As We Trim Programs, Are We Balancing Our Nation’s Awesome Hard and Soft Power?
3/27/25 – – Sometimes the complexities of current events are best understood by reviewing the wisdom of the past. I think that’s the case with the debate raging about the survival of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the benefits of U.S. foreign aid.
Some great crisis management advice and the best answer I’ve ever found to the question “Why should Americans fund programs that help people in other countries that may not even like us?” are found in a powerful book published two decades ago titled “Soft Power – The Means to Success in World Politics.”
Author Joseph S. Nye, Jr., a former dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and Assistant Secretary of Defense, makes the argument that a nation’s humanitarian aid and cultural exchange (soft power) and its military and economic might (hard power) are complementary, advancing a common objective:
Power is the ability to influence the behavior of others to get the outcomes one wants. But there are several ways to affect the behavior of others. You can coerce them with threats; you can induce them with payments; or you can attract and co-opt them to want what you want . . . Soft power uses a different type of currency (not force, not money) to engender cooperation – an attraction to shared values, and the justices and duty of contributing to the achievement of those values.
Making Friends with Guns and Grain
A country’s soft power, according to Nye, “rests primarily on three resources”:
Its culture (in places where it is attractive to others), its political values (when it lives up to them at home and abroad), and its foreign policies (when they are seen as legitimate and having moral authority).
The New York Times reported today that the State Department has terminated more than 5,000 of USAID’s 6,000 employees and intends to end most of its awards. A USAID spokesperson explained that each award was reviewed for, “alignment with agency and administration priorities, and terminations were executed where Secretary Rubio determined the award was inconsistent with the national interest or agency policy priorities.”
No question many of the discontinued programs were not worthy of taxpayer support or helpful to national objectives and security. We’ll most likely find that unscrupulous people – at all levels of government and in the private sector – were profiting from out-of-control spending, skewed priorities and personal political agendas. Prosecutions are in order.
The Goal Is to Achieve Smart Power
But before we cut U.S. foreign aid and international educational exchange too close to the bone, we would be wise to heed Nye’s warning that, “America’s success will depend upon our developing a better balance of hard and soft power.” Vaccines and bags of grain complement cruise missiles and economic embargoes. Nations that achieve that harmony are rewarded with what Nye calls “smart power.”
The concept of smart power is also relevant to the corporate world. Nye advises business leaders:
Smart executives know that leadership is not just a matter of issuing commands, but also involves leading by example and attracting others to do what you want. It is difficult to run a large organization by commands alone. You also have to get others to buy in to your values.
What a great crisis prevention strategy!
To have an informed view of what’s happening in our troubled world, “Soft Power – The Means to Success in World Politics” is a must read for political leaders, CEOs, students and conscientious citizens regardless of political affiliation. Nye’s lessons are timeless. We’ll all do better by understanding and exercising smart power.
UPDATE 5/8/25: Joseph Nye passed away at age 88 on May 6, 2025.
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