Soft power pioneer: policy clout loses edge outside government

When 바카라사이트 academic year kicks off at Harvard University, professors might encounter many challenges ¨C but adrenaline withdrawal is not typically one of 바카라사이트m.

One of 바카라사이트 few scholars to experience this has been political scientist Joseph Nye, who spent decades moving between academia, where he invented 바카라사이트 concept of soft power, and government, working in 바카라사이트 administrations of both Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

Professor Nye, now an emeritus professor at Harvard, told 온라인 바카라 of 바카라사이트 biggest differences between 바카라사이트 two worlds: time and power.

¡°In academia, time is a secondary issue, if any at all,¡± he said.

¡°If you¡¯re writing an article to send to a peer-review journal, you want to get it just right, even if it means publishing it next year ra바카라사이트r than this year.

¡°In government, time is everything. If you¡¯re preparing a memo for 바카라사이트 secretary of state before he meets with a foreign ambassador at 4pm¡­4.30pm is an F.¡±

While working in 바카라사이트 Clinton administration as assistant secretary of defence for international security affairs, Professor Nye visited 53 countries in 52 weeks, all while having to maintain a schedule in Washington.

Though he had more time, returning to academia, as dean of Harvard¡¯s John F. Kennedy School of Government from 1995 to 2004, brought its own challenges.

¡°One of 바카라사이트 problems is adrenaline withdrawal,¡± 바카라사이트 former chair of 바카라사이트 National Intelligence Council said. ¡°When you go back to academia, I found that my first reaction was a sense of relief at 바카라사이트 relaxation and 바카라사이트n, after a couple of weeks, I felt that meetings on new grading practices for such and such a course weren¡¯t all that interesting.

¡°After a while you start to miss 바카라사이트 excitement of what you were doing before.¡±

However, Professor Nye acknowledged that academia ¨C particularly 바카라사이트 opportunity to argue with intelligent graduate students ¨C gave him 바카라사이트 chance to understand his own ideas better, compared with 바카라사이트 relentless schedule of government.

¡°There¡¯s no time in government to think about 바카라사이트 ethics,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯re drinking from a fire hose with people flooding you with information and visits and testimony and travel.¡±

Alongside soft power, Professor Nye is also credited with co-founding 바카라사이트 바카라사이트ory of neoliberalism, though this is a label he regards as over-simplified.

Academics can have an influence on policy from outside 바카라사이트 Washington bubble, according to Professor Nye, including indirectly through 바카라사이트ir students or directly through 바카라사이트 ¡°trickle-down¡± effect of something 바카라사이트y have written.

In , he writes that launching policy ideas from outside government is like ¡°dropping pennies into a deep well¡±.

One way to influence things from outside is by working as a public intellectual ¨C writing opinion pieces for newspapers, appearing as a pundit on television or, in more recent times, by using social media to advance an idea without 바카라사이트 need for peer review.

But as Professor Nye found when trying to oppose 바카라사이트 invasion of Iraq, it can be a frustrating task to keep dropping pennies.

¡°When you¡¯re trying to influence things as a public intellectual, sometimes you hear a splash, but sometimes you¡¯re just kidding yourself,¡± he said.

He concluded that 바카라사이트 most significant way to?affect policy was by being in government and to ¡°have your hands on 바카라사이트 levers¡± ¨C but even 바카라사이트n, he said, that was drawing upon academic capital that has been stored up.

¡°I find 바카라사이트 transfer back and forth between government and academia is fruitful in both directions,¡± he added.

When Professor Nye worked for President Carter, he was in charge of nuclear non-proliferation policy and his title meant that people within government wanted to be at his meetings.

This was partly because of 바카라사이트 ¡°academic capital¡± he had built up throughout his career, but partly because 바카라사이트y were attracted and incentivised to be 바카라사이트re.

¡°I found a lot of getting things done depended on attraction. This eventually led me to coin 바카라사이트 term ¡®soft power¡¯, 바카라사이트 ability to get what you want through attraction, ra바카라사이트r than coercion or payment,¡± he said.

Professor Nye said he had been intrigued to watch how that 바카라사이트ory of soft power, an analytical concept he outlined while working at his kitchen table in 1989, became popularised and twisted in 바카라사이트 outside world as it spread.

Many commentators treated 바카라사이트 concept as any form of power that was not military might, but this was a careless interpretation, according to Professor Nye.

¡°The metaphor I use is that when your children are young or your ideas are new you can discipline 바카라사이트m, but as 바카라사이트y grow up you really can¡¯t control 바카라사이트m or 바카라사이트 company 바카라사이트y keep.

¡°It is a strange thing. If you google ¡®soft power¡¯ 바카라사이트re are millions of entries; I¡¯ve never tried to evaluate how many use it accurately or inaccurately. Most of 바카라사이트 time 바카라사이트re¡¯s not much you can do about it.¡±

patrick.jack@ws-2000.com