Since the emergence of nationhood, governments have exercised their military and economic might as a form of hard power to address national security concerns. Thinkers from Thucydides, Niccolo Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes and Hans Morgenthau have all advocated the use of hard power in one way or another to safeguard the nation’s national interest. This traditional realist model of military-centric hard power prevailed during the two World Wars and the Cold War. However, in the aftermath of the Cold War, revolving transnational issues, awakening of nationalism in weak states, diffusion of power from government to private actors and one superpower’s military setback in Vietnam and the Afghan war significantly reduced the scope of applying traditional hard power in contemporary international relations.

Soft power in the West

The notion of soft power is relatively new in international relations. Harvard University Professor Joseph Nye first coined the phrase and developed the concept further in his 2004 book, Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics. Unlike hard power, soft power is the ability to obtain what one wants through attraction rather than coercion. Soft power arises from the attractiveness of a country’s culture and its political ideas and policies, all of which are real but intangible.

Most western democracies, due to their liberal political notions and economic development, have been able to attract people from the rest of the world. They often use foreign policy instruments such as cultural diplomacy, educational assistance programmes and financial aid to promote their soft power in the international arena. For instance, the United States’ exceptional freedom, quality education, information technology innovations, along with economic ventures like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, project an appealing image across the globe. Likewise, Europe’s exemplary welfare system and its liberal lifestyle and culture are the envy of the world. Europe’s firm dedication to mediating and resolving conflicts and its extraordinary achievements in promoting human rights and rule of law have made Europe a soft power exemplar in the world arena. The model of regional integration that Europe adopted in the aftermath of the Second World War inspired Asians, Africans and Latin Americans to take on the similar regional integration projects.

Asian investment

Today, Asian states are increasingly investing in the promotion of soft power in their neighbourhood and beyond. China’s rising foreign direct investment in Latin America and Africa, its establishment of Confucius Institutes and the roaring success of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, have all been notable exercises in promoting soft power in the international arena. Similarly, India’s diverse cultural heritage, pluralist democracy, Bollywood films and IT sector innovations are viewed in the same light by foreigners. Other Asian nations like Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Indonesia have drawn global attention by promoting their history, culture, economic growth and technological advancements.

This is not to say that only big and militarily strong countries can effectively spread their soft power. Even smaller and militarily weak states can exercise soft power through exceptional socio-cultural virtues and resource potential. Small states often lack economic and military capabilities and hence, meeting foreign policy objectives through hard power is not an option. The only option that small nations can pursue against their large neighbours is to adopt an efficient and effective model of diplomacy, which can function as a shield in the absence of hard power.

Formulating and enacting a soft power strategy, therefore, can be a practical option for Nepal to convey its national identity to the international community. Nepal’s unique socio-cultural diversity, vibrant tourist destinations and geography are already acknowledged by visitors. Besides the usual platitudes of Nepal as the land of Mt Everest, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, the ancestral holy land of the Hindus’ Lord Shiva as symbolised by the Pashupatinath temple and eight of the highest peaks in the world, Nepal has been largely incapable of introducing a distinct identity to international audiences.

Niche diplomacy

One approach that Nepal could undertake is ‘niche diplomacy’, a term first defined by Australian foreign minister, Gareth Evans. Niche diplomacy means specialising and focusing a country’s resources in specific areas best able to generate returns worth having, rather than trying to cover the field. The task of finding niches should be based on a careful selection from among policy lines that are recognised and viewed in a positive light by the international community. Norway, a small country in Scandinavia, for instance, has managed to establish a profile as an international ‘peace broker’. Other small countries like Finland, Switzerland, Malta, Trinidad and Tobago and the Netherlands have focussed their efforts from conflict mediation to natural resource diplomacy.

Similarly, Nepal could focus on the growth of its tourism industry. Additionally, compatible trade and investment policies should be framed to attract a significant amount of foreign direct investment from the overseas market, rebranding Nepal’s identity as a ‘zone of investment’. However, creating and maintaining niches in this competitive world requires persuasion and influential international marketing. This will require active support from the government, political leaders, diplomats and concerned stakeholders, who must handle international public relations with external actors.

Although some scholars argue that soft power may not always yield the desired outcome and is much slower and indirect, hard and soft power can supplement each other. Therefore, a recently introduced form of power—smart power, which originates from the effective melding of hard and soft power—is considered significant in achieving desired outcomes. In Nepal’s case, considering her constraints and resource potentials, soft power diplomacy in general and tourism diplomacy as a form of niche diplomacy in particular would be the best instrument to pursue national interest in the international sphere.

Chaulagain was an Erasmus Scholar of International Relations at the University of Warsaw