To prove this, look to each nation’s budget, an easy reflection of a country’s priorities. While both countries have hulking militaries, massive economies, and huge spheres of influence, they act very differently in diplomacy America employs hard power, while China uses soft power. In the present post-Cold War days, we seemingly have two dominant global powers once again: the United States and China. Look to just the Cold War - we tried to convince countries to adopt capitalism by flexing our supposed intellectual and artistic freedoms in comparison with the strict, closed Soviet society, but when that didn’t work, we resorted to proxy wars and embargoes. Surveying just American history, one can see easy examples of both types of power. Nye, who coined both terms, explained soft power as “the ability to get what you want by attracting and persuading others to adopt your goals,” while hard power is “the ability to use the carrots and sticks of economic and military might to make others follow your will,” (Nye). My AP Comparative Government teacher explained those concepts in simple terms: soft power is diplomacy and compromise, while hard power is military, sanctions, and force. Generally, governments use soft power or hard power, or a mix of both, to do so. ![]() One of the biggest and most important goals of foreign policy is to get other countries to do what you want.
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