The Rhetoric of Soft Poer Public Diplomacy in Global Contexts [Paperback]

Hayden (American Univ.) offers a welcome, much-needed analysis of what has become one of the most discussed concepts in international relations--soft power. Joseph S. Nye's concept of soft power has gained much attention in recent years, yet a thorough theoretical analysis has been sorely lacking. Hayden provides this analysis by merging this concept with the notion of public diplomacy, which he defines broadly as purposive attempts by actors to communicate in global media, cultural, and information spaces. In the author's own words, the book's goal is to develop a theoretical treatment of soft power and public diplomacy through an interdisciplinary investigation of what is demonstratively a transnational, interdisciplinary phenomenon. The book succeeds in this goal. One of Hayden's main contributions is to not only offer a fresh analysis of US debates over the use of soft power in light of increased anti-Americanism in recent years. He also offers a rich comparative analysis of how soft power is deployed in the crucial states of China, Japan, and Venezuela, demonstrating how the key soft power notions of influence and persuasion are conceived of differently in different national contexts. Summing Up: Highly recommended.The Rhetoric of Soft Power: Public Diplomacy in Global Contexts provides new insight into the global growth of the soft power concept, through a comprehensive, comparative analysis of public diplomacy and strategic communication initiatives. The book addresses the interdisciplinary implications of soft power, that draws together insights from international communication and international relations research, in order to understand how soft power has been interpreted as increasingly necessary by a range of international actors.The Rhetoric of Soft Power: Public Diplomacy in Global Contexts provides a comparative assessment of public diplomacy and strategic communication initiatives, in order to portray how Joseph Nyes notion of soft power has tranl³-