Analysis and Survey of the Position of Military Capability in the Soft Power of Countries

The term soft power entered the literature of political science, international relations, etc. since about 1989 with the help of Joseph Nye, and now, after three decades, it has become one of the official discourses in policy and scientific researches. In the same context, Nye, in addition to the term soft power, also introduces a new keyword called hard power. In connection with these concepts, he states that hard and soft power are both aspects of the ability to achieve desires through influencing the behavior of others. However, there is a difference between them, so that this distinction covers both the behavioral nature and feature of tangible of the resources. In this regard, in terms of behavioral nature, he bases hard power on coercion or bribery, and bases soft power on attract, accept, and persuade. Also, in terms of being tangible, Nye believes that soft power is rooted in intangible resources such as culture (those parts that appeal to others), political values (in cases where it is considered at home and abroad), and finally, foreign policy (if it seems legitimate and legal) (while military power and economic capacity are among the tangible resources of hard power). However, despite the passage of many years, the scientific evidence and the events of international politics reinforce the hypothesis that this view needs to be reconsidered because the nature of soft power is not limited to specific resources. In fact, it seems that a country's various resources including military power can also be used in this power by focusing on the true nature of soft power. To this end, the study seeks to how and based on what components a country's military capability can affect the country's soft power?

The main question of this research is how and based on what components a country's military capability can affect the country's soft power? The hypothesis corresponding to this is also designed in such a way that it seems that a country's military uses attractiveness to influence soft power. To this end, the authors have used descriptive-analytic methods to answer this question. In this regard, first the nature of soft power and then the position of attractiveness in this method of power is examined and analyzed, and after that based on existing examples and scientific analysis in the style and context in which the military plays a role in soft power, will be mentioned. With these interpretations, the method of data collection in this research has been based on library resources as well as data analysis in the form of content analysis along with inductive reasoning.

The points that Joseph Nye mentioned from the nature of soft power in a covert way, along with the existence of common keywords from the definitions of soft power, lead us to the point where the root of soft power is influenced by attractiveness. However, the concept of attractiveness, in a way, is reminiscent of the behavioral nature of soft power. But that quality may come from the content and facilities of a country or its style of behavior. Therefore, the nature of soft power is not limited to specific resources. Rather, resources or behaviors that can produce peace, respect, credibility, admiration, imitation, and role modeling, and in a word, attractiveness, tend to produce soft power. According the details raised, one of the current capacities based on attractiveness that can play a role in the soft power of countries is military power. In this regards, the findings show that a country's military capability can be achieved through measures such as helping to train foreign troops, participating in deploying peacekeepers in areas under conflict, helping to maintain international security in the framework of multilateralism, holding or participating effectively in the latest exhibitions of military equipment, technical assistance to nations involved in natural and human crises, maintaining and promoting peaceful military relations with the countries of the international system, scientific-peaceful cooperation of military, hosting the international competitions of the armies of the world, launching peaceful competitions among the world armed forces, attending and winning honors in the international competitions of the armies of the world, intelligence and creativity of the military commanders, etc., play an active role in soft power.

This study, considering the important position of military power in the calculations of a country's national power and the prominent role of soft power in domestic and foreign policy, sought to examine this question was that, how and based on what components a country's military capability can affect the country's soft power. In this regard, the results indicate that experts do not have a clear vision of the role of hard resources in general and military capacity in particular, in soft power. Nevertheless, scientific documents in the field of the nature of soft power and global events confirm the opposite of this claim. As the developments of the international system show that with the entrance of the concept of soft power in the field of policy-making, the armed forces in all parts of the world, especially in the West, have adopted and implemented this method of exercising power. With these interpretations, today one of the elements that can play a role in the framework of soft power is the military capabilities of a country, which is also achieved with the help of attractiveness and various methods. However, the point that should not be simply overlooked is the expression of the fact that an attractive military force, with the help of defense diplomacy, becomes an effective element in the mechanism of exercising soft power..