On Popularity and Soft Power

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/authors/michael_gerson/
The Myth of America's Unpopularity

Mr. Gershon's analysis of his first two premises is reasonable. However, he gives short shrift to the impact of soft power in international affairs (though I agree that it is harder to be at once popular and decisive). The preeminent recent example of the influence of soft power was the erosive effect we produced in the Soviet Union: we projected strength, as he mentions, but we also projected success and optimism and the conviction that we were morally right and that the Soviet system was morally bankrupt. One of Reagan's enduring achievements was precisely his professional competence in so projecting our character and values into the minds and hearts of those living (and not only those ruling) behind the Iron Curtain. Reagan's command over the tools of soft power was probably as important as his vigorous counters to Soviet military machinations. And why in hell do you think Deng Xiaoping instituted his radical reforms in China circa 1979? Military pressure? Insofar as he faced any (which wasn't very far), the more serious source was the USSR. He could see how sclerotic the Soviet system had become and how dynamic ours remained. In this latter instance we did not need to project our success as aggressively because Deng was possessed of sufficient intelligence to make his own decisions; yet the underlying example we presented remained necessary to the effect. Beyond all this, though, among historians the really grand example of soft power's potential is still the French Revolution and the endless aftershocks propagated in its wake, especially in Europe, but of global extent. Note, though, that the ideas generated do not correspond with any exactitude to the actual facts--and one may argue that the ideas that produced the Revolution had more long-term consequence than the example of the Revolution itself (being a complicated, bloody affair).

It is a question of the power of ideas and how their power is influenced by the character, position, actions of those who attempt to extend their reach.