نشریه مطالعات قدرت نرم
پیاپی 19 (پاییز و زمستان 1397)

Following the introduction of “soft power” by Joseph Nye in 1990s, this concept received special attention in studies related to power and the international relations, turning to a key concept in these areas. Power evaluation is commonly practiced in all forms of power and in soft power in particular. Being a relative concept, power becomes meaningful through evaluation, assessment and comparison. Therefore, it has always been a challenge for international affairs’ experts and political scientists to evaluate and assess the national power of the states to determine their position in world system. This paper intends to provide appropriate responses to the following questions: First; how significant is evaluation of soft power? Second; what are the challenges to soft power evaluation? And third; what are the major patterns for evaluation of soft power and the previous efforts to that end? The findings of this research work, achieved through a descriptive-analytical method, indicate that due to the increasing importance of soft power during the recent years, the techniques of evaluation and assessment of this form of power have eventually gained momentum, particularly in terms of adopting appropriate strategies in soft power literature. However, as this paper has found out, unlike hard power, it is difficult to evaluate effectiveness of soft power due to the nature of soft power and its typical resources. Regardless of these hardships and thanks to the importance of soft power evaluation, many steps have been already taken in international level and several patterns have been introduced in this field of study

A close study of the U.S. soft power, during Trump administration in particular, indicates that American vision of power is on the verge of collapse. Trump administration’s domestic and foreign policies have scaled down U.S. influence in international level. This paper intends to provide a response to the question of why the U.S. power is on the decline and what the consequences were. The author is of the opinion that a set of internal and external factors have caused the fall of U.S. soft power. Among internal factors mention should be made of adopting introspective, interest-oriented, militaristic and monopolistic approaches. External factors involved are adopting unilateral, adventurist, interventionist and antagonistic policies as well as a rise in asymmetric threats by non-state armed actors, shift of power from the West to the East and the rise of the newly emerged actors plus the possibility of “bipolar and multi-polar system”. The fall of U.S. soft power had certain consequences such as the elite migration, rising attraction of China and Europe, heated anti-American sentiments, promotion of world terrorism, and Islam-centered alternative attractions.

A historical survey of soft power application in U.S. diplomacy, as a drive force for its foreign policy, indicates that the United States uses a spectrum of diversified models for optimization of its foreign policy achievements. This paper intends to study “American exceptionalism” as the most important component shaping U.S. political identity as an introduction to analysis of soft power typology in this country. The principal question this study embarks on answering is this: What role do the proponents of American exceptionalism play in shaping soft power model in the U.S.? To answer this question, we have tried to use Walter Russell Mead’s analytical model in clarification of the U.S. political traditions, Joseph Nye’s theory of soft power as well as theoretical framework of constructivist theory, Alexander Wendt in particular, on identity. We have hypothesized that the proponents of American exceptionalism play a key role in shaping the mindset and political identity of the U.S. leaders. An isolationist approach to exceptionalism will normally end in the two so-called Jacksonian-Jeffersonian school of thought that result in paradigmatic model of soft power. On the contrary, internationalist approach to American exceptionalism will end in two Wilsonian and Hamiltonian schools of thought that pursue a sort of interventionist model of soft power.

Today, cyberspace development has led to the emergence of virtual boundaries. In this sense, a realistic understanding of the security threats depends upon software factors that serve as a link between security environment of the states and hardware. In the age of communications and globalization, cyberspace and cyberterrorism pose as two major security threats to the states. This paper intends to study the impact of cyberterrorism on the nation’s virtual boundaries. It is an applied work in terms of objectives. This paper is based on a documentary research method, using library resources and note cards. Findings of this study indicate that high cyberspace capacities and potentials make it promising for terrorist groups to realize their plans such as attacking sensitive infrastructures, illegal access to classified information, information gathering, etc. in cyberspace environment. On this basis, given the very high number of internet users in the country on one hand, and manipulations by enemies outside the country on the other hand, the Islamic Republic of Iran needs to embark on management of strategic cyberspace boundaries to control cyberterrorism and abuse of this environment by terrorist groups. To that end, the government should promote the awareness of individuals and officials, strengthen cyberspace boundaries, reinforce local cyberspace infrastructures and most important of all, create the culture required for using cyberspace

Today, the role of cultural components in international relations and foreign policy has been highlighted more than ever before and cultural tools have turned into the most important soft power techniques and tactics. Therefore, since cultural diplomacy provides cultural tools for realization of national interests, under the current circumstances it is in need of modern, popular and all-embracing tools to develop into a medium for realization of all potential capacities as well as historical, scientific, educational and artistic capabilities of a country to attract more and more addressees. This paper seeks to clarify soft power capacities and components of Iran’s cultural diplomacy to be of use for precise and integrated processing of perceptions, while surveying Iranian diplomacy methodically and transparently. We have used a descriptive-analytical method to present effective strategies for improving and promoting foreign policy relations and boosting Iran’s international status

This paper intends to present a model of Islamic resistance based on anthropological foundations set forth by Allameh Tabatabaei and martyred philosopher Motahhari. This is important in that less literature is available on this model from the viewpoint of philosophical anthropology. The principal question of this study is this: How do the anthropological components taken from the theory of Etebariat (practical reason) in the schools of Allameh Tabatabaei and Martyr Motahhari constitute Islamic state model of relations known as Islamic resistance? This study has used a documentary research method to analyze anthropological discussions in the light of the theory of Etebariat in the schools of these two contemporary philosophers. Then, based on this method, it shows human interaction in their theory of state and society formation, explaining that the philosophy behind formation of the states rests upon four basic human demands, i.e. freedom, security, justice and educating for happiness. At the same time, there are three social layers or three types of exploitative (colonial), functional and identity relations among the individuals in the society. Then, in an innovative plan, their theory of state and society formation was generalized into the international relations to underline the requirements for formation of a world state and reasons for human failure in realizing this goal. As a solution, this paper clarifies a model of triple exploitative, functional and identity relations as a substitute model for international interactions. In the meantime, the Islamic state model of interaction based on the three types of relations is presented with three different groups of actors involved (exploiting or colonial powers, same-identity actors and non-identity actors) in the light of the principle of Nafy-e Sabil (Non-Dependency Rule) and meeting the four essential demands of humans as a model of Islamic resistance.

A review of international relations during the 20th century and after indicates that this academic discipline has experienced constant theoretical and conceptual evolutions. As far as the evolution of concepts in international relations is concerned, we have seen accentuation of semantics in the theories of the international relations. This has overshadowed the majority of traditional concepts of international relations such as power. In that regard, deterrence-with power as its nucleus – as one of the most important fields of study in international relations as well as related strategic studies, have undergone semantic evolution. Therefore, this paper hypothesizes that the evolution of the international system and the accentuation of semantics have paved the ground for evolution of power generating resources and the emergence of a concept known as “soft deterrence” to go with its traditional par of deterrence which is basically based on hard power. This paper intends to use a descriptive-analytical method to prove the above hypothesis.