India’s Soft Power

Power has always been the central point in all security studies in international relations. Power is the ability to achieve one’s goals or capacity to influence the decision of others to get favourable outcomes. Nations have made use of both hard power i.e. use of force and soft power i.e. using cordial relations with other nations to achieve mutually beneficial ends.

Soft Power versus Hard Power

Soft Power gained importance after Cold War years. The concept of soft power was developed by Joseph Nye of Harvard University and is the ability to attract and co-opt to shape the preference of others instead of employing coercive measures or monetary influence. Nye had coined the term in 1990 in his Book, Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power. The term is now widely used in international relations by both analysts and statesmen. It is in stark contrast to hard power which makes use of coercion and money. Soft power can be exercised both by the state and actors in international politics  like NGOs, international institutions etc. It basically depends on three factors:

• Culture
• Political values
• Foreign policy

Thus, all the resources which define soft power produce attraction but are difficult to manage for governments as most of the instruments are outside the governmental control as they work indirectly by creating conducive environment and thus may take a long time to produce desired results.

Recent Steps taken by Government to use Indian Soft Power

India has had tremendous soft power since ancient times. This was evident in the way India established  links with various countries like Iran, Rome,  and even South East. India has always stood for “Vasudeva Kudaumbakam” i.e. (the world is my family) and loka samartha sukhino bhavanthu” which means (let there be peace in the whole world). Indian culture has always attracted people from different cultures and ethnicities. This influence is likely to increase in times to come as the new regime launches itself on a global stage.

India has a huge variety of soft power resources. Spiritualism, yoga, movies, television, dances, music, democratic values, ethics, cuisine have attracted people from across the world. As per Indian foreign policy analyst C Raja Mohan, India has strong cards in the field of soft power which can help further its foreign policy goals. Indian regimes in the last decade have started to make smart use of the cards at hand. The government set up a public diplomacy division within Ministry of External Affairs in 2006 and expanded the reach of Indian Council for Cultural Relations across the world. Even Ministry of Tourism has been involved to flaunt India’s social, cultural and political assets abroad. The governmental programmes and initiatives like “Incredible India”, “Look East Policy now morphed to Act East” etc.