio-political intent. This underestimates the complexity involved in identifying and attributing intention. This assumption is critiqued via a discussion of two K-pop examples, Psy and BTS.
